Southard's roller bearings?

[gull wing]

The Brad has been out since November, surely someone has gotten a mess in the "works". How does it handle things like fruit juice, dirt, lint in there?
The Product guide says hot soapy water, rinse, dry, lube, the usual maintenance print stuff. In the real world I could see some apple juice slowing things up. Is yours easy to care for?
I ask because, I slice apples every day and juice will find it's way in the ball bearings.
Yes, it's a bit OCD. :)

[razorsharp]

Mine gets full of steel dust , its fine , still fast

[gull wing]

None with goop in there?

[phillipsted]

I've been wondering the same thing, Gull. Does anyone know if some pics of the bearing assembly have been posted? I'd like to see how they are configured on the inside...

TedP

[sharpguitarist]

Hey Ted,
I found this.

Hope that might help.
Later,
Don

[KardinalSyn]

Interesting. That pic looks cool. Come to think of it, I have not yet read anyone mention about BB issues on a Spydie.

[sharpguitarist]

Hey guys,
I think that pic might be one of Brads customs, but I would think the bearing system would be similar.
I've seen pics of the Kershaw bearing system, and it looked about the same, just a different color for the plastic containment ring.
Later,
Don

[Dodge]

Edge observer has a cut away of the stop/bearing system. No pun intended.

[JNewell]

Edit - see next post.

I saw a YouTube video showing disassembly of a Southard and my recollection was that the bearing cage was metal rather than plastic, but I could be mistaken or remembering incorrectly. I'll try to find the video and post a link and time segment.

[JNewell]

Found a different picture in this review http://www.edgeobserver.com/category/kn ... /spyderco/ Per Taz's policy on hotlinks, I'm linking to the review rather than the picture - scroll down to the composite cutaway image and the description above it for the relevant part. :spyder:

[Holland]

cool video, thanks for posting it

[gull wing]

Nice of the edgeobserver to do that.

[Shakyamuni]

Here is a picture of the Spyderco Southard Flipper's bearings, which are slightly different than the custom shown above. The bearing cage sits inside a bowl-shaped washer and is supposed to spin freely inside that recess of the titanium, touching both the washer and the blade.

I took mine apart because I had one Southard that was not as smooth opening as 2 others I had handled. I discovered that the reason for it not being smooth is that the bearing cage pictured was fitting tightly into the recess of the titanium, and was not able to spin freely. On the other side, the bearing was spinning fine.

[mattman]

Thanks for the pic!

Were you able to tune it up?

[Shakyamuni]

Thanks for the pic!

Were you able to tune it up?

Yes, I sanded down the sides of the bearing cage and now it is freely spinning. I absolutely love this design, and I couldn't let this ruin my enjoyment :)

[JFerreira515]

Thanks for the pic!

Were you able to tune it up?

Yes, I sanded down the sides of the bearing cage and now it is freely spinning. I absolutely love this design, and I couldn't let this ruin my enjoyment :)

Both of my bearings on my domino are like this! I think it comes from too much flicking! I think the bearing actually heats up the plastic causing it to expand in the housing. I might look into metal caged bearings. Does anyone know the bearing size for the domino?

[toomzz]

wondering which steel the balls are made of....52100 ? :rolleyes:

[jonnieb]

Mine are :)