James Ml wheel bearings

[Stengun]

Hello I'm restoring my James Ml, in the process of assembly. I'm desperately in need of wheel bearings  ( cup and cone ), So far no luck. If there in possible to find what would I need to do about fitting modern bearings. Many thanks Ian.

[33d6]

They are cup and cone bearings and easy to turn up on a half decent lathe from an appropriate case hardening steel. Usually the cones wear out at three times the rate of the cup so often you only need to make them. As they revolve slowly (600 rpm max) they do not need to have a fancy ground finish, a good turned finish is more than adequate. The originals only ever had a turned finish.
Modifying the hubs to take modern ball races is just as much drama which is why I never bother. Nor is the flimsy hub that amenable to the idea. I stick with cup and cone.
The obvious place to enquire about materials, case hardening, an appropriate machine shop, etc, is your local model engineering club. You know, those blokes who run miniature steam trains in the local park. It is a meat and drink problem for them and they will point you in the right direction. 

Cheers,

[Stengun]

Thank you for your help, I will enquire at a local machine shop and hopefully they can help me . 

[33d6]

Hi Stengun,

Can you let us know what you find? Usually a machine shop has a necessary minimum job price set to cover their overheads. Council rates, power bills, insurance, wages, and so on. This can price them out of the small job market. There are ways to minimise this.

Cheers,

[iansoady]

Surely you are not suggesting the passage of folding money in a dark corner?

[33d6]

Naaah, not really, but walking in to a machine shop and saying "Make me a set of these" is the most expensive way of going about it. It's a project like any other so you can reduce your costs by being a bit organised.