After 10 years of offering news & updates, the SMB Bearings Ltd blog has been replaced.
If you'd still like to keep up to date with SMB Bearings latest news
to visit our website's news page.
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Visit www.smbbearings.com for information on our bearings for hobby & industrial use...
Showing posts with label SMB Bearings Ltd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SMB Bearings Ltd. Show all posts
Monday, 22 October 2018
Monday, 18 December 2017
Choosing bearings for collaborative robotics...
Behind
the drawn factory doors of facilities across Europe, humans are working safely alongside
a new kind of colleague; one that is stronger, faster and more efficient than
ever before: collaborative robots. Here, Chris Johnson, managing director of bearing distributor SMB Bearings Ltd,
explains how to choose the right bearing for this new automation application.
Just a few years ago, collaborative robots
were widely considered a novelty, but the technology has quickly grown to be
one of the most significant
trends in robotics. In fact, an ABI Research study predicts that industry will
be populated with more than 40,000 collaborative robots by 2020.
As opposed to traditional industrial robots,
which are confined to operate in work cells to protect human workers,
collaborative robots can operate — as the name suggests — collaboratively with
their human counterparts. They are designed to operate safely alongside
people, by limiting the robots force and implementing sensors that prevent the
robot colliding with a human or any other equipment.
The machines are used to carry out
repetitive roles such as assembly and handling, taking these menial tasks away
from humans to free them up for more complex tasks. As they are designed to
take on these basic operations, collaborative robots tend to be much simpler
than other industrial robots, making them cheaper to buy, easier to operate and
less hassle to maintain.
Maintaining
accuracy
Despite the simplification of their design,
the specification of bearings for collaborative robots is just as important a
consideration as those of more complex robots, like six-axis or SCARA models. Industrial
robots are required to deliver high levels of accuracy and repeatability and
collaborative robots are no exception.
Consider the rotary joints of a
collaborative robot as an example. Manufacturers expect the robot to deliver
smooth actions, with good rotational accuracy and reliability. However, in
robotics applications, there is more to choosing a bearing than simply
selecting one that fits.
To guarantee the high levels of rotational
precision and reliability required for the operations of a collaborative robot,
manufacturers should invest in high quality, precision bearings for the robot’s
rotary joints.
As distributors of Sapporo Precision of
Japan, who manufacturer EZO thin section bearings for robotics applications, we
understand how high-quality bearings can prolong the lifespan of industrial
equipment. These bearings are lightweight take up much less space than standard
bearings and have excellent standards of roundness and surface finish.
Conversely, a poor-quality bearing can
result in unexpected downtime caused by inaccurate movement or higher
frictional torque creating problems with the robot’s operation. For
collaborative robots, any inaccuracies can also create significant health and
safety risks for human workers.
Making
the most of investments
Naturally, manufacturers investing in
collaborative robots are doing so to increase productivity, output and — perhaps
most importantly — increase profits in their facility. However, not all
manufacturers are aware that incorrect bearings can directly impact the
functionality and the longevity of a collaborative robot’s lifespan.
As with any kind of industrial robot, there
is no standard bearing that will suit every collaborative robot application.
The correct bearing would depend on the environment in which the robot will
work and its operations. Manufacturers should speak to a bearing
expert for advice on selecting the right bearing specification.
In 2016, collaborative robots represented
just three per cent of all industrial robots sold. However, estimates suggest
that collaborative robots will account for 34 per cent of all industrial robots
sold by 2025. There has never been a better time to invest in collaborative
robots.
For advice on selecting robotics
bearings, speak to the bearing experts at SMB Bearings. The team can discuss
the exact bearing specifications needed for your application to ensure you make
the most of your robot investment.
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| SMB Bearings recommending using Japanese Sapporo brand EZO bearings for robotic applications, including new collaborative robots. |
Thursday, 14 December 2017
Roxana Howlett looks back at 2017...
We were delighted to receive an update this week about our friend a all round skate superstar Roxana Howlett, prepared on her behalf by another legend - her Mum Emma 😄
Emma says:
"As 2017 is coming to an end I thought I would drop you a line to thank you for your continued support of Roxana. It has been a great year for Roxana with skating and she's enjoyed every minute of it. Below are some of her achievements this year.
- Battle of Hastings - 7th (out of 22 women)
- Buckland Jam - 1st in under 8s and Best trick
- UK Girls Skate Jam - 2nd in under 18s & 3rd in Sponsored
- Nass - 6th place
- Exmouth skate jam - 2nd in under 14 mini-ramp
- Exminster skate jam - 1st in under 13s
- Dawlish Skate Jam - 1st in under 13 mini-ramp
Well, what can we say apart from a massive "congratulations!!" to this inspirational &
uber-cool young lady - we're thrilled to have been a part of the skate action with Roxana in 2017 & can't wait to support her & see what she gets up to in 2018!
