DIY Spindle - What type of bearings are best suited for a spindle.

[Ross77]

If you are into making your own spindles then there is a very good book in the 'workshop practice series' surprisingly called spindles.....for less than a tenner

Basically you have radial and axial loads to resist, normal skate bearings are good for radial but not so good for axial so if you use a thrust bearing as well then you should be OK, the next limiting factor is speed which is where the angular contacts come into play. they can be used as singles in opposing pairs under tension or as a preloaded pair and are sold with a speed rating.

taper bearings I believe are mainly used for high load and high speed like on my lathe..

Like I said this is a basic overview and there are many other factors like excessive friction/heat and then expansion of the spindle etc. etc....

Regarding the bearings in an ic engine are probably a high grade and could be deep groove bearing, much stronger than a similar looking skate bearing. Bearing quality is usually reflected by the price but unfortunatly they all look the same.