As a retired mechanical engineer, I've learned a helluva lot about all kinds of bearings. The first thing I learned was that there's much to learn about them! Until I watched some UA-cam videos on their manufacture *after* retiring, I often wondered how they were made. This video is the best I've seen! Note that this video features a bicycle hub for example. I've invented & prototyped three different hub-based Continuously Variable Transmissions for bikes, each of which uses bearings in novel ways to achieve the continuously variable feature. We so often take for granted the importance of bearings until we imagine our technological world without them.
Engineering is something they never offered at school as a career, annoying as I think it would have appealed to me. I had no idea it existed, working class gals don't get told lol
Being able to create those little balls altered civilization more than we can fathom. But it all leads back to the invention and evolution of the lathe; which has been transformed by what it created, which transformed what it could create, and so on… It is interesting to see how important lathe technology is in this video. It’s all over the place-not just in what gets manufactured, but also in the creation of what does the manufacturing. Fantastic video!
I never thought I would spend 14 minutes watching how steel balls were made, but I'm glad I did. This is an amazing insight into the manufacturing process. The videography is superb. When I saw the subtitle " flashing",. I expected to see a guy in a dirty mac appear. Hats off to to the guys who invented the machines to do, these precise tasks. It is worth noting, however, that it still takes a human to but the balls in a box.. Well done on this very informative video.
@@stefeniedavidmusic Well I think most of this technology and the machines to do it were from the 19th century, they had ball bearings in the 1800s so someone figured out how to do it back then, the process and machines being improved since then
Victorian Sculptures actually the first ball bearings where made of stone and used in the Roman Empire and we have been making them better ever since. The emperor Nero had a room that spun around on bearings made of stone
Fascinating! I was replacing the bearings in my bicycle wheels when I wondered how they actually made something so precise, strong, consistent and in massive quantities. Now I know. Thanks!
damn that was the first time you looked at the human world ....and said...."Hey I should fucking pay attention to things I use" Thanks for sharing dumbass
Thank you folks for making this video! It's something I've always wanted to know, especially the "centerless grinding/lapping" they do to make them so perfect and mirror-like.
Sorry to be off topic but does anybody know of a method to get back into an instagram account..? I somehow forgot the login password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me!
@Skyler Axl Thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and I'm trying it out now. Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
You'll notice in the video here that after lapping, the balls are air-dropped on to one another. I was told that Timken does NOT air drop their balls after lapping because the impact between the very hard surfaces damages them, causing microscopic dents. Consequently, Timken drops them into an oil bath so the impact with other balls is kept to a minimum.
@@amplituhedron5582 I've not heard of 'Daio Steel Ball Mfg' either. They may make ball bearing assemblies for niche markets with lower volumes. It is VERY unlikely they make balls for a major Japanese bearing manufacturer, like NSK or NTN. Any of, say, the top 10 manufacturers are going to have extremely good quality. What would be interesting to see is how the process differs for the even more demanding ceraic ball bearings. They're stronger, longer lasting, ore precise, with less rolling friction, and are corrosion resistant.
LMAO. As a teen, I worked at a restaurant which repetitively played the most horrendously awful muzak, with the speaker directly above my work area. Having lost my sanity over it, I proceeded to stab the speaker to death through the grill with a long wire
The making of ball bearings. Something that everyone single one of us takes for granted. Who knew that there are so many fascinating steps involved into the making of something so basic, that our modern lives would be so much harder, if not down-right impossible without these little marvels.
Fascinating and something I’ve wanted to know for an age. Amazing how such a small and innocuous thing, that most of us never see, makes the world go round and why it was such an important factory target to put out of action during WWII. Without them nothing would work!!!!
Amazing how such a small and innocuous thing, that most of us never see, makes the world go round …………………. what? the Earth turns on bearings? well i'll be danged - two things ah dun lurned today
No doubt. You can't fight a World War without balls of steel. Any machine shop was a big target in WWII but bearings are specialized. One shop can't just take over where another left off. Any machine shop can make an axle shaft etc with standard machine tools but highly specialized factories can't just shift their work to another shop. That made bearing factories and other highly specialized manufacturing plants particularly important targets.
@@apollomoonlandings I take your point, and appreciate that there are other reasons to distrust a country, but those alive in Switzerland today cannot be blamed for the policies during WWII.
Funny you mention this, every single time I've come across a ball bearing in my 20 years as a mechanic, I've wondered how the balls were made. I usually have a good sense of how things are made, but I couldn't ever really imagine this.
I am just as impressed with the soundtrack for this video as I am with watching the process of the steel. . . . .upbeat, new age futuristic digital tones. Thanks for this video.
A channel like this could've saved both me and my dad a lot of headache. Lol, I was a curious child, with so many questions...so many questions and I won't even get into my 'taking things apart' phase. Again, so many questions. Thanks for posting.
