Sunday, December 22, 2019

Make vacuum pre-loaded spherical air bearings without special tools



A new technique to make graphite air bearings without precision tooling. I show how to make spherical, cylindrical, and flat bearings that are also vacuum pre-loaded, meaning the bearing is captive.

David Preiss' excellent video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuzoEe_ykmM

10mm thick graphite sheet: https://www.amazon.com/Graphite-Smooth-Polished-Surface-200MMx100MMx10MM/dp/B07S2RDQ6P

2" ball bearing: https://www.amazon.com/Inch-Chrome-Steel-Bearing-Ball/dp/B0074VCP8S

Small 10-32 hose barb fitting: https://www.mcmaster.com/5047k11 Linear bearing shaft: https://www.mcmaster.com/6061k35

Fusion360 CAD files: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fj6zJ9GlZ07WB6jVrltPNsvqsU06qTAP?usp=sharing

12x18 granite surface plate: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LWBEEH8

Applied Science on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AppliedScience

2 comments:

  1. Dear Ben,
    I am a middle school science teacher in Mountain View (down the road from Google). One of my students is very interested in making freeze dried "astronaut" ice cream and looked up your method posted a few years ago on the Make magazine online. She has some questions about the set up. If you have a little free time, to help out an aspiring scientist/engineer, please let me know how she can reach you. Thanks! Liat

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  2. Oh, and I can be reached at lbaranoff@hausner.com

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