They finally arrived! Three weeks on a slow boat from china.
10 3x10x4 bearings for less than $12.00.
And they're ABEC 7
Bwahaaaahaaahaaaa! Hahahahahahahahaha! Heehehehehehee!
hold on, let me catch my breath......
Heeeheeheheheheheeheheheee.
Abec 7
no, really!
;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
Ok, seriously.
These things are bad. Like, if they were 200% better, I'd be disappointed. As it is, they're just laughable.
Don't waste your money.
I removed the shields and tried cleaning them. It did no good.
I spun them with a drill to "break them in." Nope.
After removing the shields and cleaning all the grease out of them, I used can air to spin them up, and see how long they'd spin.
The air did not spin them. Not even one revolution.
These things are ba-a-a-a-a-d.
Now before you start arguing, and saying that the air-spin freespool is not a good test of a bearing, no matter how clean..... hear me out. When you turn them, you can feel the grit. I've driven down smoother gravel roads, and I live in rural South Texas. Somewhere in the French Ardennes forest, there's a muddy cobbled road thinking these would make a nice paper-bag-Friday-night date, if they'd just clean up a bit.
Wow.
Dawn, can I order some real reel bearings, please?
Very funny! I esp. enjoyed that obscure reference about the French Ardennes forest. And now I godda look that one up...
ABEC 7's have very tight tolerances and aren't what I want in a reel. I think 3's were what Newell used. I like 5's. ABEC ratings are about the tolerances, not the quality.
I've been down roads in the Belgian Ardennes that resemble that remark!
Boca Abec 5s ! :-X Especially if your putting them in your personal collection! ;)
These are cheap Chinese bearings. The worst of the worst which is reflected in the price.
When manufacturing standards are this bad, ABEC ratings become irrelevant.
The de facto minimum standard for ALL Japanese bearings is ABEC 7 and they will out perform any Chinese bearing any day of the week.
~
The ABEC rating refers to the design tolerances and does not proclaim the bearing to be good or bad. A high ABEC rating might improve the odds of getting a good one but there is a lot of variability. There are people who test individual bearings, pass judgment, and sort them based on something like free-spin time. The ones that are rejected are still marked with the ABEC rating and are passed on to the next guy.
-steve
They are checking the balls for size and how round the ball is. They sort them and grade them as such. If they are electrical grade they will have a C3 at the end of the number. This means they have more clearance for heat expantion. All the small bearings come from china now. So its hit and miss on weather you get good bearings.
Mike
Please read.
https://www.astbearings.com/bearing-tolerances-precision-levels.html
Quote from: Robert Janssen on January 15, 2019, 10:04:26 PM
Please read.
https://www.astbearings.com/bearing-tolerances-precision-levels.html
Thanks for posting this. Now my brain hurts. ::) Dominick
Amen Robert - I hope :-\
So.... how do i buy a good bearing?
Quote from: Reel Beaker on January 18, 2019, 10:52:54 AM
So.... how do i buy a good bearing?
Yeah. Come on, someone's gotta have some kinda experienced advice that comes close to the bottom line for your personal stuff, or, special requests for repair businesses. So-far it's: Japanese made, or Bocca ABEC 5's. Could for example, Bocca sell garbage? and if so, how could you avoid it. Do the Japanese companies farm out some of their manufacturing? Would price dictate quality?
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=27148.msg315514#msg315514
I once bought some ten-packs of ABEC-5 and 7 from Boca. There were a couple of good ones, lots of mediocre and some pure junk. The more you spend the higher the probability it will be a good bearing. Hybrid ceramic and full ceramic seem to be different animals. More consistent and better overall. I don't buy full stainless any more for casting reel spool bearings. Boca is not the fastest shipper and if you get a junk bearing you have to place the order all over again.
-steve
Quote from: Gfish on January 18, 2019, 01:37:10 PM
Quote from: Reel Beaker on January 18, 2019, 10:52:54 AM
So.... how do i buy a good bearing?
Yeah. Come on, someone's gotta have some kinda experienced advice that comes close to the bottom line for your personal stuff, or, special requests for repair businesses. So-far it's: Japanese made, or Bocca ABEC 5's. Could for example, Bocca sell garbage? and if so, how could you avoid it.
It all depends on the application. For things like handle grip bearings which might almost be considered disposable, $2 bearings direct from China may be quite acceptable and very cost effective. There are reasonable Chinese productions, they are not all complete duds.
For all other non-spool applications such as main-shaft support etc, premium Chinese products from reputable companies such as Boca are quite acceptable. Lets face it, none of these are subjected to industrial performance demands but I always pump these full of grease to prevent saltwater intrusion.
OEM products vary depending on the reel price bracket. You get cheaper bearings in discount Shimano offerings such as the Citica whilst more expensive reels such as the former generation bling Biomasters boasted Swiss made bearings but the replacements do not always reflect the quality of the factory originals. At the other extreme you have paradoxes like Avet; a premium brand made in the USA using some pretty average Chinese bearings in their reels!
But when it comes to baitcaster spool bearings, for me there is really only one choice, "Japanese". The quality of these sets them far above even the best Chinese products. These are also a better choice for pinion and outside spool sandwich bearings on lever drag reels because of the heavy axial load imposed upon them by the drag system. The premium quality of Japanese bearings should weather such stress far better than Chinese counterparts.
QuoteDo the Japanese companies farm out some of their manufacturing? Would price dictate quality?
Japanese manufacturers are very protective of their reputation and would never engage in any undertaking that might jeopardize that. They have setup manufacturing bases in Asia to take advantage of cheap labor markets but the equipment and quality control measures are identical to the Nippon factories.
The old axiom is true: you get what you pay for except in Australia where you can expect to pay double :) So if the price is too good to be true, rest assured it is and you are probably wasting your money on a counterfeit product.
You have a number of companies in the USA acting as Sapporo direct agents for the Japanese EZO brand which represent great value for money under their new marketing approach eliminating the middle man "tax" so you can have your cake and eat it too!
~
Cool, thank you gentelmen. Dadsoltackle and EZO. Good info. here. I's wonderin about the Avet b.bearings.
I once worked at a compressed gas plant which was a Sanyo subsidiary. Anything sent back to Sanyo, or to other Japanese companies had strict quality guidelines which kinda made it a pain in the rear to get their orders prepared.
Quote from: Reel Beaker on January 18, 2019, 10:52:54 AM
So.... how do i buy a good bearing?
Contact Dawn at smoothdrag.com. Tell her what you want. She has ABEC 5 and 7. You can order by the piece, or choose the kit that matches your reel. She's been awesome to work with.
If there was a quality control issue with a specific bearing, you would think that Dawn would know about it.
Do you think it's only a limited number of repair persons spotting and reporting the cc issue?
Or the problem of Joe 6-packs installing bearing and calling it good, thinking I paid a premium and it must be golden?
-g