I was involved in making tooling for ball bearings years ago. One of thousands of jobs our little header die shop did. The dies with the half spheres have carbide inserts that are pressed under high pressure in the die block. As these inserts wear they can be recut and ground to be used over again. The working surfaces are lapped and ground to a mirror like finish. The grinder used 2 different grits of wheels to get to the finish required on just the face of the die. I used 12" diamond wheels on the surface grinder. It was quite an involved process to make the tooling and the more precise the tooling the less work was needed for the secondary processes (grinding and lapping). It would be fun to see the processes used to make the tooling ....just another job at our shop but most have no idea what it takes to do it.
@@dannichols6261 All figured out by man using materials in nature and then building upon the knowledge to make more efficient tools Then eventually using the more efficient tools to help him build machines that help him be more efficient.and so on.
Amazing how much work goes into making a simple ball. Which itself is just a small component of even larger, more complicated machines. Human ingenuity is incredible.
Martin Johncox think about the down time of the tooling. If the lapsing, deburring or any other tool fails yo achieve its scope due to wear, imagine the cost that translates to the 8mm ball
@@herwighuener3256 well, there are many uses of internet. For example, serious admirers of cinematography may visit certain video sites. I can't post a link because YT bans all the links to pron sites. Even the well established ones.
I guess the people who downvoted were thinking "the making of steel balls" was going to tell them something other than about the making of steel balls.
It's not that, the video is still easily understandable in 2x speed, the graphics and video quality is low, the music is dumb and it explains the dumb, obvious machines but not the complicated ones like "the ultrasonic waves used for cleaning debris" or it ignores the machine that cuts the rods inthe beginning but instead explains how rods ars lubricated🤦 It's still a great video that does what it's promised in the title but it could do it way better it seems like a 12 year old made the video.
Back in the eighties and nineties, I worked as a machine setter/operator, for an engineering company called Sileby Engineering. We used similar cold-forming machines made by a company called Malmedie. We made valve spring retainers and sump plugs for the automotive industry. This is a trip down memory lane to see these machines working.
@@paulbrimble8204 They even have a machine for that. Imagine the guy who designed it: what are you working on now dear? I'm designing a machine that lets you flash balls. Doesn't the zipper already exist for that?
Thank you for the very educational video. I'm glad UA-cam put it in my recommended list. Beautiful use of technology to make an essential component of our modern society.
@@aerialexplorer772 Exactly. How were the very first ball bearings made? It must have been a very expensive, manual and slow process to get good enough precision until machines could be built with higher and higher tolerances and process improvements to yield better and better parts with each generation of machinery.
One of the ways the allies crippled the Nazi war machine during WWII was by targeting ball bearing factories with strategic bombing. A small component critical to the operation of complex machinery.
Their bombing was not very strategic. Unless you would call, for example, the bombing of Dresden porcelain factories a strategy. Much of it was designed to create mayhem among military and civilians alike
My dad’s homes were bombed out three times in Hackney and Shoreditch. Coventry caught a few too, amongst others. So no sympathy for their ball bearing factories, Dresden, Cologne or any other of their places including ceramic factories which were probably producing stuff for the German war effort. Fascinating and informative video though.
Indeed! Check out Simon Winchester’s book “The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World” for an amazing trip on this very topic.
Precision? Oh, no! These machines produce the balls that are accurate (within tolerance limits), too small and too big. Only the good ones are sold, the rest is separated out and killed (this is the meaning for scrapping).
Just checking my notes here.. Lube the rod, give it a squeeze.. Flash your raw balls. Get them good and hot and grind them till smooth. Lapp balls for a bright shine. Then wash for presentation, because nobody wants dirty, oily balls.
I always thought they were plain sleeve bearings because of the weight they have to bear. There is a stuffing box on the outside (square hatch cover) over the axle and i always saw the maintenance people put grease into that.
That is where Timkin bearings got their start, making bearings for trains. Before that they were ball bearings, they wore out fast and were limited to the load they would carry.
Not sure why, but that factory seems like it would be a comfy job. There's something soothing about the constant metallic sound of millions of steel balls rubbing together and cascading around.
This is a very interesting video for me as the factory in Japan used to be my customer and we sold the NATIONAL MACHINERY Ball Headers plus the monitoring equipment there. I have spent quite some time there about 30 years ago.
@@paddlesaddlelad1881 Sorry they are made of stainless steel. At least the 2 mm balls I use to clean my insolated drinking bottle. I try my best to fill them into flask by a measuring bottle with spout but sometimes they happen to jump over and end on the kitchen floor. My best look is them not getting into sink. Yes there are funnels but most of them are used elsewere even at recovering them from vacuum dust besides other missfortunes of jumping small parts found later.
