WC Weekend Accomplishments....

Changed router bearings....

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Twice now I have changed bearings in a router. On both occasions the original bearings were rated at 15000 rpm. Replaced with a 20,000 bearing.

Re: Changed router bearings....

John in NM

I've seen that too. I think its usually because the rubber sealed bearings are rated for lower speeds whereas the shielded ones are rated for higher since the steel shield is only in contact with one race.

Higher ABEC bearings might come sealed rather than shielded and still be rated for router RPM's, but they tend to be 4x the cost or more.

Bearing specifications....and price

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

The bearing I bought was SKF 6005 2RSJEM. It is sealed. Curiously, this is the same size as what I used to rebuild the other brand router. Could it be that most routers use this size on the bottom of the armature? I was told the cost would be $39. Yikes!! Then we chatted some and he learned I had an industry connection. Some additional calculations were made and I was told the bearing would be $16.19 if bought on the industry account and paid by me. Now that is some kind of discount.

Re: Bearing specifications....and price

Barry Irby

I have had a similar experience. Walk into Sherwin Williams and buy a gallon of lacquer. If they don't like your looks its about $79. If you chat them up and they take a liking to you and you pay cash, they put on "Fred's" account and it about $39. Apparently they have a "blind" account they use for this. Now when I go I just tell them to use a painter friend's account and they give me the better price. They probably have an even better one that is $19. It helps to dress the part. Have some paint on you when you go.

Re: Bearing specifications....and price

John in NM

That is a very common metric bearing.

IIRC, the 6 means a metric bearing, the 0 is for the lightest duty series, the 05 designates a 25mm bore (OD varies with the duty of the bearing as the races and bearings are bigger with bearings that can take a heavier load). 2RS is one of the designations for a rubber sealed bearing. The rest of the suffix is usually pretty inscrutable (at least to me) because the various manufacturers use their own designations for things like the grease, tolerance, etc.

Given the price and rpm rating you probably did get an ABEC 5 bearing. When I was looking for large ABEC 7 bearings for my duplicator, most retailers were charging over $100 for them. If you can find a place that will pass on the trade pricing it gets much more reasonable - I ended up buying the bearings and a bunch of other parts from the machine's manufacturer for much less than I found anywhere else.