Ball Bearings

[John Bateson]

Intrigued as I am by the use of ball bearings (see MRJ 196) one thing does puzzle me.
Does the inside bearing (1/8" I suppose in our case) actually make a tight fit on the wheelset axle or is it free to move.
If they are fixed then to allow for curves the 'fixing' would have to be different for the centre axle of for example 0-6-0 to allow some sideplay?
If they are not fixed how is side play limited?
John

[Re6/6]

The 2mm internal diameter ones that I've played around with are a sliding fit (slight resistance). I assume that you're thinking of using 1/8th ones for 4mm. I guess that you'd need to make your own special hornblocks and a slightly wider horn slot, maybe 9mm. A supplier here: http://www.modelfixings.co.uk/Heli%20cylindrical.htm (not flanged) and here: http://www.smbbearings.com/Framesets/Fl ... _frame.htm

I've used 2mm ones for large flywheel supports in remote drives and haven't tried them for axle bearings yet.

[MarkS]

I assume you have seen this -
http://www.clag.org.uk/ballrace-bearing.html
and this? -
http://www.clag.org.uk/midbogie.html