Igus

[Christopher Crowe]

Has anyone played with using Igus (German polymer) pillow block bearings (and etc) for things like steering shaft mounts... or even sway bar mounts?

They weigh nothing and are supposed to be as strong as an aluminum component.

I dunno. Anybody looked into these things?

Thanks,

Chris

[DonArm]

Used derlin

http://www.interstateplastics.com/index.php

[RobLav]

Old school. I still like bronze bushings.

[starkejt]

Old school. I still like bronze bushings.

I figured you'd be using poured babbit.

[RobLav]

Nah.... my father used that stuff.

[starkejt]

Your father was Sanford Babbitt?

[R. Pare]

We used them in the front sway bar mounts years ago - they lined the ID of a COM10 spherical, and the bar had 1/2" snouts that stuck into the Igus bushings. Worked well, but we never tested to see if they were any less friction than using needle rollers (I doubt highly that they would be).

[Jnovak]

We have used low cost commercially available nylon bearings for years in steering apps. Never a problem.

Thanks ... Jay Novak

[S Lathrop]

I used Igus dearings to replace needle roller bearings in the front of a mono-shock setup on a Dallara IPS car. We tested the results on a 7 post rig with very good results. That setup was on Marco Andretti's IPS car when he nearly swept all the road races in his year of IPS.

A good technology and product.

[Rick Ross]

I used Igus dearings to replace needle roller bearings in the front of a mono-shock setup on a Dallara IPS car. We tested the results on a 7 post rig with very good results. That setup was on Marco Andretti's IPS car when he nearly swept all the road races in his year of IPS.

Steve,

Did the rig data indicate noticeable differences between the two bearing types?

[starkejt]

Igus cable carriers work great for hose/cable management on machinery. Other than that, I got nothing, as usual.

[S Lathrop]

Steve,

Did the rig data indicate noticeable differences between the two bearing types?

Yes. Especially in a warp test the difference was very significant.

[aims20]

We used igus plastics for our steering shaft bushings in our Formula SAE cars at VT. Worked great, and being college engineering team meant we would get free samples from them.

[Christopher Crowe]

-- Igus also makes an entire line of pillow-block and other bearing mount brackets from their polymers. Anyone know anything about these?

Thanks for info already given...

[R. Pare]

I would expect that their pillow blocks to be very good, but as with anything, you have to design within their stated limits.

On the Igus vs roller bearings : the big issue with the roller bearings as used in the mono-shock IPS car was that the rollers were expected to slide sideways during roll, which they naturally are not designed for, meaning steel-on-steel frictional coefficients. They would roll only in pure 2-wheel bump, and you would expect the Cf of the rollers to be much lower there.