Hey, my friend, hope I'm not bothering you, just want to share you another way to make big size of steel ball, hope you will like it, would you like to check it? ua-cam.com/video/KDuZ3r36mCQ/v-deo.html
*I LOVE the adorable and funny sounds* Japanese TV shows add to even serious videos. The reason why those sounds are so popular there is because Japan is the country of computer games, many of which were invented there in the first place along with the corresponding cute sounds.
@wicked - lol. 5:49 AM in Los Angeles. Which means I may finally have to go to bed. 😵🥴😷 Good thing ball bearings, although interesting, don't get me too riled up. They're a little like counting sheep to fall asleep. lol
@3:47 "They are called 'raw balls' ... A raw ball has burrs and its surface is uneven." Tell me about it. @10:56 "Ultrasonic waves wash off any dirt or oil stuck to the balls." Which feels amazing, BTW.
Very good video,,,the proccess is this.I had s ball bearing shop with my father and watched personally in a litle factory this proccess,,the end od the proccess is lappidating,,,and the steel ball looks as a mirror,with no distortion in the convexe image,,,is you see a high precision ball,with a microscopo,,,a very littyle imperfectios may have,,,but balls grade 10 or less(sphericity less than ten microinches) no imperfections detected with a common microscope,,,,today the precision balls are better than one micro inch (0,000025mm) (0,025 microns) this from 1 to 25mm diameter!!!
I used to work for an environmental company and serviced a company that made ball bearings in Norfolk, Connecticut. They made all types of ball bearings from steel,brass and gold. Was amazing to watch how they were made and the different types. They were made a lot different that the newer machines make them. Nice video thou. Thanks
Wasn't it great that you caught him out on that one. That'll sore him out. He won't be putting up any more misinformation on train axles, while you're around.
@@Stikkzz Yea. I think you could have overlooked the error. Your correction did not further my lack of interest in train wheel bearings. Maybe you would like to post a video on train wheel bearings. Let me know.
So interesting, thank you. I hope to see more translated videos in the future for more people to enjoy. While I would love to learn Japanese, I don't have the time.
very instructive, thanks. I worked in a factory like this one in Europe with the same processes for maki,ng car screws ! the pressure at forming is 50 tons rather than 10 here !
Love the background music in most Japanese documentary, every intense and professional. Especially the diagram and cartoon, help to explain things better than "How it's made"
@leonardimas1 I thought they were Japanese -- they still make great stuff. The woman doing the visual inspection and the guy doing the packing look Japanese, too. Chinese ball bearings aren't worth the steel they're made from.
@leonardimas1 I've been to Japan and China (Hong Kong) and these workers look Japanese. The average Westerner may have difficulty telling the difference, but I can.
@leonardimas1 I've never learned a second language, but I can tell the difference between itialian and french people as well as words, written and spoken, and I can do the same with Chinese and Japanese.
yeah, i love how nonsensical it is. "Steel balls are made from wire rod called steel made of feroalloy containing carbon." There are several layers of nonsence and bullshit in there while still being somewhat correct and sounding ultra fancy. Insane.
This was more entertaining than 99% of the junk shown on regular TV these days. It's actually fun to learn! But then again, I'm not young enough to know everything.
Jeff Barrett It's called taking pride in their work. You think he's just an old guy, he probably been there his whole life and knows more than you think. But you knew that.
Great video of everyday things we most often take for granted to our detriment. Next time i look at my balls, i will do so with ever so much more appreciation!
Idiotic zings and zaps throughout the video are juvenile and distracting! Why is there such passion for adding this nonsense to videos, sports productions, and so many other presentations? It's an example of runaway sound pollution, and you're constantly thinking that one of your cursed 'devices' is alerting you to yet another event.. It even ruins radio shows. Enough already! Give the constant alerts and warnings a rest, can't we? How about some good old golden silence?
TANCHIN can supply special bearings of all types including those with integral shafts that help reduce the tolerance buildup of mating components. pls send EMAIL :sales@hktanchin.com for any inquiry
As a retired mechanical engineer, I've learned a helluva lot about all kinds of bearings. The first thing I learned was that there's much to learn about them! Until I watched some UA-cam videos on their manufacture *after* retiring, I often wondered how they were made. This video is the best I've seen!
Note that this video features a bicycle hub for example. I've invented & prototyped three different hub-based Continuously Variable Transmissions for bikes, each of which uses bearings in novel ways to achieve the continuously variable feature.
We so often take for granted the importance of bearings until we imagine our technological world without them.
Engineering is something they never offered at school as a career, annoying as I think it would have appealed to me. I had no idea it existed, working class gals don't get told lol
Hi
This type of awareness is needed in pre engineering studies to create the zeal in young minds.👌🙏
Being able to create those little balls altered civilization more than we can fathom. But it all leads back to the invention and evolution of the lathe; which has been transformed by what it created, which transformed what it could create, and so on…
It is interesting to see how important lathe technology is in this video. It’s all over the place-not just in what gets manufactured, but also in the creation of what does the manufacturing.
