What does ABEC mean for skf Bearings?
Question: ABEC Bearings Ratings - What does ABEC mean for Skateboard
Bearings?
Precisely what does ABEC mean? Skateboard bearings often have an
ABEC rating, and skaters are often confused about what which means. What are ABEC bearings? Is the ABEC bearing rating fundamental?
Answer: ABEC stands
for Annular Bearing Engineers' Panel, and is the American way for rating the
accuracy and tolerance rating of bearings. ABEC standards are set by the
American Bearing Manufacturers Association (ABMA).
So what on earth does that
mean? Properly, bearings are used for a myriad of things, not just skateboard
added wheels. The higher an ABEC score, the more accurate together with precise
the bearing is. When companies make bearings, sometimes they cheaply slap these
together, and sometimes they are extremely carefully designed and assembled so
that there is as little space as possible between the parts. When bearings are
utilized in expensive and significant machines, companies will spend 100s of
dollars on just an individual bearing - it ought to be perfect!
But for
professional skateboarding, we use much a smaller amount precise bearings. This
is because they are cheaper, and because with all the slamming and sudden will
start and stops, a truly expensive, delicate bearing might get
ruined.
ABEC ratings are just odd numbers, and get started with ABEC
1:
ABEC 1 could be the most crude, the least precise, the most durable
along with the cheapest.
ABEC 3 is precisely what most cheap complete
skateboards accompany, especially skateboards from Japan. ABEC 3 bearings will
work for most skateboarding, but won't roll very smoothly or fast.
ABEC 5
bearings are the norm in skateboarding. You get a reasonable amount of speed,
and at a good cost. However, there are lots of people who argue that this
skateboarding industry is laying, and that most ABEC 5 skateboard bearings the
truth is aren't actually built to ABEC 5 standards...
ABEC 7 bearings would
be very fast and smooth, but very expensive. Plus, you start to run second hand
smoke of needlessly damaging them in the event you skate hard or strongly. Also,
if you are investing in cheap ABEC 7 bearings made in China, you are probably
being lied to (see the Truth about Skateboard Bearings.
ABEC 9 and higher
bearings would be ridiculous to use in a skateboard, unless you are doing
downhill luge trend skating, or something else where your goal is to go insanely
fast. If you happen to aren't spending a fortune on these bearings, then don't
trust likely in fact ABEC 9!
The ABEC rating of a bearing is determined by
asking these four queries:
How close is this bore to 8mm in microns (a micron
is one millionth of an meter)?
How close is the outer diameter to twenty-two
in microns?
How close is the width to 7mm with microns?
What's the
rotating accuracy in microns?
Don't worry if that doesn't mean anything to
you - I just wished to include it in case you're reading this article for a
paper there's a chance you're writing for school!
- ABEC 1 = ISO 0 (or "normal") = DIN P0
- ABEC 3 = ISO Class 6 = DIN P6
- ABEC 5 = ISO Class 5 = DIN P5
- ABEC 7 = ISO Class 4 = DIN P4
- ABEC 9 = ISO Class 2 = DIN P2