Idler roll bearing assembly

An idler roll assembly having an outer shell and end bearing produced by the steps of:

• a) providing a hollow cylindrical outer shell and a pair of end bearing assemblies each comprising a bearing having an inner and outer race and tapered rollers therebetween, with said outer race adapted to be affixed within a hub portion of an end cap and an inner race adapted to be interference fit on an end of a roller shaft;
• b) providing a roller shaft having an outside diameter slightly larger than the inside diameter of said inner race, said shaft having means for engaging an adjustment machine for reciprocally moving said shaft relative to said outer shell for determining degree of axial movement;
• c) affixing each end cap to the ends of the outer shell;
• d) interference fitting the inner race of each bearing assembly on said shaft at opposite ends thereof to an initial position which is spaced outwardly from a final desired position while offering said outer race within said hub portion, such that the inner race is movable relative to said shaft during inner race location adjustment to the final position and remains stationary relative to the shaft subsequent to adjustment;
• e) restraining said outer shell and reciprocating said shaft along its longitudinal axis and relative to said shell to determine the degree of axial movement and, therefore, bearing clearance;
• and
• f) moving said inner race of said bearing assembly from its initial position to its final position as determined by said degree of axial movement, said inner race having means receiving an adjustment force from the adjustment machine to move inner race to its final position, such that the inner race is at the final position that is determined via reciprocation of said shaft engaging means by the adjustment machine.

An idler roll assembly having an outer shell and end bearing produced by the steps of:

• a) providing a transfer frame adapted to be horizontally translated from a first position in a first direction in two equal predetermined spatial increments and to be horizontally translated in a second opposite direction in a single increment back to said first position, said frame having a plurality of roll receiving cradles space apart a distance corresponding to said spatial increments;
• b) providing a feed shuttle adapted to be horizontally reciprocated in single increments depositing a hollow cylinder outer shell on a cradle on said feed shuttle and positioning a roll shaft within said shell at a loading station, said shaft having means for engaging an adjustment machine for reciprocally moving said shaft relative to said outer shell for determining degree of axial movement;
• c) indexing said feed shuttle in a said spatial increment;
• d) lifting said outer shell from said feed shuttle to a cap press station and providing a support at each end of said roll shaft along a central axis of said roll shell;
• e) retracting said feed shuttle providing a pair of end bearing assemblies comprising a bearing having an inner race and outer race and tapered rollers therebetween, with said outer race affixed to an end cap and an inner race adapted to be interference fit on an end of said roll shaft;
• f) engaging each end of said shaft with the inner race of each bearing assembly and, while so engaged removing each roll shaft support;
• g) interference fitting the inner race of each bearing assembly on said shaft at opposite ends thereof to an initial position which is spaced axially outwardly from a final desired position, such that the inner race is movable relative to said shaft during inner race location adjustment to the final position and remains stationary relative to the shaft subsequent to adjustment;
• h) fitting each end cap within the ends of the outer shell;
• i) positioning a first one of said cradles of said transfer frame beneath said outer shell;
• j) lowered said outer shell to said first one of said cradles;
• k) indexing said transfer frame in a first one of said spatial increments;
• l) lifting said outer shell to an idle station;
• m) indexing said transfer frame in a second one of said spatial increments;
• n) indexing said transfer frame in a second opposite direction back to said first position;
• o) lowering said roll shell to a second one of said cradles immediately adjacent to said first one of said cradles;
• p) indexing said transfer frame in a first one of said spatial increments;
• q) lifting said roll shell to a weld station and welding said end cap to said roll shell;
• r) lowering said roll shell indexing said transfer frame;
• s) lowering said shell to a cradle on said transfer frame;
• t) indexing said transfer frame to a position said shell adjacent to a cooling station;
• u) raising said shell to a cooling station and cooling said shell and bearing assembly;
• v) lowered said shell to cradle on said transfer frame and indexing said frame to position said shell adjacent a press check station;
• w) raising said shell and bearing assembly to a press check station;
• x) reciprocating the roll shaft, via said adjustment machine, while restraining said shell to determine the extent of movement between the shell and shaft and, therefore, the bearing clearance, said inner race having means for receiving an adjustment force from the adjustment machine to move said inner race to its final position, such that the inner race is at the final position that is determined via reciprocation of said shaft engaging means by the adjustment machine;
• y) moving the inner race of one of the bearings along the shaft to a predetermined axial location;
• and
• z) removing a completed roll assembly from the frame.