Fantastic video!
@@carlodave9 Good point!
I never thought I would spend 14 minutes watching how steel balls were made, but I'm glad I did. This is an amazing insight into the manufacturing process. The videography is superb. When I saw the subtitle " flashing",. I expected to see a guy in a dirty mac appear. Hats off to to the guys who invented the machines to do, these precise tasks. It is worth noting, however, that it still takes a human to but the balls in a box.. Well done on this very informative video.
E ddr
Well, you just give the employer a tip to replace a worker with more machines😀.
That man must realize he is only there because a machine would be more expensive than him.
Arigato, Gyro..
Teach me spin plewse
@@barito_o1662😊
Incredible technology for such a simple thing that we take for granted.
Imagine the guy who invented and designed the machines to do this!
@@HobbyOrganist ...and the cost of development.
@@stefeniedavidmusic Well I think most of this technology and the machines to do it were from the 19th century, they had ball bearings in the 1800s so someone figured out how to do it back then, the process and machines being improved since then
Victorian Sculptures actually the first ball bearings where made of stone and used in the Roman Empire and we have been making them better ever since. The emperor Nero had a room that spun around on bearings made of stone
you should see the machines that made the fabrics in your clothes. those will blow your mind
Fascinating! I was replacing the bearings in my bicycle wheels when I wondered how they actually made something so precise, strong, consistent and in massive quantities. Now I know. Thanks!
Manufacturer of sputtering target, Email:emily@tianbometal.com / emily18392703515@gmail.com Website:www.bjtianbometal.com / www.tianbometal.com Phone: +86 18392703515(Whatsapp/Skype/WeChat) ,welcome for your inquiry.Thank you.
During WWII, one of the main targets were ball bearing factories. Don't live near one!
damn that was the first time you looked at the human world ....and said...."Hey I should fucking pay attention to things I use" Thanks for sharing dumbass
Great video !!! No talking , to the point, great pics. Hope you people are making more educational vids; you got it together.
Yeah, this was definitely made by the Japanese. I like these kinds better too.
super
Thank you folks for making this video! It's something I've always wanted to know, especially the "centerless grinding/lapping" they do to make them so perfect and mirror-like.
Sorry to be off topic but does anybody know of a method to get back into an instagram account..?
I somehow forgot the login password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me!
@Skyler Axl Thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and I'm trying it out now.
Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
@Skyler Axl It worked and I now got access to my account again. I am so happy!
Thanks so much you saved my account!
@Izaiah Jericho You are welcome :)
The mechanical engineer coming out with this idea of manufacturing is indeed a true talent.
takes one to know one
I suspect it was incremental. I suspect initially they were not even burred.
Manufacturing engineer.
You'll notice in the video here that after lapping, the balls are air-dropped on to one another. I was told that Timken does NOT air drop their balls after lapping because the impact between the very hard surfaces damages them, causing microscopic dents. Consequently, Timken drops them into an oil bath so the impact with other balls is kept to a minimum.
Never heard of that company, googled it and the first thing it appears is a picture of the ceo, on their own website. I'll trust japanese bearings.
@@amplituhedron5582 I've not heard of 'Daio Steel Ball Mfg' either. They may make ball bearing assemblies for niche markets with lower volumes.
It is VERY unlikely they make balls for a major Japanese bearing manufacturer, like NSK or NTN.
Any of, say, the top 10 manufacturers are going to have extremely good quality. What would be interesting to see is how the process differs for the even more demanding ceraic ball bearings. They're stronger, longer lasting, ore precise, with less rolling friction, and are corrosion resistant.
@@amplituhedron5582timken makes the highest quality bearings even used on 200 ton locomotives!
Hertzian
@@TucsonDudeare you a kid? Or what are these "shouting something" into the air comments?
I really appreciate the perfectionism of the whole process. Thank You!
i hope so, its one of the most important things to get right, the whole world depends on ball bearings for damn near anything with moving parts
you know those cheap fidget spinners? they don't spin for long because of cheap bearings.
I learned how to rebuild the rear ball bearings on my bike and wondered how they were made. Now I know; thanks for a great video!
That music wasn't added, it's actually playing in the factory.
LMAO. As a teen, I worked at a restaurant which repetitively played the most horrendously awful muzak, with the speaker directly above my work area. Having lost my sanity over it, I proceeded to stab the speaker to death through the grill with a long wire
@@sa12111 That reminds me of an episode of Superstore, where a character called Garrett was driven mad by the same song over and over.
@@sa12111 finaly killed the speaker? ;-) well done!
@@sa12111 - Good job, I've been subjected to "music torture" in the workplace myself.
