Clarke BS1 Belt Sander - Roller Bearings in front roller - cannot find replacements???

[Mike160304]

If I phone Clarke Parts I get Machine Mart. Machine Mart and a bearings supplier have failed to find these for me, so far. I have got the black plastic replacement Front Roller from Machine Mart, but without the steel roller bearings.

I am about to try China.

Can anyone help me, please?

Mike

 

[Tris]

My first ports of call would be either Bearing Boys or Simply Bearings, they seem to cover most things and are pretty helpful

 

[ChaiLatte]

It is a £50 tool. At that price point, you may have unrealistic expectations concerning manufacturer support.

You could try Solent Tools as they carry spares for many of the off-brand tools.

The generic name for that style of bearing is 'drawn cup needle roller bearing'.

That being said, it does not look like a standard bearing.

Standard ones are sized by ID, OD and width. If you report those three dimensions here, we could help you look.

The OD of the one you are holding is unusual. Does the bottom as you are holding it look identical to the top?

You may have to buy one with the correct ID and width and make a sleeve for the outside (difficult as the sleeve needs to be hardened).

You may have to buy one with the correct OD and width and make a sleeve for the inside. That could be easier as you can buy a 'roller bearing inner ring' so you can use a bearing on an unhardened shaft.

 

[Mike160304]

My first ports of call would be either Bearing Boys or Simply Bearings, they seem to cover most things and are pretty helpful

Thanks, Simply Bearings could not help, I'll try Bearing Boys.
Mike

 

[Mike160304]

It is a £50 tool. At that price point, you may have unrealistic expectations concerning manufacturer support.

You could try Solent Tools as they carry spares for many of the off-brand tools.

The generic name for that style of bearing is 'drawn cup needle roller bearing'.

That being said, it does not look like a standard bearing.

Standard ones are sized by ID, OD and width. If you report those three dimensions here, we could help you look.

The OD of the one you are holding is unusual. Does the bottom as you are holding it look identical to the top?

You may have to buy one with the correct ID and width and make a sleeve for the outside (difficult as the sleeve needs to be hardened).

You may have to buy one with the correct OD and width and make a sleeve for the inside. That could be easier as you can buy a 'roller bearing inner ring' so you can use a bearing on an unhardened shaft.

Yes, my first instinct was to order a new BS1 for about £47 with free delivery tomorrow. I may still do that. But I kind of like the recycling ethos, though this may not be the ideal place to apply it, as it turns out.

I have read all your helpful comments carefully, and thank you, and I am sorry to have taken so much of your time. I gave Simply Bearings (they were very helpful) the same photo and the 3 dimensions but in that size they only have "cages" and they concluded that they could not help me. Not a good sign.

I measured the old, seized bearing with a dial caliper and got:
ID 10.0 mm
OD 16.1 mm
W 13.0 mm
Re "OD looking unusual", it measures the same OD at both ends, and the 2 ends look the same.

Machine Mart seem to be saying that they have to check availability of these bearings with China so this is probably a good time to return all the other bits to Machine Mart for refund and buy a new BS1 Sander for £47 delivered. After all, the old one lasted over 30 years with my light use!
Thanks again,
Mike

 

[Spectric]

In that price range I would consider the tool almost as a consumable, if you get a years hard work out of it and you have got 30 so just replace it as once one part fails then in all likelihood more will follow and a lot of these asian clones don't use standard off the shelf parts.

 

[AES]

I have to agree with Spectric.

Like the OP, I really do hate chucking stuff away (that's partly my tight-fistedness and partly concern for the environment). But reading all the above carefully it does look like the OP really has come to the end of the road - unless he spends MANY hours making a sleeve, boring stuff out, etc, etc).

One of the "lessons" I have most difficulty with is knowing when to stop with trying to get broken stuff back up and running again. It's all fine and well to exercise the brain and perhaps spend a few bob (PLUS MANY hours!) trying, but as above, I do find difficulty judging exactly when to give up and just bin something.

 

[Spectric]

You only have to look at how stuff is made today to see that it is not designed or built for the long term, it is designed to be fast to manufacture and profit is on volume sales. We now have the so called sealed for life bearings, they don't say what duration life is but when you look at the machinery we used to produce there were grease nipples and maintenance was part of life and most people owned a grease gun even if only for there cars.

 

[ChaiLatte]

I measured the old, seized bearing with a dial caliper and got:
ID 10.0 mm
OD 16.1 mm
W 13.0 mm
Re "OD looking unusual", it measures the same OD at both ends, and the 2 ends look the same.

If you compare the outer sleeve with a standard drawn cup needle bearing, the one you have seems to have longer/deeper flanges.

Two of these:

https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/HK-Drawn-Cup-Bearings/HK1012-Budget-Drawn-Cup-Needle-Bearing-5805-p

poked into two these (with the length reduced a bit):

https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/G-Sleeve-Bearings/WMG141615-Sleeve-Bearing-27898-p

would get you close enough to your stated dimensions.

 

[TomGW]

Are you sure that the bearing you removed isn't a roller bearing inside a sleeve and could possibly be pushed out?

