On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 03:26:37 GMT, Anthony VanCampen
wrote:

McMaster-Carr www.McMaster-Carr.com is another good place for bearings.
ABEC-1 sealed bearings should be around $10 per pair for the 6202 series.

Don't forget you have two separate pulleys that need to be in alignment.
Once you have the blade dialed in, you have to go back and make sure that
the motor is still lined up with the other pully. The bearings in this
application are not very tolerant of side loads, so even a small amount
of misalignment will kill them pretty quickly. I'd take a look at the
pully alignment with a straight edge, or a small level. If the pulleys are
not lined up slide the motor arround to get it in line.

I found some Fafnir American made bearings locally this afternoon for
$6.70 a piece and the salesman assured me they were top quality and
should hold up well. The model number is 202PP and is sealed and self
lubricated just liked every other bearing I've put in the saw.

I always line up the pulleys with a straight edge and make sure to set
the motor tension so that when the blade is fully up, the motor still
has 1/2" to 1" left of travel. I've never had the link belt slip
though and could back off the tension some if that would help as long
as the motor doesn't start bouncing.

Another gentleman mention heat buildup. In trying to troubleshoot the
problem before I've ran the saw continuously for about ten minutes
without a blade, shut it down, and felt the arbor assembly and it was
not warm at all. I know that heat=friction=heat - a lesson learned
from running high rpm, high power RC model airplane engines over the
years.

In my research I have also found that this bearing number is used in
quite a few lawn mowers! Talk about a load - swinging a 22" blade at
2-3000 rpm with wet grass clippings attacking the seals.

BTW, Harbor Freight sells a puller set of 4 sizes of 3-jaw pullers
that work great for changing arbor bearings (don't use any impact
methods when installing/removing bearings). The model number is
40965-5VGA and runs around 20 bucks depending on sales.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'm still listening.

...Joe L