Wexmar provides CNC machining for bearing and power transmission manufacturers, gearbox builders, distributors and plant maintenance teams from our shop in Canastota, New York. Bearings and power transmission are among our core industrial markets. As a bearing and power transmission machine shop, we produce shafts, bearing housings, adapter and withdrawal sleeves, spacers, locknuts, coupling hubs, pulley and sprocket hubs, and gearbox components. Our lathes, Swiss machines, horizontal machining centers and centerless grinder cover the turned and milled parts this industry runs on.
What bearing and power transmission buyers order from a machine shop
Power transmission assemblies connect a motor to a load through shafts, couplings, gearboxes and bearings. The machined parts include:
- Drive shafts and jackshafts with bearing seats, keyways, shoulders and threaded ends.
- Bearing housings, pillow block and flange block bodies, and cartridge housings.
- Adapter sleeves, withdrawal sleeves and spacers for mounting bearings on shafts.
- Locknuts and lock washers for bearing retention.
- Coupling hubs and spacers for jaw, gear, disc and grid couplings.
- Pulley, sheave and sprocket hubs, including bushings bored to size.
- Gearbox covers, seal carriers and end caps.
Materials common to power transmission parts
Shafts are commonly machined from 1045, 4140 and 4150 steel, with stress-proof grades used where straightness after machining matters. Alloy steels such as 4340 and bearing steel such as 52100 appear in high-load and bearing-race components, heat treated through qualified outside processors. Bearing housings are machined from carbon steel, alloy steel and aluminum 6061-T6. Stainless 303, 316, 17-4 PH and 440C serve food-grade and corrosive-duty drives. Bronze and brass are used for bushings, and engineered plastics such as acetal and UHMW for light-duty bearings and spacers. Our materials page has notes by grade.
Tolerances, finishes and documentation
Bearing fits drive the tolerances in this industry. Typical callouts include shaft bearing seats to ISO fit classes such as k5 or m6, which typically works out to a few ten-thousandths of an inch, housing bores to fits such as H7, keyways to standard width tolerances, shoulder squareness within .0005 in., and runout within .001 in. total indicated runout between bearing seats. Bearing seats commonly call for 16 to 32 Ra. Locknut threads and adapter sleeve tapers must match the bearing manufacturer's dimensions. Heat treat, black oxide, zinc plating and hard chrome are performed through qualified outside processors, with grinding to final size in-house.
Documentation typically includes material certs, dimensional results on bearing seats and bores, and a certificate of conformance. CMM reports and first article inspection in AS9102 format are available on request. Our quality system is ISO 9001:2015-aligned, with NIST-traceable CMMs.
Quantity patterns: breakdown, distribution and OEM production
Plant maintenance teams often need a single shaft or housing after a breakdown, sometimes built from the old part. Distributors and repair centers order 10 to 200 sleeves, locknuts and hubs to stock. Bearing, coupling and gearbox manufacturers release production lots of several hundred to several thousand pieces per part number on blanket orders. We keep programs on file and can hold material for scheduled releases.
How our floor handles CNC machining for bearings and power transmission
Turning shafts, sleeves and hubs
Ten CNC lathes, including Mazak Nexus QT200, Nexus 250 and Nexus 450-II models and the Multiplex 6300Y, turn shafts, sleeves, locknuts and hubs. Live tooling and Y-axis mill keyways, flats, set screw holes and locknut slots in the same setup, which helps hold keyway position relative to the bearing seats. See our CNC turning page.
Horizontal milling for housings
Six horizontal machining centers with pallet changers run 3- and 4-axis horizontal milling on bearing housings, gearbox covers and seal carriers. Boring bearing bores and facing mounting surfaces in one setup keeps bores square to the mounting face.
Swiss, grinding and inspection
Four Maier MLK-32 Swiss machines produce small shafts, spacers and pins to 32 mm diameter. The centerless grinder finishes shaft and pin diameters, the surface grinder finishes spacer faces, and two Brown & Sharpe CMMs verify bore size, squareness and runout.
Typical power transmission parts, materials and tolerances
| Part | Common material | Typical tolerance | Primary process |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drive shaft | 4140, stress-proof 1144 | k5 or m6 bearing seats, .001 in. TIR | Lathe, centerless grind |
| Bearing housing | 1018, 1045, 6061-T6 | H7 bore, .0005 in. squareness | Horizontal milling |
| Adapter sleeve | 1045, 4140 | Taper to bearing spec | Lathe |
| Locknut | 1018, 4140 | Thread to bearing spec, slots | Lathe with live tooling |
| Coupling hub | 1045, 4140 | ±.0005 in. bore, keyway | Lathe with live tooling |
| Bearing spacer | 4140, 17-4 PH | ±.0005 in. length, parallel faces | Swiss or lathe, surface grind |
Getting a quote
Send the drawing, bearing part numbers if fits are referenced to them, material, quantity and needed date. You can upload a drawing for an instant estimate, and a human estimator confirms every quote. For bearing and power transmission parts, call (315) 400-2654, Monday through Friday, 7 to 4 Eastern, or email ron@backwell.com.