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Engineer's Toolbox:
Slewing ring bearings get huge cranes dancing in Singapore

A story in pictures.

[All images courtesy: RBC Bearings Industrial]

 

 

The new and spectacular Resorts World Resort and Entertainment complex in Singapore is now open for business, and one of the major highlights of the park is an elaborate nightly show involving a love dance performed by two 98-ft-tall, 88-ton animatronic dancing cranes.

The birds are supported and rotated on special, large, nearly 9-ft-diameter roller bearings designed and built by RBC Bearings Industrial.

The massive cross-roller slewing ring bearings are each 106-in. in diameter, weigh 6,400 lb, and have integral external gear teeth. The bearings were designed by the engineering team at West Trenton, NJ, and fabricated at RBC's new state-of-the-art slewing ring bearing facility in Houston, TX.

Special design, analysis, and manufacturing techniques were used to develop and supply the bearings to meet the operating conditions and extreme axial and moment loads imposed by the dancing birds. RBC Engineering traveled to Singapore to help manage the installation of the bearings to ensure that they would perform to their design potential.

Source: RBC

Published June 2012

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