Bearings are precision components with a crucial role in manufacturing, so knowing how to find quality bearings in Singapore is vital.
Being tasked with ensuring minimal friction between constant moving parts can heavily wear on small components like the bearing. And, whether you choose ball bearings or roller bearings to suit your transmission loads, the quality of your bearings will still be critical to reducing downtime and ensuring the continued running of your machinery.
Being the leading bearing supplier in Singapore, we have answered some of the most common questions surrounding why you should invest in high quality bearings.
1. Why is it Important to Invest in Quality Bearings?
Investing in high quality bearings in Singapore is much like any other crucial investment in your company. The cost for quality will more than pay-off in the running and maintaining of equipment and processes.
Whether it’s within food manufacturing, power generation, marine industries or another, quality in a bearing can mean lasting usage, lowered maintenance costs, reduced downtime and the continued running of all other components part of the transmission.
In fact, having quality bearings in Singapore from respected brands such as SKF, Timken and INA Bearings can:
- Prevent premature failure in the bearing
- Decrease overall downtime
- Prevent unexpected shutdowns
- Reduce the need for reactive maintenance
- Lower operational costs of the transmission
- Take higher transmission loads
- Last longer in operation
2. How Can You Identify Quality Bearings?
Identifying quality bearings can be done through three ways: investing in trusted brands, completing a visual test, and applying the rocking test.
a) Invest in Trusted Brands
Through your bearing supplier, you have access to a wide range of trusted manufacturers in bearings. Whether it’s needle bearings from INA bearings or ball bearings from SKF, consider the average bearing ball grade they produce and trust the quality supplied.
When finding trusted brands, ensure their products are ISO-certified. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a body focused on quality assurance of products like bearings. With the correct certification, the bearing should be labelled with “ISO” followed by code of numbers indicating the certification.
| Beware of counterfeit bearings! |
| The rise of fake bearings in the market is a growing concern as they are of poor quality and pose the risk of equipment failure and lost of operational cost. Protect your investment against counterfeit products by purchasing your bearings from a trusted bearing supplier and avoid buying from a third party resellers. |
b) Complete a Visual Test
Completing a visual inspection of a bearing using clean gloves and a magnifying glass (depending on bearing size) can help assess the bearing grade and its quality. Checking for low-quality bearings helps to ensure the bearing has not been damaged due to a broken seal or incorrect lubrication. Inspect for the following:
- Abnormal sounds from the bearing
- Overall or spot discoloration
- Flaking among any rolling element (ball or roller)
- Rust on the inner ring, outer ring, and cage
- Cracks in the bearing
- Misalignment in the spin
- Dirt or debris surrounding the bearing
- Too little lubrication
- Heat deriving from the bearing in motion
You can find various examples of bearing failures in our case studies here that come with visual inspections of the bearing failure mode as well as a detailed analysis on the cause of failure.
c) Apply the Rocking Test
The rocking test is a useful inspection tool to help ensure the bearing ball grade remains for its lifetime. Sometimes, a bearing may appear high-quality and like its grade, but after use or incorrect shipping and handling may falter and degrade. Inspecting your bearing with a rocking test helps maintain its longevity and provide warning signs to unwanted wear.
To complete a rocking test, lay the bearing flat and apply pressure to the top and bottom. This should create a rocking motion (hence the name) and identify any movement in the wheel or other components in the bearing.
This movement is a sign of bad quality and that you should invest in your Singapore bearing supplier for a trusted power transmission module for your machine.
3. What are Bearing Ball Grades?
Sourcing a quality bearing from a trusted manufacturer or supplier means you’ll also be given a bearing ball grade to identify the quality and possible longevity of the bearing.
The grades are defined by international grading standards such as the American Bearing Manufacturers Association (ABMA) and delineates a bearing ball grade from 2000 to 3. In this case, the smaller the number, the higher the precision and quality of the ball and is presented from “G2000” to “G3”.
The grade refers to how precise the ball’s surface is and calculates this by looking at the furthest possible distance between two points on the ball in comparison to the closest possible distance.
You should invest in quality bearings in Singapore with a high grade (low number) as it tells you that the balls in your bearing are precise, smooth, round and less likely to experience friction in movement. Meaning the power transmission will be at its smoothest and your ball bearing will have high longevity.
4. What is The Best Materials Used to Make Quality Bearings?
There are different types of bearing materials used to manufacture ball bearings and roller bearing for industry:
- Carbon Steel
- Chrome Steel
- Stainless Steel
- Ceramic
- Polymer Plastic
- Hybrid
Each has their own benefits and uses within power transmission and effective longevity in friction-reduced movement. However, high-quality bearings manufactured by pioneers such as SKF, Timken and INA bearings are often made of chrome steel, stainless steel or ceramic due to their hardiness and high-load capacity from both axial and radial loads.
To learn more about these six types of bearing material and their application in your industry, read our blog here.
5. Where Can You Find High Quality Bearings?
High quality bearings can be sourced from leading suppliers in Singapore and around the world. Using your bearing supplier, you will have access to a wide range of partnership manufacturing brands offering ISO-certified high bearing ball grades such as SKF, Timken, INA Bearings and more.
That said, finding a quality bearing also means choosing the right bearing to suit your transmission load. You may require ball bearings, roller bearings, bearing housings or another type. Having a high-quality bearing that is not suited to your machine or industry process can lead to the decreased lifespan of the bearing and adjoining components.
Start Your Bearings Journey With Us
Here at SLS Bearings, our dedicated engineers are ready to provide specialist advice and guidance for your bearing buying journey. Our partnership brands and manufacturers provide quality bearings in Singapore.
Get in touch with us to talk about finding the right bearing for your mechanical process as well as providing quality testing as we mount, lubricate and align your bearing.
