Bearing/Upright

[Murtaza]

We'll be using 6061-t6 for our upright. The bearings that we'll be using for our design needs to be shrink-fit.

Can these bearings be fit to the aluminium uprights using shrink fit or press fit after heat treating the aluminium?

[Murtaza]

We'll be using 6061-t6 for our upright. The bearings that we'll be using for our design needs to be shrink-fit.

Can these bearings be fit to the aluminium uprights using shrink fit or press fit after heat treating the aluminium?

[Ben K]

sure....why not?

What are you heat treating the Aluminum to?

Do you expect deformation on the bore after heat treat?

Ben

[Drew Price]

Murtaza,

If you're cutting your upright from 6061-T6, it is already heat treated, that is what the -T6 at the end of the alloy spec designates.

Do NOT try to re-heat treat it after you cut the blank.

There is lots of reference material about how much of an interference fit you will need depending on the materials you are working with, and the expected loads the bearing will carry in service.

A very rough generalization for wheel bearings on these small cars it's something like 0.001"-0.0015" of interference per 1.0" of diameter.

2.5" diameter bearing --> 0.0025"-0.0042" interference.

Don't take this as gospel, either consult the bearing catalogue, or find a copy of MACHINERY's HANDBOOK, it will be invaluable to your team for designing machine components like bearing arrangements, materials selection, design of fastened joints, etc.