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.

Race Report from F1 in Schools World Finalists, Team Robus...

We've just had this great season round-up & race report from our friends at Team Robus, who we supported with precision miniature bearings for their F1 in Schools challenge this year.  They're just back from their World Finals adventure in Abu Dhabi...

"Hello everyone! 

Team ROBUS are back from Abu Dhabi, fresh from competing in the F1 in Schools World Finals 2014 as the official Scottish team. We all had a fantastic time showing off our work to the judges and other teams, and we have also had a great deal of fun throughout the project, particularly our time in Abu Dhabi! 

With 37 other teams competing, it was fantastic to meet so many new people and we have made many new friends. During the networking session at the start of the event, we had an opportunity to introduce ourselves to another 240 students from across the world, having interesting discussions about our journey to get to the World Finals, and our hopes and expectations.

It was also extremely enlightening to see everyone else's work and the variety of ways in which the other teams interpreted the regulations. There were no similar pit displays or cars as everyone had their own ideas and their own ways of fitting their designs around the rules set by the competition judges. 

One of the most striking things about the competition was the good spirited nature and support for other teams.  As everyone has gone through the same struggles, all the participants encouraged each other across the competition days, with some superb examples of teams assisting each other. There was so much good spirit between everyone, whilst still maintaining that competitive edge that it created an excellent buzz which lasted throughout the duration of the challenge. This was most evident at the awards ceremony, as applause roared out for everyone who won an award or was even nominated! 

See the team in action here...

On this occasion, we were unlucky not to collect any awards, but genuinely believe that we became winners from the second that we qualified for the World Finals.  The number and variety of skills we have developed, refined and applied to the various elements of the challenge is truly astounding. From literacy to numeracy, sciences to engineering or design to marketing, the challenge has pushed us and ensured that these skills were not just taught, but applied and that we can use them in later life. It could be said that this has been the real award from our team taking part in the challenge. 

We ended our time away on an exceptional high, with a desert safari, Grand Prix Qualifying and the Grand Prix itself! There was also a sneaky chance to see The Who live in concert...it was fair to say that there were some very envious staff and students back at Deans whilst we were in Abu Dhabi!

We would like to thank all of our sponsors, who offered an exceptional range of support while we were taking part in the challenge - from financial support to assistance with manufacture or printing our pit display boards, to painting our car and even providing folding cardboard trucks; we couldn't have asked for a better network of sponsors.  The assistance that you have all provided us with throughout the last year has been exceptional, and we would not have got to Abu Dhabi without your support. Thank you to you all.

Our thanks also go to our parents, teachers and peers as we couldn't have got as far as we have without you. 

Our congratulations go to all of the teams who won an award and to the top three teams: Boreas Racing in third, Gamma Raycing in second and Colossus, the new world champions. You all did amazingly well, but be warned...with a far better understanding of the competition rules and regulations, future teams from Deans, West Lothian and across Scotland will be far better prepared in the future when attending the World Finals....watch this space!

It's not all over for us, in fact it has just begun - with two new teams from the school competing in the 2015 regional finals and our Legacy Project starting in December! We are very excited about being able to give Primary 7's a taste of the F1 in Schools Challenge and hopefully we will be able to inspire them to take part in future years. Our dream is to be able to have Scotland not counted as a region of the UK in the challenge, but to have it split into its own regions as England is. Here's to making this happen in the next few years!"

Congratulations to Team Robus from us all at SMB Bearings.

It's been a pleasure to support this great team & we admire their valiant efforts greatly,

watch out for these future industry leaders - they'll go far for sure!

Ron Flemming & his morse code keyer machine...

We had such an exciting visit today from our lovely customer , Mr Ron Flemming.  He's been visiting us recently (to get bearings to repairs his grandchildren's scooters) & on his last visit Ron mentioned a prize winning project he'd created, using our bearings. 

Prize winner (& awesome customer) Ron Flemming, pictured with some of his trophies 

We always love seeing what our inventive customers use our bearings for, so we were a bit cheeky & asked if he'd be able to send us a picture of the morse-code keying machine that he'd painstakingly built by hand in his workshop.  

You can imagine our delight then, when he turned up with this today:

"Hi, As promised  I have attached  some photos of a morse code keyer shown in various stages of construction,  that I built  using your small bearings SR144ZZ.

I am a licenced Radio Amateur with the call sign of "G0 BNC".

The morse keyer was built using scrap materials, plus your Bearings. The keyer is completely  my own design, and  can be used as 3 separate types of keyers.  As far as I am aware there is not a keyer available commercially that can do this. 

Materials used are:

• Base: oak over 50 years in my possession...

• Alloy Arms: scrap window frame,   

Finger Keys and Front Arm:  are from a used electronic printed circuit board,  Transmitting Contacts: cut from a electrical relay, then soldered onto the end of brass bolts,   

• Key Adjusters:  brass screws, brass screw cup washers, compression springs. 

• The Electronics and Batteries are cut into the base, and Speaker is under the arms.

• Plus your SR144ZZ bearings that 2 top ones can be seen with  1/8”brass brazing rod centre pivot pins with brass screw cups on the tops.

  

With this I won the 2012 annual construction  contest. The entries normally have only a few votes separating the first, second, third places, but one of the adjudicators advised me I received well over 50% of the votes. To make it better still, an ex military  operator advised me it`s as good as his expensive keys, and another friend paid over £1000  for his, and the difference is hardly noticeable. One of the reasons is because of the smooth operation of the bearings. One problem I found was because they are so small and smooth, I lost a few between the garage and house (they rolled so well)!

