Sleeve Bearing Shaft Material?

It depends on the meaning of the word <...best...>.

Preferable?

For whom and how much money do they have?

By what criteria is this to be evaluated?

The end result with carbon steel shafts will always be the failure of the shaft with respect to the machinery I have seen this type of bearing incessantly used on.

When I got tired of replacing fan shafts, I installed a set of SS Pillow block bearings on the same machine and stopped this failure COLD. " Dial Mfg. " no doubt makes a fortune selling the same " wear " parts over and over and over again. and shade tree mechanics keep going round in circles the same way. Very few indeed take ruggedness and reliability seriously in this time.

This is a 1/4" ID by 1/2" long Bushing. It's load will be ohhh maybe 20 pounds.

It will be spinning ~1000 RPM,

It will be very intermittent duty, like maybe 30 to 40 minutes of "Spin Time" maybe at the most 2 or 3 times a day, then it could be not used for days at a time.

Just wondering if a Plain old Zinc plated 1/4-20 bolt would be ok, or if a Stainless one would be better? etc. Of course the bushing would be spinning on the smooth part of the bolt not the threaded part.

Joe

1. Depends on how long you want it to last.

2. Is this for your use? or for a relative?

3. Is this for sale?

4. Is there a warranty?

5. How hard is it to repair?

Many manufacturers built their products to fail about a year past normal useage.

It's to make support rollers for an Clothes dryer Drum. the front end. The original front was simply some plastic strips the drum would slide on, but only would last a year or so.

after changing like a dozen times I decided to put in rollers.

To me, this sounds more like an alignment problem than a bearing design/material problem. The OEM anticipated a slight normal force and friction at these strip locations. Instead a much higher abrasive load exists at these points so the strips wear away.

My point here is it sounds like you are focusing on a symptom and not a root cause of the problem.

I suggest replacing the strips with UHMW plastic strips.

This polymer will outwear titanium,stainless,and the friction factor is nearly as good as Teflon.Needs no lubricant.

It is used throughout industry for bearings,slides,guides,etc.

I have personally seen it wear down steel shafts with no wear on the polymer block.

The weight was over 400 pounds on a 1inch diam. shaft.

It is also used in the medical field for replacement joints;knees,hips,etc.

Hard to beat in a low speed high load application.

The original may have been a cheaper polymer.

I also suggest checking for burrs on the contact edge of the drum.

Here is a link to one supplier..there are many more:

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=82344

I had a Whirlpool dryer that ran for over 25 years that had a felt strip at the front of the frame supporting the drum.It never failed.

I did spray the felt with silicon every time I changed the belt,about every 5 years.

The load was distributed over a large area,with reduced wear to near zero.

By the way,the most extreme pressure you will encounter in everyday life occurs in a mechanical watch.

The contact area of the parts is extremely small,making jewels,usually rubies or sapphires, necessary for supporting the extreme pressure.

The takeaway here is:Increase the bearing area,increase the life.

https://www.amazon.com/CHEERBRIGHT-Bearings-Furniture-Accessories-5x23x7-5mm/dp/B079GTSM22

For this application, depending on the requirement for roller diameter, You might consider using cam followers. They incorporate the roller, bearing, and axel in a single unit. Available from McMaster ( mcmaster.com)

I would recommend a case hardened steel shaft with a precision ground finish. You might consider an alloy steel shoulder screw. (Note, not a stripper bolt which is .005" under nominal)

Before replying, I did do a google search. It returned the results I expected.

However, I may still be wrong. To me there is no difference between a stripper bolt and a shoulder screw, only the words used. What am I missing?

A " stripper bolt" is .005" under nominal dimension. for example a 1/2" stripper bolt is actually .495" diameter. A shoulder screw is .001" under nominal dimension. Look in the McMaster-Carr catalog to see the difference.

I see it. It is Shoulder Screws vs Precision Shoulder Screws.

I need to stop calling them 'stripper bolts' and change to 'shoulder screws' like most others.

If your shaft is riding on the sleeve bearing, you already have a problem regardless of material used...It should be riding on oil...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/sleeve-bearing

Well yeah he he he

The bearing material he is referring to (SAE 841) is oil impregnated bronze,that exudes oil under load.It is self lubricating.

More important than the shaft material is the shaft surface characteristics. You don't want your shaft filing down your bearing.

"After the plain bearing itself, the shaft is the most important parameter for a bearing system. This is because it is in direct contact with the bearing and is affected by relative motion. The shaft surface is critical due to the fact a shaft that is too rough acts like a file and, during movement, separates small particles from the bearing surface. On the other hand, shafts that are too smooth can lead to higher wear because not enough lubricant can be transferred onto the shaft to have an effect. Sintered bronze bearings function best on very hard, expensive precision-ground shafts. In contrast, solid polymer bearings have the ability to run on all types of shafts."

https://www.reliableplant.com/Read/12499/self-lubricating-bearings

Shaft and bearing replacement should also be considered. If one can easily fix both of them or if the anticipated lifetime of another critical part is significantly less than this bearing and shaft then why worry about it.

A roller bearing springs to mind.

What has been tried so far?

Everything you always wanted to know about sleeve bearings but didn't know how to ask:

https://www.igus.com/info/plain-bearings-shaft-material-ca