Hi - Im using black aluminium square tubing as rails for a DIY slider/short dolly.
Like this: http://tinyurl.com/27qcaal

Problem is steel 608 skate bearings make a grindy noise when they roll over them.
(Probably due to hollow-ness + metal on metal)

I stretched a rubber o-ring over the bearings and they're dead silent - AND still
smooth, so rubber around the wheels seems the way to go.

Does anyone know if rubber overlays are available that sit around the outer bearing
rim or eurethane rims or something? wedding-ring sized rubber bands would do!

Hi Dan

I use 20mm bearings at 45 degrees on my mini dolly and it runs on aluminium tube (20mm) It's completely silent...the bearings however do have a really polished surface as well. Bunnings do have a bearing that's used for sliding tracks that has a plastic outer but they are quite pricy!!

Industrial O-rings are pretty tough and should last a long time and are cheap too..I would stick to them.

Going slighly off-topic, my Rode VideoMics were chewing thru the suspension rubbers like absolute crazy this wedding season so I took one mic to our local o-ring supplier and they sold me 30 x 15mm rings for something like $2.45!!! I used 16 for the two mics and I almost have a full spare set and they last forever!!

Chris