In the meantime, check out this brilliant edit which she's shared with us:
You can follow Roxana on Instagram & YouTube & of course we'll proudly feature lots more exciting news about her right here 😃
We're sending you our best wishes for fun & happiness in 2018 Roxana - with love from us all
at SMB Bearings Ltd!
-x-x-x-x-
Wednesday, 25 October 2017
New website & news area at SMB Bearings...
We have some exciting news about our website - we have been busy developing a new one!
One important change is that the SMB Bearings Ltd Blog, which has been running since November 2008, will be moving to SMB's website & will now feature on our website's NEWS tab:
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| SMB's News page will replace SMB's Blog... |
The site will be launched very soon (as soon as the final touches are in place & it's been tested to perfection - well, nearly 😝) & has been optimised to fit as much information as we can possibly give you about our bearings into a super-fast web-friendly space ☺🚀
 |
| Optimised access to our product range, coming soon! |
If you can't find what you're looking for we are of course still on hand to guide you through the enormous range of available bearings, materials & lubrication that we can offer.
We'll let you know when the new website is up & running & look forward to receiving your feedback on it - in the meantime, you can still visit us at SMB Bearings to find product guidance on the 1.5 million bearings that we have in stock today.
Thursday, 22 June 2017
Roxana's epic summer edit for Enuff Skateboards...
Summer's well & truly arrived folks & who better to put a spring in your summer step than
Roxana Howlett!
Well, what can we say apart from we LOVE this kid & her dedication to skating 💗
Check out her summer edit for sponsor Enuff Skateboards (& we get a little mention too! 😉)
Roxana is off to Nass Festival in Bristol in the next couple of weeks & is really looking forward to the experience of skating with some top female skaters at Girls Skate UK -
you can expect to see some of the best skaters in the UK including Josie Millard, Lucy Adams, Rianne Evans, Helena Long and many many more. This competition is not to be missed! We are sure that Roxana will wow them with her skills!
In the meantime you can see loads more of Roxana's edits at YouTube or on Instagram & trust us, Roxsk8girl is well worth following.
We're so proud that our skate bearings help to keep her rolling in style! 💞
Thursday, 18 May 2017
F1 in Schools team Tiro Racing, photo diary...
Ever wondered what it takes to win an F1 in Schools National Final? 🏆
Well, take a look at these photos from Tiro Racing team & wonder no more 😄
All hail the UK F1 in Schools England National Champions 2017!!
We are delighted to sponsor Tiro Racing, a team of six engineering apprentices from Kingston College, SouthWest London, competing in the 2017 F1 in Schools competition.
 |
| Meet the Tiro Racing team! |
They first competed at the London and South East Regional Final, held at the CEME centre in Rainham, East London on the 8th February. Here, against 25 other teams from around the region, they emerged in 2nd place in the Professional Class as well as winning the award for the best team
identity. Due to this success, they then qualified to represent the area at the UK National Final.
The F1 in Schools UK National Final took place at the internationally acclaimed Silverstone GP Circuit on the 29th and 30th of March 2017. The National Final consisted of the best 30 teams from 11 different regions across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The level of competition over the two days was extremely high, with quite possibly the highest standard ever reached
for a UK National Final. The stakes were undoubtedly high with the top 3 placed teams overall, along with the Home Nation Champions, being able to progress further in the competition to the World Finals...
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| Tiro Racing showing off their trophies. |
After the two days of competition, Tiro Racing were crowned English National Champions and were awarded with the prestigious Best Engineered Car, as well as being placed 2nd overall in the UK.
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| Tiro Racing's "Best Engineered Car" 2017... |
Therefore, they go on to represent England at the forthcoming 2017 F1 in Schools World Finals in Kuala Lumpur in September, with the goal of becoming World Champions. Additionally, they are the first ever apprentice team in the history of the 14-year competition to reach the World Finals!
 |
| Tiro Racing meeting with local MP meeting James Berry... |
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| MP James Berry (centre) being presented with his very own Tiro Racing team top |
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| Tiro Racing facing the judges panel at the F1 in Schools National Finals |
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| Demonstrating the car to the judges... |
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| Ready for launch... |
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| Ready to race!! |
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| The pit display, part of the branding & team image that Tiro Racing were judged on |
 | ||
To keep up to date with the latest news from the team you can visit the Tiro Racing website,
or you can follow them on Twitter (@TiroRacing) or check them out on Facebook 💫
Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Introducing skateboarder Roxana "Rox Sk8 Girl" Howlett...