It reminds me of old school Nintendo music lol. Especially ice levels
The making of ball bearings. Something that everyone single one of us takes for granted.
Who knew that there are so many fascinating steps involved into the making of something so basic, that our modern lives would be so much harder, if not down-right impossible without these little marvels.
This is actually extremely complicated engineering.
Engineers never get the credit they deserve
Fascinating and something I’ve wanted to know for an age. Amazing how such a small and innocuous thing, that most of us never see, makes the world go round and why it was such an important factory target to put out of action during WWII. Without them nothing would work!!!!
Amazing how such a small and innocuous thing, that most of us never see, makes the world go round …………………. what? the Earth turns on bearings? well i'll be danged - two things ah dun lurned today
@@raymondo162 Yes, now you know!! The world is a giant bearing in the stellar mechanism of the Universe!!!!!
No doubt. You can't fight a World War without balls of steel.
Any machine shop was a big target in WWII but bearings are specialized. One shop can't just take over where another left off. Any machine shop can make an axle shaft etc with standard machine tools but highly specialized factories can't just shift their work to another shop. That made bearing factories and other highly specialized manufacturing plants particularly important targets.
@@apollomoonlandings I take your point, and appreciate that there are other reasons to distrust a country, but those alive in Switzerland today cannot be blamed for the policies during WWII.
Funny you mention this, every single time I've come across a ball bearing in my 20 years as a mechanic, I've wondered how the balls were made. I usually have a good sense of how things are made, but I couldn't ever really imagine this.
I am just as impressed with the soundtrack for this video as I am with watching the process of the steel. . . . .upbeat, new age futuristic digital tones. Thanks for this video.
kinda proggy! I'm a musician and I love it. Kind of inspirational
This soundtrack is fire
WHAT IS THIS TYPE OF MUSIC CALLED/ WHAT IS THIS SOUNDTRACK J NEED IT IN MY LIFE
@@tisumiau it is called heighties 🤣
@@lo2740 THANK YOU😢😢 ive been searching to this very day
One of the most interesting and informative 'How it's Done' videos I have seen - and there are some good ones!
A channel like this could've saved both me and my dad a lot of headache. Lol, I was a curious child, with so many questions...so many questions and I won't even get into my 'taking things apart' phase. Again, so many questions. Thanks for posting.
This is a great video. It's explains the process perfectly and it's very well made.
I have often wondered how this is done ,nothing to what i thought how it may be done. Brilliant stuff ,hope you have more brilliant stuff in store.
I think factory tours are fascinating. The footage and graphics here are very informative. Thank you!
I was involved in making tooling for ball bearings years ago. One of thousands of jobs our little header die shop did.
The dies with the half spheres have carbide inserts that are pressed under high pressure in the die block.
As these inserts wear they can be recut and ground to be used over again.
The working surfaces are lapped and ground to a mirror like finish.
The grinder used 2 different grits of wheels to get to the finish required on just the face of the die.
I used 12" diamond wheels on the surface grinder.
It was quite an involved process to make the tooling and the more precise the tooling the less work was needed for the secondary processes (grinding and lapping).
It would be fun to see the processes used to make the tooling ....just another job at our shop but most have no idea
what it takes to do it.
Very interesting. I always thought t h e were nickle then chrome plated for the shiny finish and surface hardness.
@@xltoth I'm referring to the working surfaces of the Dies.
@@HighGear7445 So, how to make the tool that's used to make a tool that's used to make another tool that's used...
@@dannichols6261 All figured out by man using materials in nature and then building upon the knowledge to make more efficient tools
Then eventually using the more efficient tools to help him build machines that help him be more efficient.and so on.
I WANTED TO KNOW THIS PROCESS SINCE MANY, MANY YEARS AGO. FABULOUS. MANY, MANY THANKS.
YOU'RE WELCOME. NOW STOP YELLING.
We take these for granted way too much. They're everywhere making so many things possible.
This is a very good video. The full speed and then slo-mo to stills is very easy to follow. I always wondered how they made those critters!
Amazing how much work goes into making a simple ball. Which itself is just a small component of even larger, more complicated machines. Human ingenuity is incredible.
im a mec and didnt know that a bearing was this compli to make
Not only that, but they can crank out thousands of them every minute with a high degree of consistency!
Martin Johncox think about the down time of the tooling. If the lapsing, deburring or any other tool fails yo achieve its scope due to wear, imagine the cost that translates to the 8mm ball
”Hard, strong, steel balls are required.” Ain’t that true about life.
This is why I clicked on the headline. When I saw the thumb and the title, I said to myself: "There's gonna be some funny comments there"
@@cinegraphics There are things in life which cannot be resisted. And after all, what ist the internet good for?
@@herwighuener3256 well, there are many uses of internet. For example, serious admirers of cinematography may visit certain video sites.
