Slide bearings are a very important aspect of the construction process, but the jargon involved can often be very confusing.  There are some basic terms that need to be understood when discussing the methods of constructing a Slide Bearing or Teflon® Bearing Pad.  The many different terms associated with slide bearing surface are listed below, while next week’s article will cover backing plate options.

Note: PTFE is the generic name for what people often refer to as Teflon®. Genuine Teflon® is a registered trademark of the DuPont Corporation. Most of the slide bearing assemblies that The Steel Supply Company provides are made with Fluorogold®, which is a PTFE and Fiberglass composite. Fluorogold® is a registered trademark of the Saint-Gobain Corporation.

Most often, slide bearings are employed in locations where all surfaces are 100% flat. In these cases, the slide bearing manufacturing and installation process are basic and straightforward.

We get a lot of questions about cutting and drilling slide bearings. Under the typical pressure of time constraints, fabricators will frequently purchase our stock sheets and do the cutting and drilling themselves. If time allows, they will often elect to have our professionals at The Steel Supply Company deliver the bearings cut to size with holes and slots already done.