It's always great to hear from young people with a real dedicated passion for their chosen hobby, so we were delighted to get a message recently, introducing us to Roxana Howlett.
 |
| Roxana with a little bit of SMB booty to get her 2017 off to a flying start 💫 |
We were so impressed with the progress that she's made in just one year of skateboarding that we were delighted to immediately make her part of our little SMB skate family! We will be looking forward to bringing you her news & updates as she continues her skateboard journey, but in the meantime you can follow her on Instagram @roxsk8girl or on her YouTube channel Rox Sk8 Girl.
Her very proud Mum, Emma, says:
"My daughter Roxana is 7 years old. She has been skating for less than a year and has a real passion for it. After school each day she runs straight through the house and out the back door onto her miniramp. She skates every day without fail! I'm not sure where she gets her talent from as none of our family skate so it's purely driven by her love for skating.
Enuff skateboards are Roxana's deck sponsor and she features on their riders page here http://www.enuffskateboards.com/riders-page/"
We are sure that Roxana will be a star of the future, if she continues working just as hard as she is right now at her passion for skateboarding, & we're looking forward very much to being a small part of her journey.
Big loves from us all at SMB Bearings Roxana!
💚💛💜
💚💛💜
Wednesday, 21 December 2016
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...
All of us at SMB Bearings Ltd would like to wish our colleagues,
customers & friends the very best for Christmas & the coming year! 😄
****
We will close at midday on 23rd December & re-open at 9am on the 3rd January 2017 - see you in the New Year!
Friday, 16 December 2016
SMB's new non-magnetic bearings brochure...
We're delighted to be starting work on a new brochure, to showcase our non-magnetic bearings - we have plastic (acetal resin), ceramic & 316 grade stainless steel bearings available for a diverse range of applications...
Sometimes applications require bearings to be non-
 |
| Acetal bearings with glass balls |
 |
| Acetal bearings with 316 stainless steel balls |
Different materials for rings, balls and cage are required where a bearing is required to be non-
 |
| Flanged plastic/acetal bearings... |
We can supply full ceramic bearings most commonly made from zirconium dioxide or silicon nitride or, alternatively, austenitic stainless steel bearings made from 316 grade stainless steel. The cages are made from non-
 |
| Ceramic bearings ... |
 |
| 316 grade stainless steel bearings |
If you'd like to find out a little more (before our swanky new brochure is unveiled 😉) then please contact us or you can find more details at our website.
Monday, 8 August 2016
Alex Clark's Kozakov run (filmed by our colleague Aaron)...
 |
| Aaron in action at Kozakov |
Thursday, 28 July 2016
SMB's July newsletter is now available...
Click on the image below to see the full newsletter online:
Tuesday, 7 June 2016
SMB Bearings' Aaron Skippings downhill skating in Granada...
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| Aaron (aka Nutty Professor) Skippings with technical manager Jeff Petrash in SMB's technical suite |
Aaron says "A while back I flew out to Granada in Spain to visit my buddy Joe Baldwin, who also happens to be a SMB bearings team rider. I’ve know this guy a while and skated with him across Europe and America.
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| The fabulous Joe Baldwin - England's loss was Spain's gain :-) |
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| Joe Baldwin & Aaron Skipping pictured together at Pike's Peak a couple of years ago. |
Before I
flew out I thought I would hit the Welsh hills but crashed pretty hard and that
really ruined me for my Spanish trip. Even though I felt like I was frail and
ready to retire as a pensioner we cracked on and Joe took me around all the
hills Granada has to offer, including some pretty beautiful spots to chill out.
Most of the trip was spent chilling but the skating we did get done was pretty
damn awesome and the scenery is always breath-taking. This footage is from a chilled run we
did earlier on at the start of the week".
 |
| Aaron hard at work at SMB Bearings |
Friday, 27 May 2016
SMB (we love our) Bearings!...
As we're a bit geeky at SMB, we've made a video montage from a small selection of the bearings that we can offer you. For details of our full range, please see our website's product pages.
Please contact us if you have any enquiries.
Friday, 6 May 2016
Take a virtual tour at SMB Bearings (in the sunshine!)...
Taking a tour of the new warehouse & re-lubrication suite at SMB Bearings Ltd - this is where the magic happens!
Over 2500 different precision radial ball bearings are stocked in our warehouse
& ready for worldwide despatch today...
Plus our re-lubrication suite, ready to clean and re-lubricate SMB bearings or customer-supplied bearings for a wide range of bespoke applications.
See http://www.smbbearings.com/index.html for more details...
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