NSK produces billions of bearings a year for a myriad of different applications and industries. Amid this vast repertoire is the company’s range of high-quality spherical roller bearings, which is steadily growing in prominence among heavy industries such as quarrying and mining, steel and metals, and papermaking. Made in Japan, NSK’s spherical roller bearing solutions are adept at resisting seizure and wear in demanding operating conditions that include constant vibration, heat and shock loads.

Certain sectors and applications place particularly challenging demands on bearings. Steelmaking is one such example, where the aggressive operating environment means potential bearing failures present a genuine threat to production. Extreme temperatures, particle contamination, shock/heavy loads, water, vibration, high speeds and rapid acceleration/deceleration are just some of the daily hazards that steel plant bearings have to endure. However, the NSK RHP Self-Lube^® range of bearing housings and inserts can overcome these issues, as confirmed by a major steel plant.

NSK ball screws with nut cooling are setting new standards in the precision of machine tools with mechanical drive components. Confirmation comes not only from NSK’s own testing, but from machine tests conducted with CHIRON Group, a well-known manufacturer of machining centers. NSK ball screws contribute to the outstanding surface quality of milled parts produced by CHIRON Group’s new CNC machining centers.

For the past four years a hot rolling mill at a steel plant in Spain had been experiencing unexpectedly short bearing life, leading to costly production stoppages. As a result, the plant worked closely with the Technical Department at leading bearing specialist NSK to assess the application and propose and implement a solution based on high-performance spherical roller bearings. By adopting the recommendations set forward by NSK, the steel plant is now saving €69,803 per annum in reduced costs for downtime, maintenance, bearings and lubrication.

Euromac, a global specialist in the design and manufacture of punching and bending machines, is benefitting from NSK ball screws, linear guides and bearings in two high-profile recent projects. In fact, Euromac has been taking advantage of NSK motion control technology since 1995 as part of a long-standing and highly successful partnership.

A short training session and the use of professional tools from NSK: with these two simple measures, a company in the glass recycling industry was able to reduce the manpower costs required for bearing replacement by a factor of four and increase the service life of mounted bearings.

A manufacturer of automated analytical equipment for medical technology is using a two-axis linear system to handle samples both quickly and precisely. To help meet sector demands for high performance, the system developer is taking advantage of an assembly based on two NSK Monocarrier linear actuators. The units, which consist of a servo or stepper motor, ball screw and precision guide, arrive pre-assembled and ready for installation.

A manufacturer of polystyrene-based insulating products was experiencing frequent failures in the bearings of conveyors which link its machines. However, relatively easy control of the situation arrived following a hands-on NSK training course for maintenance personnel and the adoption of the correct bearing mounting tools.

The popular NSK academy online platform now features a new training module: continuous casting. Added to the steels & metals section of the portal, the latest module will appeal to anyone involved in specifying bearings to withstand the harsh working environments found in continuous casting applications. As with all training modules available at NSK academy, registered users completing the course will require an 80% pass mark to receive a certificate.

A new series of NSK spherical roller bearings with a patented cage design is set to provide general industry with new levels of productivity, reliability and load capacity. The optimised cage reduces internal stress and eliminates the need for a guide ring, providing just two of many benefits over existing solutions. Potential applications for the new ECA series extend from conveyors, gearboxes and steelmaking machinery, through to presses and machines used in mining.