bearings

[D Martin]

Hi just a quick question. How often do you guys grease the pillow block bearings on your sawmill's  band wheels? I just had one fall apart on mine. Ill buy 4 new ones from linn sawmills, but the guy I bougt the mill from said once a year was about right. Im sure hours on milling is the right formula to decide ,so how many hours

[Woodchuck53]

Around here we give a squirt daily. It keeps the grease worm satisfied and cut's out the down time changing them out. Just enough to see it start to ooze. CV

[bandmiller2]

D Martin,kinda depends on the load and speed.A little grease often is better than alot once a year.High speed pillow blocks don't want to be stuffed full,let the bearing tell you take a large screwdriver put the handle near your ear and the bit agenst the bearing.Give it a little grease slowly when it quiets down quit, be carefull.Slow bearings such as on wheels should be kept full to keep out dirt sawdust and moisture.Many industrial plants use a stethiscope to listen to bearings wile greasing. Frank C.

[D Martin]

 Thanx guys I didnt think it seemed right not to be adding grease regularly. I have to do some re- fabing on the tension- taker- uper anyway' so I ll repace  that side,  both bearings. Think I should replace the shaft while it's apart anyway? They do seem cheap enough. If the bearing fell apart i'll bet the shaft is worn. All four bearings  seemed warm to th touch but not hot though. It bent the  heck out of a new band when it went.

[ladylake]

According to TK 2 or 3 pumps every 40 hours, seems to work with no bad bearing in 6500 hours.    Steve

[bandmiller2]

DM,if they are a name brand pillow block you can just buy the inner bearing ,fine unless the old one is loose in the housing.Their are different grades of pillow blocks for your application I'd use the better ones.For slow speed like carrage wheels the cheapies are fair game.Frank C.

[MrMoo]

I do mine every 8 hours as the manufacter suggested

[D Martin]

Turns out the bearing was cracked straight through, inner and outer. Im going to replace the bearings on that side and re fab the tensioner, the shaft is fine. Must have gotten some moisture that froze over the winter im guessing. Can't think of any other reason it may have cracked.