Hi folks

been a while since i've been here and also able to play with something new. We have a small machine that operates with a small motor driving a shaft at 4 RPM. There are a few single lobe cams on the shaft and there are ball bearing followers they are acting on. The part the followers are on, i'll call lifters, are solid an act on a spring that acts on a part being squeezed or clamped. The force is very low and buffered by the springs. I'd like the eliminate the bearings and maybe have the cam lobes directly act on the lifters but have their path sort of off centre so the lifter part turns when the cam wipes across the face lessening the friction. this is a NON lubricated application so all the parts are dry. The units already produced are already lasting 20 or 30 years and the bearings are replaced as wear items at least twice in that time. Any other broken or worn parts in this system are an anomaly.

I'd like to try and predict what the results will be from this change and ways to mitigate what could be excessive wear. like hard chrome or Teflon coatings for example? Small Bio