At SKF’s factory in Cassino, Italy, we wanted to investigate the impact of clean oil on the honing process of deep groove ball bearings (DGBB).
To test this, we isolated a honing machine from the factory’s central lubrication system. We then installed a stand-alone filter system and introduced clean oil into the honing machine.
We anticipated that with clean oil in the honing machine, we would see:
- Lower SLR
- Lower tool consumption and wear
- Lower noise and vibration (Q44)
- Cleaner products and production
The clean oil was circulated in the machine, without manipulation of any other process parameters. We then compared the results with benchmark values.
The results were immediate:
- Increased product quality
- SLR decreased with more than
- 50% Surface parameters improved
- 25% Noise and vibration decreased (H-band and peak)
Conclusion
We were anticipating seeing improvements with clean oil in the DGBB honing process. This test strongly supported our hypothesis. Based on these early results, we are now expecting additional quality improvements on our bearing production thanks to constantly super-clean oil.
With SKF RecondOil’s DST technology, we have access to lubricating oil cleaner than virgin oil. This could potentially improve our production even further and result in bearings with higher tolerances and precision than ever before.