"DoN. Nichols" wrote in message
...
On 2008-10-02, DrollTroll wrote:
Awl--

Went to cut a worn-out caster the other day to salvage the balls in the
bearing raceway, and was shocked to find that my 4x6 bandsaw simply
skated
over the shell -- the sides that are formed/bowed, that eventually
contains
the axle for the wheel.

The bearings have to run in a hardened race or they will destroy
the race.

Looked like run of the mill galvaninzed soft steel, but which seem tough
as
concrete nails, with a rockwell!

:-)

Whazzup?? Is this some kind of special alloy, for strength? Hardened
too?
Seems like overkill on a pretty light duty small caster -- I think it
came
off an old stereo cabinet or such.

Remember -- the balls are pretty small, so if the race is not
hardened, the balls will be pushed into it.

Well, it was the side of the caster, going down toward the wheel that seemed
to have been hardened.

But, your explanation may be correct, as they proly harden the whole thing,
or at least enough of the surrounding area where I was trying to cut.

One expensive week fer saw blades -- and end mills. sheesh....
--
DT






I also found out the hard way how hard speaker magnets are -- ruined the
not-so-cheap blade on a 16" DoAll.
In particular, this was a black ring surrounding the yellow-zinc back,
which
I think houses the "main" magnet, which is what I was after. Didn't
hardly
dent this black ring, which "looks" super-soft.

That black ring is the ferrite magnet -- it is a specialized
ceramic, and thus is *very* hard.

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
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