Wheels and bearings for spindle steady, bowl steady, and steady rests.

[odie]

If you use these inline skate wheels regularly on your lathe devices, I've found they usually last around 5-7 years. At this point there is no noticeable felt play, but they will make a high frequency squealing sound at certain rpm's that indicate some small amount of play does exist.....and, should be replaced. There are two bearings per wheel, with a bearing spacer between the two.

I'm now on my 3rd set of wheels and bearings for my Oneway bowl steady. New wheels w/bearings from Oneway are $12 ea plus shipping.

The bearing/axle spacer may be proprietary, as these 608z bearings are sized for metric axles......and what is required is 1/4" axle (standard imperial bolt size) No problem, as I have six of these from previous purchases from Oneway.....they don't spin, and have minimum of wear, so they are reusable.

By cutting down a standard bolt with a 5/16" neck shaft, an easy tool is made for removing the old bearings and spacers.

On eBay, I purchased 4 new wheels without bearings, and a set of 20 new bearings for $25 total, shipping included. Hopefully, I should be set for life now!

-----odie-----

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[hughie]

I use inline skate wheels on both my steadies and on a couple of inertia sanders. If its squealing just buy the bearings they are cheap and very easy to replace. In fact my inline skate wheels are always second hand as they are cheaper, my oldest inertia sander has been going for about 10 years so far no dramas or any noise. Skate board bearing are the way to go as they should be higher quality as skate boarder demand much and give the bearings a hard time. If you buy Chinese they will be cheap but get the plastic shields so you can check for grease. The Chinese bearings aren't bad but they often miss out on adding grease. The loading on the bearing in your steady aren't likely to reach more than half the load capacity of the bearings so they will last ok.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Chances are good the bearings are eventually failng due to dust. I believe “ZZ” brgs have shields vs rubber seals, and that is what the pic shows. Shields allow dust in seals wont. Shielded brgs allow easy lube with a light oil, I would use Rem Oil which dries and leaves solid lube behind, enough for the light load the brgs get. Or, just replace them - not that expensive.

 

[Tom Albrecht]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but my Carter bandsaw bearings are 608RS, and those rubber seals come off pretty easily.

 

[odie]

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The wheels are the softest I could find. My thoughts on that is for the purpose of the Oneway bowl steady, some compression of the wheels would be more desirable in dampening any vibrations.....

Any comment about that?

-----odie-----

 

[hockenbery]

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The wheels are the softest I could find. My thoughts on that is for the purpose of the Oneway bowl steady, some compression of the wheels would be more desirable in dampening any vibrations.....

Any comment about that?

-----odie-----

I think it is similar to good vacuum foam.
In vacuum foam should have enough compressibility to make a good seal but no more.
This makes a solid connection great for turning.
If the foam is too thick it has too much give after making the seal and will make the turning feel spongy and result in poor cuts.

A tiny bit of give in the wheels let’s them conform to slightly out of round forms without bouncing.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

If you use these inline skate wheels regularly on your lathe devices, I've found they usually last around 5-7 years. At this point there is no noticeable felt play, but they will make a high frequency squealing sound at certain rpm's that indicate some small amount of play does exist.....and, should be replaced. There are two bearings per wheel, with a bearing spacer between the two.

I'm now on my 3rd set of wheels and bearings for my Oneway bowl steady. New wheels w/bearings from Oneway are $12 ea plus shipping.

The bearing/axle spacer may be proprietary, as these 608z bearings are sized for metric axles......and what is required is 1/4" axle (standard imperial bolt size) No problem, as I have six of these from previous purchases from Oneway.....they don't spin, and have minimum of wear, so they are reusable.

By cutting down a standard bolt with a 5/16" neck shaft, an easy tool is made for removing the old bearings and spacers.

On eBay, I purchased 4 new wheels without bearings, and a set of 20 new bearings for $25 total, shipping included. Hopefully, I should be set for life now!

-----odie-----

20 Pcs 608-ZZ Ball Bearing 8x22x7 Dual Shielded Metal Chrome Skateboard 608Z 46708902925 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 20 Pcs 608-ZZ Ball Bearing 8x22x7 Dual Shielded Metal Chrome Skateboard 608Z at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Roller Hockey Wheels Indoor 76mm 78A Soft Inline Skate Clear/Blue 4 Pack | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Roller Hockey Wheels Indoor 76mm 78A Soft Inline Skate Clear/Blue 4 Pack at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

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Thank you for taking the time to share your findings Odie. YOu will save someone a lot of time. Aloha!

 

[Russ Braun]

Thanks Odie, overdue on tuning mine up!!

 

[Randy Anderson]

I've been thinking on softer wheels for my steady rest to help minimize compression marks and wondered if being softer would reduce their ability to minimize vibrations. Sounds like they work. Mine is home made so the wheels are stolen from my kids roller blades that they no longer used. Very hard and leave marks so I don't use it as often as I'd like.

 

[Tom De Winter]

Steve Sinner of Advancedlathetools.com deals with that compression by leaving a small band where the wheels run. It can be turned away after hollowing and with a large cone center providing tailstock support.
Here's what he says about using soft wheels:

Why are the wheels on your Center Steady different than the ones on other Center Steadies in the market?​

Three reasons. One is that we have found that the commonly used roller blade and skate board wheels are too soft to fight vibration, and they will melt when carrying heavy loads at high speeds. We use large industrial type bearings instead of the tiny bearings that others use. Our steadies will easily withstand the heaviest loads and highest speeds for hours on end. Our wheels are not cast. Instead, they are machined from solid bar stock, and the final shaping is done after the bearings are pressed into the wheel for perfect accuracy. We make a version of our signature wheel that has a soft contact surface for those who must have one.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

The designation 608 is translated to 8mm inner diameter X 22mm outer diameter X 7mm width. The conversion from MM to inches is 25.4 mm per inch so 8mm = .3149 and 5/16th inch is decimal .3125" so a 5/16" axel is sufficient for a steady roller especially if you have a metal separator so that the 2 bearings are clamped together on the axel. Note not all skate wheels come with a separator.

 

[Bill Boehme]

You need to be very careful about how much pressure is applied against the wood especially if the wall of the turning is thin because this can exacerbate vibration rather than snubbing it.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

There has been a lot of talk of vibration so I have some pointers to help eliminate the problem.
The first is to true up the wheels:
From the headstock end I have made a mandrel to hold the wheel with a 22mm step then a 19mm step, then a 3/8" guide pin and finally a 22mm outside diameter piece with a 3/8" hole thru. This setup will firmly hold the wheel for trueing up, flattening the contact surface and removing the the mold flash.
This shows the truing process that I used and the result is one unbroken shaving.

If I were to do a hollow form I would mount between centers get the piece reasonably round and roughly close to the finished outside form and then form the tenon. Next mount in the chuck with the tailstock live center also and make a smooth concentric area for the wheels to ride, with the tailstock still in place mount the steady rest, hen adjust the wheels and back off the live center. When I do all of the above I rarely have vibration problems.