Hi All,
I'm wondering if I could pick your collective brain power for a few moments...
I am looking for a single or pair of very thin bearings to fit a 30mm (+/- 2mm) outer bore and a 26mm (+/- 2mm) inner bore.
The bearing will be subjected to virtually zero load. It is used as a levelling device for a miniature camera mounted in the inner bore. It will never be rotated any faster than can be achieved by hand. The camera is in a weighted 25mm long, 26mm diam cylindrical housing. One half is heavier than the other to provide a self righting capability. A bearing at each end or a 20mm long single bearing would do. I imagine that some sort of instrument bearing(s) may be suitable.
I've looked at ultrathin bearings but most are either the wrong size (start way too big) or are way too thick. 'Standard' ultrathin bearings seem to be about 8mm thick but are clearly designed to bear significant loads which isn't an issue for me.
Currently I'm using the inner race of a roller bearing (26 X 30 X 20) which has a 2mm thickness but has a disadvantage of having no thrust capacity. It works great until the camera is tipped off the horizontal and it runs into the back (or front) of the housing and stops. I could solve that with the inner races from two thrust bearings but 1) this is starting to get messy and 2) overall device length is at a premium and even the width of two races may tip me over my maximum.
My ideal solution is a 26 X 30 X 20 ultra low friction sealed bearing with a smidgeon of axial load bearing capacity.
I have bought a 26 X 30 X 20 piece of that dry liner material (Iglidur) from IGUS. Haven't tried it yet. Not very hopefull....
Cheers!