- Nick wrote:
- Hi Franky,
Thank you for pointing out that the bearings only appear to be 'bronze' if damaged. The good news is then that my bearings are in good condition!
Nick :-)
Hi Nick, today I worked out one of the bushes of my 2nd Atlas and investigated in the catalogues:
The material is called "Permaglide" with a f****g complicated sandwich of :
* compound of lead and Teflon (PTFE) at the most inner shell
* layer of bronze
* layer of (relatively soft) steel
* outer protection layer of zinc
So this is why there was a bronze color on the damaged ones (where the lead/teflon compound is off).
Good news:
1st: it's "maintenance-free" (not for eternity as we now know)
an can work without grease (I'll check asap if any grease can be used because of the teflon =>>> See EDIT ).
2nd: it's common standard: the one I worked out was PAP2025-P10. It seems that the lead containing P10 will be replaced by P14 (compound of teflon and zinc sulfide).
Frank
EDIT ===============
Lubrication
Permaglide® P1 contains dry lubricants and therefore does not
need lubrication.
[...]
One-off lubrication is not permissible.
Oil and grease lubrication, even in very small quantities,
impairs material transfer during running-in.
Paste formation
Over time, grease mixes with abraded particles from the
bearing to form a paste that promotes wear. Solid lubricants
such as zinc sulphide, molybdenum disulphide or similar
grease additives promote this paste formation. For this reason,
they are not permissible.
Exceptions
If grease lubrication is unavoidable in exceptional cases,
the bearing should be relubricated regularly in order to
counteract paste formation.
Examples:
■ corrosion protection of the mating surface
■ simple sealing against contamination.
However, a corrosion-protected mating surface (page 21) or
a different seal type for the bearing (page 22) is nevertheless
more advantageous in such cases
Operating behaviour
Running-in process
During the running-in process, part of the running-in layer is
transferred to the mating surface, Figure 25 to Figure 27:
■ this compensates uneven areas
■ a mating surface with a low coefficient of friction is formed,
which acts favourably on the operating behaviour
■ after running in, some of the porous bronze layer is visible on
the sliding layer as individual areas of differing sizes.
This shows:
– that the bearing is running correctly.