Bearings
Eight round brass bearings on a 4MM axle shaft.
I first turned round bearings from 1/4" brass round bar stock. The bearings measure .150" wide overall, with two .030" flanges and .090" across the center section. The flanges have a diameter of .250" and the center section is .1875". The inside diameter is .1575". The bearing dimensions were determined by the K-27 frame width (.090" wide), the 4MM axle shaft diameter of .1575", and the axle slot width of .1875".
The Model Railroader article I am using as a guide shows how to make sliding bearings out of flat brass sheet metal wrapped around the axle. I thought this type of bearing could be improved, so I turned the entire bearing out of one piece of bar. These bearings would have worked fine, but I did not really like the "look" of them because the K-27 has an outside frame and the bearings are visible.
I decided to make my bearings look like the square bearing blocks used on the real locomotive.
First I cut off small squares of brass bar stock and drilled and bored them for the 4MM axles. Then I made a small jig to hold the bearing so I could mill the lips.
4MM axle pressed into jig center
Clamping holes tapped for 2-56 screws
Bearing clamped in place ready for milling
The square bearings look much better and seem to work smoothly in the main frame
You are visitor number
Last update Jan 3, 2002