I can't post a link because YT bans all the links to pron sites. Even the well established ones.
"WE got the hardest balls of them All!"
I would have NO fear of Chuck Norris if I had a pair of those.
Don't I know it brother
1:49 "Steel balls are made from wire rod called 'steel'" :D You have to love Japanese to English translation bloopers.
Meatballs are made from foodstuff called 'meat'
I’m sure they have all different words for steel, but it all gets translated to “steel” in American.
@@GO-ts1nu What about blue balls?
@@stanleysiele8056 I don't know what the balls are made from but they are made with weired rod
@@GO-ts1nu LMAO what??? nvm... I'll assume you mean what I think you mean.
I guess the people who downvoted were thinking "the making of steel balls" was going to tell them something other than about the making of steel balls.
Some people are born with them, some people have to make them.
I mean, I thought it might be the making of Duke Nukem, but that would probably be on ph, not here.
Makes sense.
It's not that, the video is still easily understandable in 2x speed, the graphics and video quality is low, the music is dumb and it explains the dumb, obvious machines but not the complicated ones like "the ultrasonic waves used for cleaning debris" or it ignores the machine that cuts the rods inthe beginning but instead explains how rods ars lubricated🤦
It's still a great video that does what it's promised in the title but it could do it way better it seems like a 12 year old made the video.
I watch this to know how am i gonna making steel ball like gyro has in jojo part 7 steel ball run
I literally haven't watched the video and just came here straight for the comments when I saw the Tittle of the video. Gold. Carry on everyone.
Back in the eighties and nineties, I worked as a machine setter/operator, for an engineering company called Sileby Engineering. We used similar cold-forming machines made by a company called Malmedie. We made valve spring retainers and sump plugs for the automotive industry. This is a trip down memory lane to see these machines working.
The most informative steel ball manufacturing video I've seen yet.
Excellent and comprehensible. The slow-motion and graphics are a great help. Nicely done!
This is something I wondered about many, many times and
now I know. Finally, a very good teaching video on youtube.
6:54 "Hard, strong steel balls are required", here's a life lesson.
Technology > that someone who kick you in the balls
Testicle buster
Tusk
@@mikowave7115 Act 4
Unless you are Leftists. Then the opposite is required.
Finally, an English version!
It's amazing how people came together to design and manufacture these machines to make the final product. I thank you and my bicycle thanks you.
"They are called 'raw balls'"
Ah yes, bringing back memories of my late teens...
we call them "blue balls" in Australia.
@@Starwithnonname Reminds me of my vasectomy many years ago...
Flashing them is the answer apparently
@@paulbrimble8204 They even have a machine for that. Imagine the guy who designed it: what are you working on now dear? I'm designing a machine that lets you flash balls. Doesn't the zipper already exist for that?
@Dok Nomis - LOL!
Lovely Japanese neo-industrial smooth synth pop-jazz or whatever it is. Also the content is great!
Something so small, is so important. It's very precise! Makes our world go round! Fascinating!!
Very well done, some quirkiness, charming.
Now I can make my own ball bearings.
In this video I learned that you have to have hard, and shiny balls that are almost perfectly spherical to get through the pressures of life.
My balls are polished but not perfectly spherical.
Paul Frederick q
And if they're large enough, all you need is two.
@@cap10h Probably because you fuck a lot.
It works ! After watching that video my balls was of steel too. :D
I never knew that is how ball bearings are made ,that was excellent .Thank you .
"Thank you, Gyro..."
IS THAT A JOJO REFERENCE???!?!?!?
Johnny Joestar i
Finally found Steel Ball reference
@@justanenglishcommentpassin644 SBR= Steel Ball Reference
spin
One rare video with a nice music .
Everything is fine. Wonderful !
Thank you for the very educational video. I'm glad UA-cam put it in my recommended list. Beautiful use of technology to make an essential component of our modern society.
Now I would like to see how they make the precision tooling used in ball bearing manufacture.
🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔🥚🐔
@@ganymede3141 Indeed, how did they make the ball bearings used by the machines that make the ball bearings?
@@aerialexplorer772 Exactly. How were the very first ball bearings made? It must have been a very expensive, manual and slow process to get good enough precision until machines could be built with higher and higher tolerances and process improvements to yield better and better parts with each generation of machinery.
One of the ways the allies crippled the Nazi war machine during WWII was by targeting ball bearing factories with strategic bombing. A small component critical to the operation of complex machinery.
We won the war by hitting them in the balls so to speak.
Their bombing was not very strategic. Unless you would call, for example, the bombing of Dresden porcelain factories a strategy. Much of it was designed to create mayhem among military and civilians alike
My dad’s homes were bombed out three times in Hackney and Shoreditch. Coventry caught a few too, amongst others. So no sympathy for their ball bearing factories, Dresden, Cologne or any other of their places including ceramic factories which were probably producing stuff for the German war effort.
