HB Bearings

Based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HB Bearings Ltd. specialise in the manufacture of special metric and imperial bearings and standard bearings which are difficult to source.

Mitutoyo Aids HB Bearings Quality

Based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HB Bearings Ltd. specialise in the manufacture of special metric and imperial bearings and standard bearings which are difficult to source. Categories manufactured include precision radial, deep groove ball, cylindrical roller, angular contact, duplex as well as many other bearing types.

The company serves a range of challenging industries including the demanding Motorsport sector. In addition, HB manufactures specialist bespoke bearings in low volume for high-end supercar manufacturers. With the benefit of more than 50 years of in-depth experience, HB is able to produce state-of-the-art motorsport and low volume automotive bearings that can be designed on the business’ solid modeling CAD system. Whilst dynamic and static load ratings are calculated to I.S.O. standards which can be used to calculate bearing life.

In addition to HB’s comprehensive bearing range, the business also manufactures Super Precision Tapered Roller Bearings under the Gamet Bearings brand.

HB Bearing’s reputation has been earnt through the high quality of its bearings and by the excellent levels of service the company provides. To help ensure the continuation of its hard won reputation, in addition to boasting first-class manufacturing capabilities, HB administer a rigorous quality control and testing regime.

In accordance with the company’s policy of regularly updating its facilities, a decision was recently made to replace its existing bearing run-out, test rig by sourcing a new improved version. Given the demanding levels of accuracy HB’s bearing are manufactured to, rather than settle for a standard, off-the-shelf solution, a decision was made to explore the possibility of specifying a high-quality bespoke system that would exactly match the company’s needs and deliver improved performance.

Darren Mawhinney, Technical Director at HB Bearings, explained. “Our special bearings are manufactured to customer specifications, alternatively, our in-house design department is able to work closely with potential customers to develop unique designs. Our designs are able to incorporate specialised features which could, for instance, reduce component costs and assembly times. Our expertise covers many different types of bearings, all of which can be manufactured across a wide range of materials including stainless steel, tool steel and other exotic alloys.

Darren continued, “When we began the search for a new improved version of our bearing run-out test rig, having previously established an excellent relationship with the staff of our close-by Mitutoyo Elland, I contacted the branch with my ideas for the proposed new bearing run-out test rig. “After speaking to the staff of Mitutoyo, Elland, I was introduced to Simon Elliott, General Manager at MGT (Mitutoyo Gauging Technology). Simon quickly understood our requirements, then, through close liaison and cooperation, a design soon evolved into the required superior system.

“After agreeing a price and placing the order, we received a trouble free installation and system commissioning. It helped that we made a visit to Mitutoyo Coventry to check the system before the rig was delivered. Although we were familiar with the systems capabilities after the Coventry site visit, it helped that Mitutoyo staff came to our site and made sure everything was working correctly.

“Now up and running, we are delighted with the system’s speed, ease of use and accuracy. Simplicity is critical in the test application and the new rig can be operated with just one click. When compared to our older rig a major improvement in the new system is the inclusion of a coarse scale, enabling components to be quickly and simply aligned. Also, we can now export results directly onto CSV so they can be directly input into our reports, which is something our older rig couldn’t do.

“In addition to inspecting our HB bearing output, the new system is able to perform accurate quality control checks on our Gamet Bearings brand, super precision bearings that have a radial runout specification of ½µm.

“Initially, we thought that adhering to our required accuracy specification was always likely to be difficult as we need to measure down to 0.0001mm, although our new rig has proven to be able to consistently meet this demanding figure.

“Even though our previous jig was fit for purpose, our new bespoke Mitutoyo system has further improved the confidence we have in the premium quality of our bearings.”

Although Mitutoyo UK is able to provide an unmatched range of metrology solutions, on the rare occasion that a standard product cannot solve a measurement challenge, the business offers world-class bespoke answers through Mitutoyo Gauging Technology. MGT is a specialist division of Mitutoyo UK that is dedicated to providing customers with the ability to have bespoke metrology systems schemed, designed, built, tested and delivered, to solve the most demanding of challenges.

Simon Elliott, Mitutoyo Gauging Technology General manager concluded. “Here at MGT we've been creating custom solutions for small engineering companies, through to industry leading worldwide brands, for the past two decades. We pride ourselves on our ability to provide complete metrology solutions. Although we understand that customers may need just a single element, or maybe a combination of several of our service for their projects. For these customers we offer the following services, mechanical and electrical design, in addition to software and pneumatic design. We also offer a full calibration and service provision.

“We were delighted to work closely with the staff of HB Bearings to enable the delivery of a system that exactly matched the company’s requirements, at a cost effective price.”