Loose ball tolerances 2

[enfield]

Does anyone know what sort of tolerances are applied to loose ball bearing in their manufacture , and if they use a tolerancing nummering system

kind regard
Stephen

 

[diamondjim]

I assume you are speaking of a bearing
with clearance. It depends on the manufacturer
and also the style of ball bearing. Some use
C_ values to indicate different clearance ranges
for the little bearings. When you get into
heavy equipment bearings, they send a spec
sheet along with the bearing an designate the
actual internal clearance.

 

[enfield]

No just the loose balls , the ones on cheap cup and cone races . do they follow any tolerancing code
The C value??
I was asked this question and the references I have dont mention and web sites dont either

Thanks for the reply

Stephen

 

[israelkk]

http://www.itiball.com/BallGrade.html

 

[diamondjim]

enfield,
I do not understand the loose terminology unless
you are speaking of the spacer balls which
are sometimes used to separate the load balls
instead of a cage or spacers. Most load balls
are matched sets and made to fairly accurate
tolerances, probably grade 100 or grade 50
depending on the ball diameters.
Are you speaking of inexpensive bearing made
outside of the US or what? Even the more
notable bearing manufacturer's are going out
of the country to manufacture their product.
I have seen balls from China that have not met
the AFBMA standards for quality. But as the chart
shows on Israelkk's posting, you can buy balls
of many different grades depending on the application.
The C_ values are the internal bearing clearances
rather than ball quality levels.

 

[enfield]

I may have used the wrong terms ! sorry , but I was refering to the balls used in cheap pushbike cup and cone steering head bearings
I muck around with an old Motorcycle that is now manufactured in india
While the manufactering is getting better some parts leave A LOT to be desired
Anyway thank you both for your help I really apprieciate it

Stephen

 

[unclesyd]

You might give these folks a call for information

http://www.oconomowocmfg.com/index.php

A name that was generally used for a loose bearing as you described was “Water Pump Bearings”.
This was before water pumps on cars had to last a few miles.

 

[Tmoose]

McMaster Carr sells some loose balls with diameter tolerance ~ 0.0002 inch. Probably plenty good for a steering head. They list them as chrome finished, which si probably not a good thing for a hard working ball.

How are the races holding up?