 

[Mike160304]

In that price range I would consider the tool almost as a consumable, if you get a years hard work out of it and you have got 30 so just replace it as once one part fails then in all likelihood more will follow and a lot of these asian clones don't use standard off the shelf parts.

Thank you, sometimes the simplest solution is the best one in the end.

 

[Mike160304]

I have to agree with Spectric.

Like the OP, I really do hate chucking stuff away (that's partly my tight-fistedness and partly concern for the environment). But reading all the above carefully it does look like the OP really has come to the end of the road - unless he spends MANY hours making a sleeve, boring stuff out, etc, etc).

One of the "lessons" I have most difficulty with is knowing when to stop with trying to get broken stuff back up and running again. It's all fine and well to exercise the brain and perhaps spend a few bob (PLUS MANY hours!) trying, but as above, I do find difficulty judging exactly when to give up and just bin something.

Yes, we hate to accept that we cannot fix something and save the Planet.

 

[Mike160304]

You only have to look at how stuff is made today to see that it is not designed or built for the long term, it is designed to be fast to manufacture and profit is on volume sales. We now have the so called sealed for life bearings, they don't say what duration life is but when you look at the machinery we used to produce there were grease nipples and maintenance was part of life and most people owned a grease gun even if only for there cars.

Yes, lack of grease nipples and oiling instructions means "if it stops, buy a new one."

 

[Mike160304]

If you compare the outer sleeve with a standard drawn cup needle bearing, the one you have seems to have longer/deeper flanges.

Two of these:

https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/HK-Drawn-Cup-Bearings/HK1012-Budget-Drawn-Cup-Needle-Bearing-5805-p

poked into two these (with the length reduced a bit):

https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/G-Sleeve-Bearings/WMG141615-Sleeve-Bearing-27898-p

would get you close enough to your stated dimensions.

Wow, amazing, I shall look at that carefully and probably even I could do it. Super Forum this, I have learnt a lot from this thread, even if, in the end, I just buy a new one, or maybe, a Bosch PBS75A (green DIY version) for about £94, and kind of go up a rung.
Thank you again.

 

[Mike160304]

If you compare the outer sleeve with a standard drawn cup needle bearing, the one you have seems to have longer/deeper flanges.

Two of these:

https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/HK-Drawn-Cup-Bearings/HK1012-Budget-Drawn-Cup-Needle-Bearing-5805-p

poked into two these (with the length reduced a bit):

https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/G-Sleeve-Bearings/WMG141615-Sleeve-Bearing-27898-p

would get you close enough to your stated dimensions.

And, inevitably, two of each of the above would cost about £15 plus P+P, meaning about £30 total (including the new black plastic roller wheel) in "bits" for the repair, plus all my time, as against a new sander for £47 delivered.
(or £94 if I go for the Bosch).
Time already spent . . . . can't get that refunded . . . .
Hmmmmmm . . . .
"I used to think I was indecisive, but now, I am not so sure . . ."

 

[Spectric]

Be decisive, maybe now 30 years later you are financially better off and should treat yourself to a better machine. The Bosch one you are looking at is probably the one from Axminster, not there blue pro range

https://www.axminstertools.com/bosch-pbs-75-a-belt-sander-503756

but for £20 more you can get the Makita

https://www.axminstertools.com/makita-9911-belt-sander-230v-076014

 

[ChaiLatte]

And, inevitably, two of each of the above would cost about £15 plus P+P

Maybe have a sniff around eBay to see if you could improve on that. As you say, it is a difficult decision.

Brand new Makita, for £100 here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/395162366331

 

[Mike160304]

Be decisive, maybe now 30 years later you are financially better off and should treat yourself to a better machine. The Bosch one you are looking at is probably the one from Axminster, not there blue pro range

https://www.axminstertools.com/bosch-pbs-75-a-belt-sander-503756

but for £20 more you can get the Makita

https://www.axminstertools.com/makita-9911-belt-sander-230v-076014

Thanks, both are good tips.

 

[Mike160304]

Maybe have a sniff around eBay to see if you could improve on that. As you say, it is a difficult decision.

Brand new Makita, for £100 here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/395162366331

Thanks, that Makita is a steal, but I have quite a bit of investment in 75x533 belts and the Makia is 457. That does not rule it out though.

 

[Mike160304]

I have ordered the Bosch PBS75A (green) from Amazon Prime for £93, to be delivered today. I am sorry to contribute to Amazon's project to Rule the World, but the fast delivery and easy returns are very seductive.
I read this article, among others:
https://www.pricerunner.com/test/belt-sander
The Makita came out Top Gun but for my specific purpose the balance of pros and cons was pretty good for the Bosch, which finished "Best Budget", and which will also use my existing collection of reasonable quality 75x533mm sanding belts. The dust extraction system gets some praise. It points "the wrong way", but as I shall mostly use the sander static upside-down, I can handle that, making a vacuum hose adapter, if I have to.

*** The short power cable is just daft, is there a tip for safely lengthening it???**

My thanks to all of you for your suggestions, and to ChaiLatte especially for increasing my knowledge of Needle Roller Bearings and finding an ingenious solution. And I agree, the old bearing DOES appear to have an additional "sleeve" on it, so it might well be a 10x14mm bearing with a 14/16mm sleeve.