Air Bearing Information

[Tony Wells]

Sorry Mark, I could have linked you to the manual.

 

[benmychree]

I have a Harig air bearing end mill sharpening attachment and also a Weldon, which is for sale. The Harig likes about 50 PSI; I had no info as to pressure, and just attached a regulator to the air line, and turned up until it operated at it's best.

 

[Mark_f]

Since reading the manual on my air bearing , I found it is supposed to have 90 PSI fed into it. I was however concerned about the volume it would require. I want this air bearing to have its own supply as I do not want to run my big compressor to use the T&C grinder. I hooked the bearing to an airline and it works good and barely leaks at all. I closed the supply valve on the compressor and it took a bit for the line to bleed down. So, now I know it takes very little CFM to run this bearing. I would say , less than 1 CFM.

 

[Tony Wells]

I would say the consumption is fairly low, provided a close fit in the bearing. I used to run a Boice Accracord CMM with all air bearings, and that thing was a hog. It would kill a 5 hp compressor in short order, in addition to having to wait on it to catch up sometimes. You could calculate an equivalent orifice size and see what you should be using if you have a good feel for the clearance.

 

[JohnBDownunder]

Reading this post I was reminded of a post on Madmodder.net on this topic so went looking here is a link to the build article and about half way down he mentions that his spindle spins well on 15 t0 20 psi but I could not see volumes mentioned except that he said it doesn't use much air? Anyway here's t link if it helps.
http://madmodder.net/index.php/topic,9283.msg103034.html#msg103034
Oh, and there is a video of his spindle running about the same spot.

John B

 

[mweir]

Does anyone know how much pressure an air bearing requires. And to get really hopeful .... Does anyone know how much CFM they require.

I know this is an old topic, but it wasn't answered here and is probably still a question to users. My Cuttermaster air spindle measured about 18 SCFH (standard cubic feet per hour), fed with about 90 psi thru a rotameter flow meter with leaky fittings. Call it 20, divide by 60 minutes/hour, giving about 1/3 SCFM. Should be within the capacity of many small compressors (if you can stand the noise). I always drag over the hose from my main compressor, but am now considering buying a small one for this and mist cooling/lubricating.

 

[mweir]

Ah, one more thing. At the LubroTech site for the kool mist 60m, a small size mist cooler/lubricator such as we might use is said to consume "42.48 l/min" at 5 bar minimum. Four significant digits suggest they converted it from other units, and I assume they mean "standard liters" (i.e. at standard temperature and pressure). That turns out to be about 1.5 cubic feet per minute at about 75 psi. So it's likely that the Cuttermaster spindle uses about a quarter as much air as a small mist lubricator. I see both devices are subject to discussion above.

 

[Winegrower]

For the record, I have a Derex E90 sharpener with an air spindle. Yes, 90 psi is the recommended pressure...but there is really no outflow that I can sense, so these consumption figures seem high to me. The better the bearing, the lower the flow.