Fascinating and informative video though.
Heavy kick to the balls !
Been to Schwinfurt
Fascinating and entertaining. Additionally, never have I seen a video with so many unintentional double entendres! 😂
A key element in the progression of precision in manufacturing has been the ball bearing.
Indeed! Check out Simon Winchester’s book “The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World” for an amazing trip on this very topic.
Precision? Oh, no! These machines produce the balls that are accurate (within tolerance limits), too small and too big. Only the good ones are sold, the rest is separated out and killed (this is the meaning for scrapping).
I must be a huge nerd, but I dont care in the least. Enjoyed this video. Keep them coming!
How do the bearings get inserted into the grinding grooves without stopping the spin?
Rod, lubricant, balls, heading, flashing, grinding, lapping.. The subtitles are inuendo treasure lmao
Just checking my notes here.. Lube the rod, give it a squeeze.. Flash your raw balls. Get them good and hot and grind them till smooth. Lapp balls for a bright shine. Then wash for presentation, because nobody wants dirty, oily balls.
Always wash your balls before inspection
*Strong hard balls are required*
Seems that demand for hard steel balls is higher than ever...
Train axles do not contain ball bearings. They use tapered roller bearings.
I always thought they were plain sleeve bearings because of the weight they have to bear. There is a stuffing box on the outside (square hatch cover) over the axle and i always saw the maintenance people put grease into that.
That was how they used to do it before they changed to roller bearings
Well learn something new every day. I guess bearing materials have progressed since i was young.
Interesting, I just looked up what tapered bearings are. I didn't know there were different types of bearings.
That is where Timkin bearings got their start, making bearings for trains. Before that they were ball bearings, they wore out fast and were limited to the load they would carry.
Not sure why, but that factory seems like it would be a comfy job. There's something soothing about the constant metallic sound of millions of steel balls rubbing together and cascading around.
This is a very interesting video for me as the factory in Japan used to be my customer and we sold the NATIONAL MACHINERY Ball Headers plus the monitoring equipment there. I have spent quite some time there about 30 years ago.
Those little balls can withstand 35 tons of pressure. That's a loaded 18-wheeler!
An old girlfriend squeezed mine a lot more.
The 16mm ones not the 0.8
Rooftop
Are you trying to tell us you have little balls or that she weighed 35 tons?
Or Oprah Winfrey on a skinny day!
@@oby-1607 LoL!
The Mind of Man---designed by God-----certainly can solve many complex problems!
Very good production value!
Informative and full of innuendo! The scientist and the child in me have been well entertained :D
metal can be so organic!
@April Shadows what on earth are you doing with a scientist and a child in you?
Best video on this process I've ever seen ....thanks
Machine person here i liked the vid good job!
AWESOME DEMONSTRATION OF MANUFACTURING ; BRAVO ! 💥🔥😬🌈
So satisfying to watch the balls of steel go from slices of cable to shiny little perfect spheres. Thanks jstsciencechannel, nice video
Imagine opening that box at the end upside down or something with that unsealed folded bag... That would make a long day at the shop
magnet
Imagine opening a box upside down.
@@paddlesaddlelad1881 Sorry they are made of stainless steel. At least the 2 mm balls I use to clean my insolated drinking bottle. I try my best to fill them into flask by a measuring bottle with spout but sometimes they happen to jump over and end on the kitchen floor. My best look is them not getting into sink. Yes there are funnels but most of them are used elsewere even at recovering them from vacuum dust besides other missfortunes of jumping small parts found later.
Thanks, the high quality video and animation. Really helped it make sense to me. Look forward to seeing more of your videos.
Excellent. so the balls aren't case hardened, only heated and quenched?
great video.... love the 80's "corporate video" synth music.
Reminds me of the theme music of Pilotwings on SNES.
Must be some knd of library music, but very good, would like to know who played and composed it
Same. You can tell its Japanese.
@@crashstitches79 or Pilotwings on 3DS i supppose?
Bangers
Excellent video. Thoroughly understood the various steps in Manufacturing the Steel Balls, Thanks for the efforts
Thanks for posting. I always have been curious about how they were made.
Hey, my friend, hope I'm not bothering you, just want to share you another way to make big size of steel ball, hope you will like it, would you like to check it? ua-cam.com/video/KDuZ3r36mCQ/v-deo.html
Mesmerizing, A quarter hour went by in a flash.
The UA-cam algorithm gods have been good to us!
*Invaluable video fully satisfied my curiosity.* 😀
🙏 *Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.* 🙏
*I LOVE the adorable and funny sounds* Japanese TV shows add to even serious videos. The reason why those sounds are so popular there is because Japan is the country of computer games, many of which were invented there in the first place along with the corresponding cute sounds.
