Ball Bearing Manufacture

[wowf1]

Hey guys, I've been set an assignment at university to report on how ball bearings (the roller bearing type) are made (that's the balls as well as the inner and outer races). I have been scouring all the engineering books I have and the web, and have only found a few articles on how the ball is made.

Knowing that members on this forum are a resourceful bunch, I thought I'd ask if anyone knew of any links or information! So if anyone has any files, or links to websites then I'd be very grateful.

Cheers in advance, Rob

[guest]

Hi,

Here's what I have found:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question513.htm
http://roller-bearings.globalspec.com/
http://www.rbibearing.com/technical/articlearchive.htm
http://www.ntnamerica.com/Knowledge/Int ... l_Brgs.htm

You should contact the local INA or SKF dealer, I am sure they will help.

Regards

A

[Conceptual]

In an odd way, I have seen something else that relates to this.

I have an uncle that is a superintendant at a local coal power plant, and he gave me what looked like a 1 inch stainless steel ball bearing. He told me that the ball in my hand started off as 10 inch diameter (like a basketball) and was put inside of a coal crushing hopper. The resulting 1 inch piece was all that was left when it came out.

I was speechless. I couldn't believe that something so perfectly polished and round (I rolled it on a table a few times) could come from the chaos that is in a 10,000 gallon tank that vibrates while the coal and the ball bounces around turning the coal to an injectable powder.

The noise, I'm told, is simply aweful!

Sorry for going off topic, but that "method" of making bearings works as well, although not as controlled as the howstuffworks article explains!

Chris