help with a plastic replacement for a bronze bearing

Hello all, I was hoping someone could help me pick a plastic replacement for a bronze bearing.

This is for my old railroad speeder and I need to electrically insulate the wheels from eachother, but 1 of the front wheels has an odd hub that requires a bronze bearing, so I was hoping there is some kind of plastic that could stand up to the abuse like bronze, or atleast close to it.

The shaft the bearing would be going on is about 1 7/16" diameter, and the outside diameter of the bearing would be somewhere around 1 3/4" to 2", with a bearing length of around 3". It would have a consistant load of around 500-700 lbs, and higher shock loads as it went down the track.

I was looking at a couple plastics in the MSC catalog, PET plastic, and 6/6 Nylon, do you think either of these would work for my situation? Or anyone have any better material in mind?

Thanks in advance!

Tyler

UHMW would work also.

Rulon

http://www.dewalindustries.com/dynaglide_rulon.html

Igus has a broad line of plastic bearings including ones specifically made to replace bronze bushings.

http://www.igus.com/show_bronze.asp?gclid=CJWG05XinpoCFQVxFQodPX9b9A

Use Rulon are Nyltron

A nylatron/ nylon GSM would be a low enough cost place to start probably. Rulon gets pricey quickly.

I second that motion

lane said:

Use Rulon are Nyltron

Click to expand...

either or would be fine

I've used these people a couple of times, they've delivered very quickly from RSA to UK

http://www.vesconite.com/

Tim

Nylatron is probably a good inexpensive choice, as noted. There is also a material known as Fluorosint, which is a high-temperature material that is used in applications such as steel mill hopper cart axles that (I think) dump stuff into the furnaces. It's probably pricey, but exactly the right kind of material.
I would be concerned a bit about using the UHMW for a bearing with a significant load on a rotating shaft through the middle, just because of its relative softness. Very slippery, but it might wear rapidly.

perhaps you could make your bronze bearing with a slightly smaller OD and sleeve it with plastic or some other non conductive material

there is also Xylethon which is a molydisulfide impregnated uhmw. Is wear characteristics are great. We did some lab testing on this and its coefficient of friction got better with time.
Just another option.