I know that I need to extend the bearing by 20mm and I plan on turning one up on a friends lathe. It should be relatively easy and I intend to put a small lip on it so it fits true over the existing bearing. My question is....

What material should it be made of? I am thinking ally for lightness but is it strong enough and what grade do I need?

If anyone has done this before I would be very grateful for any advice.

Finally if any one has a piece that I could exchange for beer tokens I would be most grateful.

Thanks

Joe

It needs to be a material that you can bond to the bearing. I am sure the westfield bearing is steel. Its not solid so not that heavy.

There is another way of doing it.

By moving the pivot point. This is how Gbs do it, making the pivot point totally adjustable.

[Edited on 11/10/11 by big_wasa]

Hi Joe...

I've got an MT75 & Zetec blacktop going into my GBS Zero. I asked GBS about this very point & they said no, you don't need a spacer on the bearing - just fitting a different pivot pin (which they sell) achieves the same result with the standard bearing. That's the way I'm planning to go.

David

They sell a kit ?

Its an M12 nut and bolt

This might help

This is a westfield supplied one (good and bad one) and the spacer was made of steel and measured 19mm thick iirc

Thanks guys. As westfield do it in steel I think I'll stick with that. I had considered the gbs solution but it requires drilling and tapping the old pivot point. Also it seems to be a but of a fiddle to get it the right length so as to achieve the req'd extension.