: Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Dave. I often coat bearing surfaces with graphite powder to help them slide. I've also experimented a little with polypropylene fabric (looks/acts like fiberglass) which is highly abrasion resistant. Plastic would probably be cheaper for one-off construction but it may be harder to work with. I learned about the poly fabric from Rob Macks on this board. It is sold through www.defender.com as Vectracloth.

www.ChipSandresky.com