ABEC Precision General Information
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What is the meaning of ABEC?
ABEC is an acronym for Annular Bearing Engineering
Committee of the AFBMA (Anti-Friction Bearing
Manufacturers Association Inc). The ABEC bearing grades
are a set of standards for the manufacturing tolerances of
bearings. Quality bearing manufacturers throughout the
world manufacture to at least ABEC 1 or a regionalised
equivalent.
If you were to ask your local bearing supplier for a 608ZZ, a common size used in
roller skates, you would almost certainly receive an ABEC 1 bearing.
Are there any other standards for measuring Bearing
precision?
Yes. The other commonly used standard is the ISO standard. ISO is short for
International Standards Organisation. There are slight differences between ISO and
ABEC, but basically ISO Grade P0 is approximately equal to ABEC 1, ISO P6
approximates ABEC 3, ISO P5 approximates ABEC 5, ISO P4 approximates ABEC 7
and ISO P2 approximates ABEC 9.
This is an excerpt from the full information sheet which can be downloaded from the MBA Info Sheets library. this info sheet is adapted from the MBA Skate Bearing FAQ originally published in 1997.