The Importance of Bearings Lubrication

February 10, 2025

lubrication

The financial cost of bearing failures can mount up pretty quickly if due care is not taken to ensure the necessary machinery components are operated as efficiently as possible. This means ensuring the critical points and bearings are well lubricated at all times, as one of the most common causes of bearing failures is a lack of adequate or appropriate lubrication.

As well as ensuring the machinery’s critical points are well lubricated, it is important that the bearings receive adequate access to suitable lubricant or the operator can expect significant damage to their equipment very quickly after instigating the operational functions.

In addition to the unnecessary damage a machine can suffer as a result of not being sufficiently lubricated, such careless treatment of the machinery can increase the risk of harm to any personnel in the near vicinity.

Insufficient Lubrication Leads to a Reduction of Service Life

Heavy machinery is particularly susceptible to suffering extensive damage (such as that which requires downtime for repairs) due to bearing failures, while applications that use continuous casting or any kind of metal mill such as rod or wire mills, multi-roll mills or other such rolling mills, are likely to experience bearing failures much more frequently than other types of machinery.

Bearings that are operated without suitable lubrication can see their expected lifespan massively reduced by anything up to 90% (depending on the demands of the application itself). Even with an automated lubrication system in place, the bearings and other critical points of the machinery should be regularly checked to ensure they are properly lubricated with the correct kind of oil or grease as recommended by the manufacturer the bearings.

Below we focus on two well respected bearings manufacturers, INA and Sferax Linear Bearings, and take a look at their different approaches to bearings lubrication.

INA Linear Bearings Provide Lubrication Options

The manufacturers of the INA linear bearing catalogue make sure to include instructions with regard to the proper machinery lubrication methods of each of their products. The INA rolling bearing is designed to create less friction and thus requires less lubrication than the plain linear bearing. The plain bearing features a sliding layer through which the lubrication can be easily added.

Sferax Linear Bearings Require Specific Lubrication

The Sferax linear bearings are also designed to produce a significant reduction in friction, however they still require lubrication and a very specific kind as well. These bearings operate much more smoothly when lubricated with a thin-bodied oil, especially during applications that involved high speeds.

The manufacturers recommend a lithium-based grease, although the exact the thickness of the grease should be determined by how much speed is required during the operation. The slower the speed of the operation, the thicker the grease should be. As stated, if the operations require high speed, then the lubricant must be much thinner in order to enable the Sferax linear bearings to operate at full capacity.

If you require any industrial machinery parts such as the INA linear bearings or the Sferax linear bearings, then contact YB Components who are the UK’s leading linear bearings suppliers who can ship these parts all over the world.