Rol-Tru Bearings                                                                  
Our Design Approach

Rol-Tru Bearings produces a wide range of products, including "specials" and assemblies utilizing "off-the-shelf" precision bearings.  Due to our expertise in manufacturing bearing components and in bearing assembly, we have become very efficient at assembling all types of products with and without bearings.  Our Engineering design staff custom builds all of our assembly equipment, bringing another level of efficiency to our product line.

Rol-Tru Bearings utilizes a design and engineering staff in order to design, test and efficiently assemble the following products:

•  Custom designed semi-precision integral ball bearings ("specials"), overlapping into the ABEC-1 tolerance range;

•  Precision ball bearing assemblies utilizing commonly purchased "off-the-shelf" bearings, ABEC-1 tolerances and up;

•  Small mechanical assemblies, both with and without bearings;

Rol-Tru purchases 100% of the components necessary for the above products, including precision turned parts from a world-class manufacturer - Dell Tool!

Key Industries

We service many different industries, specializing in the business products field (components for copiers, check writers, printers, etc.).  A few of the current applications for our products are:

•  Any machine including a "paper path";

•  Magnetic rolls;

•  Immersion in toner sumps;

•  Rubber and foam roller applications;

•  Pulleys and gears (metal and plastic);

•  Idlers and tensioners (metal and plastic);

•  Cam followers;

•  Mail sorting assemblies;
  

The Rol-Tru Design Concept

Our custom design concept embraces the notion of an "integrated" bearing as part of a further assembly.  This means the bearing component features are created directly within the assembly components - for instance, instead of pressing a bearing on a shaft, our concept would cut the actual bearing raceways directly onto the shaft - we then assemble the bearing around the shaft!

The standard "industry" approach:

The Rol-Tru Bearings approach!:

The Rol-Tru design concept in many cases provides a superior alternative (in terms of cost and flexibility) to the idea of using "off-the-shelf" bearings pressed onto a ground and hardened shaft.  This is particularly true when the application calls for press fits on both the bearing inside and outside diameters, such as when a bearing must be pressed on a shaft and then a subsequent pulley or idler must be pressed over the bearing.   The benefits to the Rol-Tru design include:

•  Component Cost Impact - elimination of the ground shaft requirements, precision bearing cost, add-on  component costs (pulleys, idlers, etc.), and the associated assembly time.  With our design, you only specify the features you need in the final part, not features simply needed for assembly purposes.   Our designs will typically save 25% or more of the cost of a "standard" design.
  
  
•  Compressed Lead Time  - Many "off-the-shelf" bearings have lead times of 26 weeks or more.  Typical lead time for current Rol-Tru production parts is from 1 day to about six weeks. We have store-and-delivery programs to get you the parts you need, when you need them;
  
  
•  Elimination of Ancillary Costs - Many current designs call for the purchase, storage, tracking and assembly of multiple part numbers.  The Rol-Tru design leads to the purchase of one part number;
  
  
•  Elimination of Fretting Corrosion - When standard applications call for press fits on the inside and outside diameters of a bearing, the correct forces over time will cause the bearing to "walk" on either the shaft or the outside component.  This eventually leads to the bearing "eating through" the shaft or the outside component - fretting corrosion.  Due to the integrated nature of the Rol-Tru components, this possibility is 100% eliminated.
  
  
•  Unlimited Design Possibilities - With the Rol-Tru design, we can virtually design into the final product just about any feature desired - pulleys/idlers large and small, cam followers, jackshafts, paper feeding mechanisms, etc.
  

Sample Designs

Review our bearing sample page, then give us a call and see what we can do for your application!