Alan at Hacked Gadgets found this neat video that shows how ball bearings are made. All of that work to make what seems like a simple part! [via Hacked Gadgets]
30 thoughts on “How ball bearings are made”
Comments are closed.
How ball bearings are made
They never tell us how they make the balls from the ball bearings…
Starting at 1:45 they talk about how the balls are made.
Fasinating
That should be spelled ‘fascinating’ :)
A video about how screws are made would be even more fasten-ating…
Off the top of my head, they have one on nuts and bolts and one on screwdrivers.
Riveting, even. Okay, I’m a nut — a metal case. Enough of this thread.
There are lots of kinds of threads. Rolled threads, ground threads, die cut threads, lathe turned threads etc. The easiest way is to run stock through a die, which you can do manually. The most difficult is grinding, which is used for hard materials or precision fit. Threaded fasteners look simple but should not be taken for granted!
Thanks for the great video.
My wife is watching this now. She’s taking a break from designing a machine. She’s the one person I know with the most knowledge about bearings, bushings and automated machines.
In 1943, the US tried to stop the war by destroying the German ball bearings production. 42% of Nazi bearing production was concentrated in one city. The US lost 60 bombers and hundreds of crew members while the Germans were simply able to fall back on their surplus stockpiles of bearings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweinfurt%E2%80%93Regensburg_mission
BLAME THE SWEDES, THEY SOLD TO BOTH SIDES. GOTT LOVES THE KRONER
I replace pool/spa pump bearings all the time, usually the wet end had a leaking seal which leaked onto and took out the front bearing. The bad bearings can scream, seize or just sound like a metalic ‘whir’. They are held onto the armature/casing by ‘c’ clip, warped spring bushings or mostly just pressed into place. With new bearings the old rusty pump motor sounds brand new. Often the noisy old bearings feel/rotate ALMOST as smooth & tight as the new bearings… those tolerences have to be so precise to have such a quiet preformance in the motor!
How it’s made is my favourite show. They have everything from plasma TV’s to hand-made musical instruments.
I’m surprised this seems like a novelty here, don’t you get it in the US?
I actually made a post about it. http://www.bearingsinc.info/how-are-ball-bearings-made.html
You really get to realize how ball bearings are a huuuuge part of the machinery and industrial stuff we have in our lives..