On Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:43:43 +0000, Danny D wrote:

I'm leaning toward a mix of that from you & that from dpb,
which is to buy the cheapest reliable brand-name bearings.

My current assessment (still forming) of what the good brand names
are for bearings, includes the following:
FAG/INA (made in Germany),
SKF (made in the USA),
Timken (made in the USA),
Koyo (made in Japan),
Nachi (made in Japan),
NSK-RHP (made in Japan).

If you know of other very reliable brands, please let me know.

BTW, here's a video showing how 6303-style bearings are made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6svVy1lYOA