This post moved from Grasshopper forum by JayRay

[jrbeall]

Does anybody know much about Virgin Teflon (PTFE). From what I have been reading, the coefficient of friction is only .1 to .2 and it is a solid. The lowest Coefficient of any solid know to man. Most ball bearings are from .2 to .4. Also, wear and tear seems to be dependent on heat. At the speed of clock parts I would think that there would be basically none. Another point, it’s cheep. Like $2.50 for a one foot tube. The idea that I hope to test soon is to slice the tube of Teflon into washers and put a polished stainless steal sleeve over a dowel and through the Teflon washer. Then compare it to ball bearings for friction. Then for wear and tear.

How about Ceramic ball bearings. Referred to in many places on the internet as the Holy Grail of Bearings. Ceramic material is #9 on a hardness scale of 10 with only diamonds being harder. They are very smooth and when they wear they stay smooth, unlike steel. They do not oxidize like steel. Need no lubrication and have coefficients of friction below .1 when lubricated. I would think that for a clock we would leave them unlubricated. One problem, expensive.

Steal ball bearings. Are these good enough. In a clock will they last forever even if left unlubricated.

Lets not forget a piece of bone pushed into a hole…….Was good enough 1000 years ago.

Are there any other methods I am overlooking of a particularly good way to handle this with wooden clocks.

[cklingman]

Worked with a lot of teflon in the semiconductor industry.  Great stuff for fittings, etc.  But it will deform under pressure.  A clock puts a lot of lateral pressure on the arbors, more as you get nearer the power source, spring or weight.  Teflon bushings would deform, leading to increasing bad depthing, leading to more friction, etc.

C. J. Klingman
Briarcliff, TX

[Ed]

I go down to Home Depot and in their hardware section are these nylon standoffs. I take the 1/2" ID ones and epoxy them in the frame plates. Then (With respect to how close a certain shaft is to the load "Read Weight") I use a thin-walled nylon standoff with an Id to fit the shaft and a 1/2" Od. On less stressed shafts I'll use a ring cut from a longer standoff otherwise I use a pre made one (They come in several lengths) and epoxy it to the pivot (shaft) end. Rub a bit of pencil graphite on it and the frame mounted ones. They're pretty slick haven't had any problems. Also quite a few companies are touting the benefits of nylon and PTFE bearing materials. Have fun.

[peraborsera]

I think I found and figured out everything I need to know about AlphaO to be able to start using it except for one thing. Is Center/Center New/Center Cursor in AlphaO?