Lasts Up to 4 times Longer Than Standard Cam Followers

• Saves Replacement Cost
• Saves Downtime Costs

 Maintenance-Free

• Saves Maintenance Costs
• Saves Lubrication Costs
• Saves Time

 Increased Speed

• Boosts Productivity
• Meets Demands of Upgraded Machines

 Lower Running Temperature

• Less Friction

Interchangeable With Needle Bearing Cam Followers

The RBC Roller was developed for customers needing a high degree of assurance of long cam follower life. It can be used to great advantage in conveyors, automotive transfer lines or process industries-food, beverage, plastics, glass and others. The RBC Roller is also attractive for defense and aircraft applications, where system reliability and maintainability are primary design goals. The internal design and construction differ from typical needle bearing, ball bearing, and tapered roller bearing cam followers.

The RBC Roller design is unique and is covered by Patent 5531137. Two paths of cylindrical rollers create stable outer ring support. The comparatively large diameter of the rollers provides substantially increased dynamic capacity and fatigue life. On a size by size basis, the RBC Roller offers at least twice, and up to nine times the fatigue life of conventional needle roller bearing cam followers.

A center thrust ring in the RBC Roller imparts end guidance to the two paths of rollers. Conventional needle roller bearing cam followers rely on outer ring curvature and controlled circumferential clearance for roller guidance. The needle rollers often skew during normal operation, generating unnecessary heat which can lead to premature failure. When compared to needle roller bearing cam followers, end-guided cylindrical rollers allow the RBC Roller to run at lower operating temperatures and higher speeds.

Thrust loading in the RBC Roller is accommodated through contact between outer ring flanges and roller ends, and contact between roller ends and the center thrust ring. This provides the RBC Roller with superior thrust capability. As a result, the RBC Roller is tolerant of tracking misalignment and axial loads that would overwhelm other designs.

Contacting lip seals are a standard feature of the RBC Roller. These seals ride on smooth ground surfaces on the inner ring or stud. This sealing system provides positive exclusion of solid and liquid contaminants, and excellent lubricant retention. When compared to clearance seals typical of most cam follower designs, the RBC Roller contacting lip seals ensure superior protection in demanding environments.

The RBC Roller is pre-lubricated at the factory with a high quality mineral oil, NLGI grade 2 grease. The space between the two paths of rollers which is created by the center thrust ring provides a large grease storage cavity. This larger than normal ability to store lubricant, in combination with excellent grease retention of the contacting lip seals, makes the RBC Roller virtually maintenance-free. Under most operating conditions relubrication is not necessary.

The design of the RBC Roller provides the additional benefit of positive, unitized construction. Conventional cam followers rely on swaging or staking, particularly in yoke type configurations, to maintain integrity of the assembly. If adequate axial clamping is not provided, these designs can drift apart and cause catastrophic failure. During assembly of the RBC Roller, the center thrust ring permanently engages a circumferential groove in the stud or inner ring. This design feature ensures integrity of the assembly during handling and operation, and simplifies mounting design.

The RBC Roller is available in stud and yoke type configurations. Standard sizes range from 1 1/4 inches outside diameter to 10 inches outside diameter. The RBC Roller is dimensionally interchangeable with standard needle roller bearing cam follower designs.

Needle Roller Cam Followers have a heavy outer ring cross section and a full complement of needle rollers. They offer high dynamic and static load carrying capability, and anti-friction performance, in a compact design. They are used as track rollers, cam followers, and in a wide range of linear motion systems.

Caged roller followers provide large internal grease storage capacity for applications where relubrication is infrequent. Cage guided rollers and a very heavy outer ring cross section permit operation at high loads and high speeds. Caged roller followers are available with and without seals. The unsealed design provides the additional advantages of very low friction to prevent skidding in lightly loaded applications and flow-through lubrication.

Caged roller followers normally mount directly on a hardened and ground pin. RBC offers a line of Precision Ground Inner Rings to simplify application of caged roller followers.