Thin Section Bearings

Due to the split inner and outer ring design, bearing preload in split thin section bearings is determined by the shaft and housing fit. As a result, the internal clearance or preload settings can be set at the design stage of the application, lowering the potential costs of requesting special preloads to be set during the assembly stage of the bearing.

Our innovative manufacturing process allows for large bearings to be produced with extremely low radial runout, making them excellent for applications requiring precise accuracy.

Our split thin-section bearings are available to be supplied either as a stand-alone product or fully integrated into our range of slewing ring bearings. Due to their lightweight, heavy duty, and high-precision characteristics, they are suitable for a variety of applications including tank turrets, naval gun mounts, and satellite gimbals, radar systems, and ancillary products. We have a wealth of manufacturing experience enabling us to accurately and reliably create lightweight slewing rings with split thin section bearings for applications where large masses require swift, ultra-precise movement from bearings packaged into the tightest spaces.

The enhanced elasticity of a split thin-section bearing can provide an advantage to your production assembly procedures. Specialised features can be flexibly machined into the shaft and housing components all while maintaining a low cost as the bearings can be manoeuvred over and around these additions.

Thanks to the innovative manufacturing method used to create split thin section bearings, custom sizes can easily be accommodated with a one-off tooling cost that allows the bearings to be manufactured to exact dimensional requirements and diameters up to 5 metres. This allows for the bearing to be manufactured around the application instead of the other way around.

Our engineers are on hand to provide expert guidance on load and speed information for specific requirements and use our bespoke bearing calculation software to calculate the speed and life cycle of a bearing. We can also predict a product’s reaction to real-world forces such as heat, vibration, and fluid flow using our in-house programmes such as Solidworks and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to guarantee all customers a premium service.

Compared to that of a standard thin-section bearing, the lead time of a split thin-section bearing is considerably lower due to our innovative manufacturing process. To do this, we use a flat bar which is precision machined in a linear profile before being shaped.

As standard, these high-performance races are made of corrosion-resistant 420 stainless steel. However, the stainless-steel balls can be swapped for silicon nitride ceramic, industrial ruby, and M50 tool steel upon request. The standard NYLON cage can also be substituted with PEEK and stainless steel as required.

Before being formed into their traditional round bearing shape, the range of UNASIS split thin section bearings are manufactured using state-of-the-art linear precision grading and machining. This innovative method of production is advantageous by significantly reducing lead times and the overall expense of the manufacturing process, especially with high-volume production. This also leads to the high-precision class.

What truly elevates the UNASIS split thin-section bearings from traditional bearings is the raceway split. The likelihood of atmospheric conditions impacting the bearing is significantly reduced as the rolling elements do not move in a solid raceway. In addition, the race elasticity allows the easy accommodation of variables within the application designs such as shocks, vibrations, temperature fluctuations, and other external forces.

Pressure should only be applied on the outer ring when thin-section bearings are being installed into housing. When being installed on a shaft, they should be pushed on the inner ring. A clean and contamination-free installation area is recommended since the majority of these products are open and unsealed.

For more in-depth instructions about the installation of our split thin section products, please refer to our technical article.