Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi all, It's been awhile since I posted, I'm still working on tooling up and have been stocking up on materials as of late. I'm almost ready to finish my first three, 2 classicals and a dread, will post pics of these when done.
I'm building a fretboard radiusing jig, the swing arm type to use with my router and I have looked for weeks for bearings like this, I can't seem to get any help from the usual mecahnical suppliers, probably because I need only 4 of them. GAAH!
If anyone knows where I find these it would be a great help.
BTW this forum has been great and I really appreciate the sharing. As I get a few more instruments under my belt I hope to be able to give some back.

Richard Schuwerk

Hey, it's an SST 205-16 bearing. I just ordered two of them yesterday - from eBay, where else. I usually order from Grainger because they have a good warehouse a few miles from me, but they didn't have that specific one with that specific flange style. So of course someone happened to have them on eBay.

It's just a self-aligning flange mounted ball bearing. You can get them from any industrial supply shop like Grainger, MSC, McMaster Carr, etc. Actually hardware stores will often carry some versions of them. If you don't need that exact stamped housing, they shouldn't be easy to find. I know Grainger has lots of them, though not all the housing styles will angle that far off 90. Easy enough to make a couple wedge shims to mount the flanges to though.

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Thanks David, I'm going to settle for a different style from grainger and just wedge mount as you suggested. Thanks for the input!
Rick

I used this style of Dayton bearing on an arbor I made a short while back, but it only aligns up to 2 degrees off square.



My Grainger catalog is literally still open to the bearing pages, and I swear I saw some in there with a lot more range. They may have been pillow block or rod mount bearings though. I'll check and get back with you later.

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Nothing in Grainger with such a wide angle range. I didn't check MSC or McMaster Carr though, which both would probably have much better bearing selection than Grainger does.

For what it's worth, those are the same bearings that Performax used on my old 22-44 sander (which I'm rebuilding right now, in case you were wondering why I happened to be so familiar with these particular bearings). Their part number is 50-3057 if you wanted to check with a Performax parts dealer (now owned by Jet). Of course buying it as a Performax factory replacement part would immediately turn that $15 bearing standard stock bearing in to a $30 dollar one, so I would check with other suppliers first.

The bearing number itself I believe is a 205-16, which can come in any variety of mounts and housings. It's the 2 piece stamped plate flange it's mounted in though, that gives you the range of alignment. I don't know where to get them with that mount, as I just replaced the ball bearing section on mine.

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

I checked Grainger and MSC, also McMaster Carr, and a whole host of companies I found on the web. I can get them but at three times the cost of the Dayton bearings. So I'm going to get the Dayton bearings, (funny, I live and work in Dayton) I'll just make wedge mounts and get the angle I want. I saw a plan that used bolts but IMHO that might lead to some twisting of the swing arm.
Thanks for your input, much appreciated.
Rick