Interest in Aurora HAB-3T spherical bearings

[Eric Hutchinson]

Hello,

I've been working with Aurora Bearing about the possibility of a making a smaller bore, high-misalignment spherical bearings. Currently the HAB sphericals only go down to a .250" bore. We would be looking at having a .1875" bore made, essentially what would be the HAB-3T/HAB-3TG in their catalog here.

Aurora is reviewing their pricing currently. I know I've talked with a few people around the paddock, but I'm curious if any other teams might be interested too. Having a few more buyers might make the production run more worth Aurora's time.

Eric Hutchinson
UW-Madison Formula SAE

[Eric Hutchinson]

Hello,

I've been working with Aurora Bearing about the possibility of a making a smaller bore, high-misalignment spherical bearings. Currently the HAB sphericals only go down to a .250" bore. We would be looking at having a .1875" bore made, essentially what would be the HAB-3T/HAB-3TG in their catalog here.

Aurora is reviewing their pricing currently. I know I've talked with a few people around the paddock, but I'm curious if any other teams might be interested too. Having a few more buyers might make the production run more worth Aurora's time.

Eric Hutchinson
UW-Madison Formula SAE

[Ben K]

Sounds like a fun endeavor, but why...? Is it the strength increase?

You can pretty much create a high misalignment bearing out of a non-high misalignment by creating stand-offs similar to figure 3 on page 4 of their catalog. Our team did this--though I recommend using a higher strength steel for the stand-offs so they don't crush via clamping forces.

So do you guys currently take a COM-3T or otherwise and convert it over, or do you make do with the HAB-4T's?


Ben

[woodsy96]

Have a chat to the Auckland team, they may have just got some done.

We changed to the HAB-4Ts in 2009. They were a bit big and overkill, but saved us making 100 million spacers, and suspension assembly and servicing became dreamily easy rather than an abosolute c*** fiddling with spacers (or stacked washers when one went missing).

[Eric Hutchinson]

Ben - We're currently using the COM-3T. Looking for a different solution because dealing with spacers everywhere on the car gets to be a real pain.

[Mazur]

So would that mean a 3/16" shank as well?

How much weight do you think you will ultimately save? I'm assuming a substantial amount if you're going through the trouble of having these made?

[Ben K]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by woodsy96:
Have a chat to the Auckland team, they may have just got some done.

We changed to the HAB-4Ts in 2009. They were a bit big and overkill, but saved us making 100 million spacers, and suspension assembly and servicing became dreamily easy rather than an abosolute c*** fiddling with spacers (or stacked washers when one went missing). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You made me laugh out loud at work. Thanks for that. I now remember how much I absolutely hated spacers in our suspension spherical bearings.

Ben

[Dunk Mckay]

Spacers are so annoying!!! I had to get someone else to do it for me the other day, I'd been up most of the night and my hands were shaking just a little to much to do it myself. I've never designed the suspension systems myself, or researched bearings, but I always wondered if there was a better way. I'll be taking a much closer look at suspension design next year so this interests me a lot.

[Nick Renold]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I'll be taking a much closer look at suspension design next year so this interests me a lot. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Dunk,
Be careful. The rabbit hole goes a long way down...

[Mazur]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dunk Mckay:
but I always wondered if there was a better way. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

We welded in steel spacers where possible. Made suspension assembly a breeze, though we still had quite a bit of loose spacers. I'm going to try and eliminate as many loose spacers as possible this year. Shit sucks.