Couplers Distributor BMG Will Add Bearing Units

South African bearings and couplers distributor Bearing Man Group (BMG) will add housed bearing units to its product offering, following the acquisition of bearing solutions company QM Bearings by industrial movement technology manufacturer Timken Company. QM, a North America-based bearing manufacturer, was acquired by Timken in late 2010, and the transaction has enabled Timken to diversify and broaden its product range by offering an established product with a good reputation to its South African bearing distributor. For the past seven years, BMG has been the exclusive distributor of QM bearings and couplings throughout Southern Africa, and supplies the full range of QM Blue Brute spherical roller housed units and Quick Flex couplings to diverse industries. "These imperial housed tapered roller bearing units were the missing segment from BMG's housed bearing product portfolio. The addition of this product range by one of our key supply partners enables BMG to better satisfy customer demand,"says BMG bearings division manager Rouff Essop. The QMSN series, which is designed for efficient performance and extended service life in demanding environments, is manufactured with cast steel housings that have three times the tensile strength of cast-iron housings. This is important in applications where there are heavy loads and vibration. The robustness of these spherical roller housed units means that the bearing can be replaced into the same housing many times, offering cost savings. Typical applications for these units include aggregates and mining operations and the steel,oil and gas, automotive, agriculture and power generation industries. The range is also used in treatment facilities, saw mills, the food and beverage industry, as well as the pulp and paper industry. The introduction date of the Timken-branded QM product is yet to be confirmed. In the interim, BMG will continue to support the QM product range from its own inventory. The bearings division has expanded its product offering by intro- ducing and stocking the Timken housed tapered roller bearing product range. "The investment made by Timken in QM will ensure that this product line will continue to develop. This acquisition also means that Timken will maintain its position as a solutions provider of housed bearing units and not simply a supplier of product, which many housed bearing suppliers have become,"Essop says. Extensive inventory planning and stock profiling will enable BMG to adequately support the new Timken-branded QM product range once it has been launched locally. The company intends to distribute the full range of housed spherical and tapered roller bearings throughout Southern Africa. There are three standard sealing options available: The triple lip nitrile rubber series, the triple lip Viton rubber series and Teflon labyrinth seals. Further, triple lip nitrile rubber units have a standard sealing arrangement to offer maximum protection for most conditions, including moisture and dirt. The seal has a light to medium contact pressure, which allows excess grease to purge under the lips, preventing the housing from becoming congested with grease, which is a common problem that results in the bearing overheating. The steel backing plate of the seal is completely covered in rubber to improve corrosion resistance. The Teflon labyrinth seal consists of a Teflon ring that floats between two steel plates and ensures efficient sealing. The material is impervious to most chemicals and owing to its low coefficient of friction, these units have a high speed capability. External urethane seal covers, with triple lip nitrile or Viton contact seals, can be snapped onto locating holes on the face of the housings for extra protection. The cavity between the cover and the housing can be filled with grease to act as a further seal if necessary. In addition, the standard locking method for these units is the eccentric collar. Unlike eccentric collars on ball bearing housed units, this QMSN collar has a shallow ramp when the collar is rotated to the inner ring. This ensures adequate grip even in applications where there is vibra- tion. In addition, the angle of the axial contact area, between the collar and inner ring, is larger than normal. These two features prevent the locking mechanism from loosening. Alternative locking methods include a grub screw lock, a tapered sleeve lock using a standard adaptor sleeve arrange- ment, and the new V-lock that encompasses a double taper locking method. Further, the Timken and QM ranges of imperial-dimensioned housed units are interchangeable with other American-produced units. Source: Blog. Bearingunion. Com