What are Flange Mount Bearings?
Fasteners are often some of the most important parts for the construction of aircraft and equipment. At their most basic, they secure two or more components together in a non-permanent fashion, restricting motion relative to the attached component and include hardware components like screws, nuts, bolts, rivets, and more. Flange mount bearings are a specific type of bearing fastener, and are important for applications where a shaft is perpendicular to the surface it is being mounted upon. Common applications for flange mount bearings include HVAC belt drives, conveyors, food processing machines, and more.
When shafts are perpendicular to a surface, there is often harmful amounts of vibration that can be caused through flex, and
flange mount bearings aid with their superior ability to support loads when four-bolted, down to simple two-bolts which can support smaller loads. The bearing types that they utilize are often either
roller bearings or ball bearings. Roller bearings are a popular anti-friction type in which balls rotate on inner and outer races in order to redistribute outer load of component onto the rollers. Ball bearings are similar, in that they work to reduce friction between components, as well as support their loads.
Flange mount bearings often feature a housing unit in which the bearing can rotate within a contained environment that is sealed to prevent outside contaminants from getting in. The housing is usually bolted down while the outer ring remains stationary.
Housing types include those such as zinc die cast, pressed steel, stainless steel, and UHMW-PE depending on the desired qualities such as corrosivity and weight. These bearings also are highly beneficial in linear motion applications that require high precision