There are a few pics of the cup/trophy to keep, and the annual trophy that is kept for one year with a tag fitted with previous  winners details. (also in pic is the annual new years day direction finding trophy which I won, then  the annual construction contest in February. The main  trophy was donated by the family of G2HIF  who was one of the leading pioneer designers of radar detection systems.

Thank you for your excellent and knowledgeable  friendly service.  Kind Regards,  Ron Flemming."

 Well, Ron - what can we say, apart from thank you, thank you, thank you!  

It is such a delight to see our bearings in use & especially so when they have been used in such a unique way. Ron Flemming is truly a home-build star & obviously a force to be reckoned with in the world of engineering.

The awesome power of robotics & RC hex-copters...

... combined in one awesome video!!!

"KMel Robotics presents a team of flying robots that have taken up new instruments to play some fresh songs. The hexrotors create music in ways never seen before, like playing a custom single string guitar hooked up to an electric guitar amp. Drums are hit using a deconstructed piano action. And there are bells. Lots of bells".  
I bet the miniature bearings in the rotors had to work extra hard!

What's not to like?! 

SMB's EBAY Skate Store 2nd Anniversary today!

We're celebrating an a special anniversary today - SMB Bearings eBay Skate store is 2 years old!

We've been selling our skate bearings & lubricant via eBay for two whole years now - how time flies!  Thanks to all our lovely customers for helping to make the store a continued success, we very much appreciate your support.

SMB Bearings' eBay Skate Store

If you're not an eBay aficionado or you're interested in any other bearings from our extensive range of miniature bearings, stainless steel bearing, popular bearings, thin section bearings or plastic bearings please don't hesitate to contact us & we'll use our expert product knowledge to help find you the best bearings for your application.

Fingerboarding... Northwoods style

Until we started talking to Jared at Northwoods Performance Fingerboards last year, the sport & passion of fingerboarding wasn't something we knew much about.  

For those, like us, not quite sure what its all about, a fingerboard is a working replica of a skateboard that a person "rides" by replicating skateboarding maneuvers with their hand. It can also be referred to as a finger skate board or even a Tech Deck. The device itself is a scaled-down skateboard complete with moving wheels, graphics and trucks.  These boards are used to perform skateboarding tricks, or just as collectables - either way, they're a real passion for a growing number of people.

Lets get one of Northwoods' own team, Spencer Blaufuss, to show us all how its done!

Northwoods specialise in producing high end, performance boards & we're delighted to be helping them with our supply of precision miniature bearings for their wheels - the wheels currently found are generally quite cheap & for beginners, so we are helping to improve the standard! 

Jared says "Northwoods was conceived when 20 years of fingerboarding and skateboarding met 5 small pieces of veneer. What followed was a year long, borderline insane, passion-fueled quest to design a board unlike any other on the planet. Intense trial, error, research, development and final CAD designs have yielded a deck so fun, functional and beautiful that we have to share it with the world.  Fingerboarding is a sport and we have taken great strides to treat it with the respect and seriousness it deserves. Our very own, exclusive innovations like “SWEETRIDGE” and “POWERLINE” are at your fingertips, literally. Feel free to visit our DESIGN page to see how deep we dive into our decks. We are very happy to make such a high quality, precision board available to all who want to step up their game, try something new or just appreciate the art". 

Bionic Hand for Teenager...

One of our valued customers, Touch Bionics, has made the headlines today with their amazing bionic prosthetics.  Sky News have picked up the story:

"A British teenager has fulfilled his dream of being the proud owner of his very own Mercedes - in the form of a bionic arm.  Matthew James, 14, was born missing his left hand and had adjusted to life with a simple open-and-close grip prosthetic limb.  But after learning about the new electronic hand, called the i-LIMB Pulse, the determined student from Wokingham, Berkshire, knew he had to have it.

Knowing he could not afford the £35,000 device, the Formula One fan wrote a letter to the Mercedes GP Petronas racing team for help.  In his letter, Matthew explained how the new hand would give him more control and freedom, and a much greater range of motions.  He then put a cheeky proposal to the F1 team, asking them to pay for the artificial hand, and in return, he would let the company sponsor it by putting their Mercedes logo on it.

Team leader Ross Brawn said they were touched by the letter so invited Matthew to the Mercedes headquarters, where he toured the factory and met racing driver Michael Schumacher.  After learning more about the prosthetic device - and how it was created using similar technologies to those used in F1 racing - Mr Brawn said they were eager to help.  They got in touch with the bionic hand's developer, Touch Bionics, and a few months later, Matthew had his own fitted.

"It is just amazing," the teenager said after receiving the new limb.  "My old artificial hand had a pretty basic open-close mechanism similar to a clamp.  But with this one I can do everything. It also looks really cool - the outer shell is see-through so you can actually see the mechanics working.  They are even going to put a little Mercedes badge by the wrist."

Matthew said he would now be able to take part in sports involving two hands, like cricket, as well school science lab experiments, which had always been a struggle for him."

Congratulations to all involved in this heart-warming story.  Every one of us here at SMB Bearings is delighted to be involved in supplying our stainles steel miniature bearings to such a great company & project.  You can find out more about Touch Bionics & their incredible prosthetic devices here. 

26.08.11 Update - Matthew still needs help raising money for his hand, he's nearly there but there's still a way to go - please visit his page here for further details.