Custom plain bearings
The demand for custom non-standard plain bearings is increasing. We can manufacture copper alloy materials to meet China’s national standards as well as the ASTM (UNS, SAE), EU, and JIS standards.
Bespoke plain bearings
viiplus collaborates with customers to find tailored solutions, offering plain bearings in various materials, sizes, tolerances, and designs.
Timely Delivery
Committed to meeting tight deadlines without compromising on quality, we ensure reliable and efficient production timelines.
Versatility
Capable of handling both small-scale and high-volume orders, we provide seamless support for projects of any size. Additionally, we can develop custom copper alloy materials based on specific customer requirements and drawings.
Specialized in Custom Flange Thrust Bearing
When a bearing must also locate a shaft axially or carry pure thrust, VIIPLUS supplies flange bushings, thrust washers, and thrust plates in bronze, PTFE composite, and JDB graphite. The right flange bearing or thrust washer bearing stops movement, spreads axial load, and keeps your assembly aligned — in standard sizes or made to drawing.
Radial sleeves handle rotation; flanges and thrust elements handle the forces a plain bushing cannot. Below is the full guide to specifying a bronze flange bushing, a thrust washer, or a combined design — and how material choice changes with load and speed.
In real assemblies, axial loads are everywhere: a gearbox shaft tries to walk out under thrust, a crane pivot sees side load, a turntable stacks its own weight onto a central bearing. Ignoring these forces is a common cause of premature failure — the radial bushing wears its flange face or the shaft chews the housing. Specifying the correct flange or thrust element up front is far cheaper than rebuilding the joint later, which is why we treat them as first-class bearing types rather than accessories.
Because flanges and thrust elements are so often specified as an afterthought, we publish clear selection logic and keep all three families — bronze, PTFE, and JDB — in matching sizes, so a designer can switch material without re-drawing the housing. That continuity lets one machine use a bronze flanged bushing at a loaded pivot and a PTFE thrust washer at a high-speed axial face, without multiplying part numbers or suppliers.
Custom Machined Bronze Parts & Bearings
Flange vs Thrust vs Sleeve
| Type | Load Direction | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Sleeve bearing | Radial | Supports rotation of a shaft |
| Flange bushing | Radial + axial | Rotation plus axial location via flange face |
| Thrust washer / plate | Axial only | Carries pure thrust between surfaces |
A flange sleeve bearing is the simplest way to add axial location without a separate thrust part; a thrust plate is used where rotation is minimal but axial force is large (e.g., a rotating table on a fixed base).
The decision rule is straightforward: if the shaft also rotates radially, start from a flanged bushing so one part handles both duties; if there is no radial motion and only axial force, a thrust washer or plate is lighter and cheaper. Where both a sleeve and a thrust face are needed in a tight stack, we often combine them into a single custom component — a flanged bushing with an extended or shouldered face — to remove an assembly step and a tolerance interface.
Oilless Bushing Material, Machining Parts
Flange Bushings
Flanged bushings are used wherever a shaft must not slide axially — gearboxes, pivots, guided slides, and linkages. The flange provides a hard locating face and also helps seat the bushing squarely in the housing. We produce flanges as an integral part of the bushing in bronze, PTFE composite, and JDB, with oil grooves or graphite plugs on the bore as the duty requires.
Flange geometry matters: the flange face should be wide enough to spread the axial reaction over sufficient area (avoiding brinelling the housing), and the corner where flange meets bore is a stress concentrator in thin parts, so we radius or chamfer it on request. For PTFE-composite flanges the flange itself is usually unlined and carries load by bearing on the housing shoulder, while the bore does the sliding — keep that distinction in mind when specifying.
Thrust washers are thin annular plates that sit between a rotating and a stationary surface to take axial load while allowing rotation. Thrust plates are the larger, often heavier variants used in slewing and turntable applications. Both must run against a hardened, flat counterface; we can advise on surface finish and hardness to minimize wear.
For washers we recommend a counterface hardness of at least 45 HRC and a flatness within tight limits, because thrust load is concentrated and any tilt drives edge loading. Where the mating part cannot be hardened, choose a thicker plate or a JDB/graphite washer that tolerates marginal conditions better than a thin PTFE part. Retaining the washer against rotation is addressed by a slot, a pin, or a molded boss engaging the housing — leaving it free to spin with the shaft defeats the purpose.
Thrust capacity depends on the contact area, the material, and the counterface hardness. Misalignment is the enemy of thrust washers — even a small tilt concentrates load at the edge and accelerates wear. Use a flange or a sphered seat to accommodate slight misalignment, and keep the mating faces flat and hardened (≥45 HRC for steel-backed and bronze thrust parts).
To size a thrust part, divide the axial force by the bearing contact area to get specific pressure, then check it against the material’s allowable value at your temperature and speed. Increasing the outside diameter (rather than thickness) is the most efficient way to raise capacity, since it grows the contact area without adding stack height. When the load is heavily dynamic or shock-dominated, derate the allowable pressure and prefer bronze or JDB over thin PTFE washers.
For flanged bushings the same logic applies to the radial bore: the flange simply adds an axial reaction face, so size the bore for the radial load and the flange face for the thrust. They are independent checks, not a single combined one, and both must clear their allowable values for the joint to be reliable.
- Bronze — cast or wrapped; strong, embeddable, good for medium-to-high thrust with lubrication.
- PTFE composite — thin, low-friction; best for higher speed, lower thrust, dry or lightly lubed.
- JDB graphite — oilless, high-load, high-temperature thrust where grease cannot be used.
For flanged bushings the flange is typically the same material as the bore, so selection is unified. For separate thrust washers, match the washer material to the counterface: a hardened steel plate pairs well with bronze or PTFE; a softer or uncoated casting favors JDB, which is more forgiving of imperfect surfaces. When in doubt, tell us the mating material and we will specify the combination that minimizes the wear rate of the more expensive part.
Material choice mirrors our bronze, PTFE composite, and JDB graphite sleeve families — pick by the same duty logic.
type of Custom Bearings & Bushings, Flanged Bearings, Custom Oilless Bronze Bushings, Custom Sliding Bearing
Custom Bearings & Bushings Materials & Alloys We Machine
Applications
- Hoisting & lifting — crane pivots, winch thrust faces, pulley axles.
- Slewing & turntables — rotating platforms, indexing tables, slew rings.
- Gearboxes & transmissions — shaft location, selectable thrust faces.
- Hydraulics & valves — spool location, cylinder thrust washers (Pom washer).
- Construction & agriculture — linkage pivots with flanged bushings.
In most of these, the flange or thrust element is what keeps the mechanism from walking apart under load — a cheap insurance against catastrophic axial play. Specifying the right material (bronze for load, PTFE for speed, JDB for heat) keeps that insurance valid for the full service interval instead of wearing out early.
When specified this way, flange and thrust elements stop being afterthoughts and become the parts that guarantee the assembly stays put under load. The small extra effort in selection pays back the first time a pivot does not walk out or a turntable does not develop axial play — which is exactly the failure these components exist to prevent.
Material Selection
Bronze Alloy Composition
Casting
Centrifugal casting, continuous casting
Machining
Precision Machining
Quality Inspection
Material Testing, Surface Inspection
