SGL Bearings Ltd are a leading supplier and distributor of bearings worldwide with large stocks and availability and high levels of expertise and service levels to match. With 20 years of experience in the bearing industry we are able to source and supply any bearings that are available worldwide
Contact us by phone on 01302 315144 or by email at sales@sgl-bearing.com to discuss your bearing requirements or buy your bearings online in our webshop.
As of January 2023 our webshop is still under construction but we are adding thousands of products monthly and working on the navigation of the site so that you can find the bearings that you need as quickly as possible. In the meantime our friendly team are always on hand to help you to find the bearing that you are looking for.
Types of Bearings
Bearings come in all different types and sizes, there’s more than a million unique part numbers and when you add in the number of variations in terms of clearances, precision levels, sealing arrangements, grease types etc then you’re probably looking in the tens of millions in terms of bearing possibilities. Some of the more popular bearing types include :
- Wheel bearings
- Roller bearings
- Ball bearings
But the list of bearings is extensive. There are plain bearings which don’t have any rolling elements at all ! They are often called sliding bearings as they operate by sliding against another surface. The key with sliding bearings is to reduce the friction as much as possible and to make the bearing surface softer than the surface of the shaft that it is being run on. This way the bearing wears first and can be replaced as the more easily serviceable part.
Bearings can come with rollers, such as needle rollers, cylindrical rollers tapered rollers or even barrel rollers and within each of these variants there are and endless amount of bearing sub-categories. It’s estimated that there are more than 3 million unique bearing part numbers and then approaching 100 million variants of these bearings by the time you take into consideration different bearing materials, greases, internal clearances and other special features. Whilst there are a huge amount of standard ISO bearings that are kept similar across all manufacturers there is a growing market for bespoke designs to suit each individual application with an ever increasing requirement for improved bearing performance.
Bearing Manufacturers
At SGL we can supply bearings of all different types as well as from all different manufacturers. Some of the most well known manufacturers that we can supply bearings for include SKF, FAG, RHP, NSK and Koyo
If you aren’t sure which manufacturer to purchase your bearings from then let us help you. All of the manufacturers shown above are premium manufacturers and for most bearing applications any of them would be a suitable choice, however sometimes you need that extra piece of mind or your application might have a particularly gruelling set of requirements where only the best in class will do. It would be cliché of us to say that Timken are the best for tapered roller bearings because they are the original and similarly for IKO with needle bearings or RHP with self lube but the world is ever changing and bearing manufacturing processes are improving all of the time. Did you know for example that SKF have three major research centres in the Netherlands, Germany and China ? This is on top of their countless manufacturing facilities worldwide and their investment in improving the bearing industry is second to none. They were the worlds first manufacturer of the SKF Agri-Hub bearings, now NSK, NTN-SNR and others have followed and produced their own variants. They keep innovating and others keep following.
Where are bearings used ?
Bearings are typically used in every application where rotation is required or where friction needs to be reduced. One of the most common applications for bearings is in our cars, wheel bearings are present in every vehicle on the roads today and in most cars you’ll probably find more than 30 bearings in other areas of the vehicles too. Skateboards and scooters also have bearings in the wheels and everyone will remember the fidget spinner craze . Every fidget spinner produced contained a bearing, generally it was a 608-2RS with an increased internal clearance to reduce the friction. It made the bearings sound noisy and slack but allowed the spinners to rotate for longer.
A lot of renewable energy solutions wouldn’t be possible without bearings either. Wind turbines contain specially designed bearings that allowed the rotation of the blades in an efficient way so as to generate the electricity that we use in our homes. Bearings often go unseen but they play a critical part in our lives and are part of a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide.
What are bearings and do they all have balls in them ?
When we think of a bearing we often think of a ball bearing with steel balls, it’s the most commonly known bearing and is used in everything from mountain bikes to washing machines and tumble dryers but not all bearings are the same. Bearings don’t have to have balls, rollers or needles in them to be a bearing, there’s other types of bearings too such as sliding bearings. Bearings are essentially a component to reduce friction between moving parts and every application is different on how this needs to be achieved. Where a ball bearing might be the right solution for one application it won’t be suitable for another and maybe a needle bearing or a bronze bush might be a more suitable choice. If you need help choosing the right bearing type for your application then SGL Bearings Ltd can help. With two decades of experience in the industry we have the expertise to help our customer to make the right choices.
Problems with bearings
Often when bearings fail, it’s not the bearing that’s at fault. Bearings are designed to last for millions of rotations so when bearings fail prematurely we need to understand what external factors are in play. Because bearings are the components that are rotating, any problems elsewhere in the application typically result in something entering the bearing and causing it to fail or causing excess heat to build up which burns away the bearing lubricant and causes the failure. Before replacing your bearings, take some time to consider why it has happened. Replacing your bearings every year shouldn’t be necessary as long as you are using a good quality bearing and as long as the application that you are using them is set up correctly and there are no external factors affecting their performance.
High quality bearings
It’s no secret that the majority of the worlds bearings are produced in China. As with everything, prices are driven lower by market demands and China has the raw material production cost advantage over the rest of the world. However, just because a bearing is manufactured in China it doesn’t naturally make it poor quality. There are poor quality bearings made in China, there are average quality bearings made in China and there are very high quality bearings made in China. All of the premium bearing manufacturers mentioned earlier now have manufacturing facilities in mainland China, it’s a fact of life but what is most important is the quality of steel used and the processes used to manufacture the bearings along with the quality of inspection afterwards. Iphones are made in China but hundreds of millions of people widely regard them as bearing the best phone on the market (not me, I’m an android user because they’re better). The company and professionalism behind the factory is what drives the quality, so the next time you pick up your bearing and find made in China on the box first check who the manufacturer is before naturally dismissing them as being poor quality. At SGL Bearings Ltd we can supply bearings from all of the premium bearing manufactures such as SKF bearings but can also have bearings manufacturers in specially selected Chinese factories utilizing our decades experience of sourcing, purchasing and supplier management and ensuring that the best factory is selected for the bearing type that you are looking to source.
Whether you need trailer bearings, mountain bike bearings, lawn mover bearings, tumble dryer bearings, wheel bearings or even lazy susan bearings then SGL can help. Call us today to discuss your requirements.
Bearing suppliers
At SGL Bearings Ltd, we are your local bearing suppliers. We carry one of the widest ranges of brands and part numbers in the UK. If you need bearings urgently then we are the right call to make. Our friendly and helpful staff will help you to identify your bearings over the phone and have your bearings shipped the same day for next day delivery. In truly urgent situations we will arrange specialized transport to you and have you back up and running in a matter of hours.