It's midnight on a Saturday night and I just watched a 14 minute video on the making of ball bearings.
Yup.
It's 4 am and I just watched it...
Yup.
Congratulations on getting to the end. You must have stamina, I chickened out halfway through.
@wicked - lol. 5:49 AM in Los Angeles. Which means I may finally have to go to bed. 😵🥴😷 Good thing ball bearings, although interesting, don't get me too riled up. They're a little like counting sheep to fall asleep. lol
Finally your life makes sense.
Peter Allman P.
Excellent proces ball production, thank you and congratulations 😀.
They are SOOOOOOOO cute! It's nice to see how they are made!
@3:47 "They are called 'raw balls' ... A raw ball has burrs and its surface is uneven." Tell me about it.
@10:56 "Ultrasonic waves wash off any dirt or oil stuck to the balls." Which feels amazing, BTW.
Eric.. you need to wait until yours drop before thinking about it... Take no offense...Just kidding my friend..
We MUST bring all of this manufacturing back to the U.S.A!
Thank you! Learned something new.
Very good video,,,the proccess is this.I had s ball bearing shop with my father and watched personally in a litle factory this proccess,,the end od the proccess is lappidating,,,and the steel ball looks as a mirror,with no distortion in the convexe image,,,is you see a high precision ball,with a microscopo,,,a very littyle imperfectios may have,,,but balls grade 10 or less(sphericity less than ten microinches) no imperfections detected with a common microscope,,,,today the precision balls are better than one micro inch (0,000025mm) (0,025 microns) this from 1 to 25mm diameter!!!
Easy calculation is that one micron is one 40 millionth of an inch.
@@ytubepuppy ..
@@amanykamara3420 Yes???
I used to work for an environmental company and serviced a company that made ball bearings in Norfolk, Connecticut. They made all types of ball bearings from steel,brass and gold. Was amazing to watch how they were made and the different types. They were made a lot different that the newer machines make them. Nice video thou. Thanks
Gold bearing would be shit in an hour.
Hey where's the Italian assasin
Wait gyro
CHUMIMIIIINNNN!!
there are no ball bearings in train wheel axles. it's slide bearings or roller bearings
I was going to say tapered roller bearings.
Wasn't it great that you caught him out on that one. That'll sore him out. He won't be putting up any more misinformation on train axles, while you're around.
@@p.macdermott2490 oh that stinky sarcasm
@@Stikkzz Yea. I think you could have overlooked the error. Your correction did not further my lack of interest in train wheel bearings. Maybe you would like to post a video on train wheel bearings. Let me know.
@@p.macdermott2490 You don't believe posts with pretensions to technical education have some responsibility to be technically correct?
At 77 and a retired engineer I'm still learning .
So interesting, thank you. I hope to see more translated videos in the future for more people to enjoy. While I would love to learn Japanese, I don't have the time.
I feel like I'm playing a video game from the 80s and 90s!
Informative video, but the sound effects are unnecessary.
very instructive, thanks. I worked in a factory like this one in Europe with the same processes for maki,ng car screws ! the pressure at forming is 50 tons rather than 10 here !
Love the background music in most Japanese documentary, every intense and professional. Especially the diagram and cartoon, help to explain things better than "How it's made"
Chinese balls.
@@andyeverett1957 2 year old comment but the text on the scale is in Japanese, this is not China
@@brreeaad I forgot why I thought it was Chinese balls but thanks tor the correction. Great documentary.
@@andyeverett1957 and yet even up today nobody knows where these musics came from
I managed to seamlessly loop it and remove most of the background audio in my Kennedy Space Center 4K video on my channel
Brilliant music.
Is an abrasive slurry used during the flashing process, and the subsequent fixed and rotating metal disc process?
Daam, imagine being that quality control lady....? Staring at little steel balls all day long can probably drive you nutso!
probably she doesn't do that all the day
Probably has a knack for the the ones that haven't dropped all the way.
@leonardimas1 I thought they were Japanese -- they still make great stuff. The woman doing the visual inspection and the guy doing the packing look Japanese, too. Chinese ball bearings aren't worth the steel they're made from.
@leonardimas1 I've been to Japan and China (Hong Kong) and these workers look Japanese. The average Westerner may have difficulty telling the difference, but I can.
@leonardimas1 I've never learned a second language, but I can tell the difference between itialian and french people as well as words, written and spoken, and I can do the same with Chinese and Japanese.
Great and informed advanced sky technology manufactory Japanese steel ball quality!!
Don't forget the Swiss, they are not just clock makers. >
@@ghoulinthegraveyard399 Swiss clocks are not even on the same planet as ball bearings when it comes to tolerances.
The Making of Steel Balls should really be its own episodic TV series. This was only enough steel ball making to whet my appetite.
I'm sure that Martin must have toured a shop like this as a child, and was inspired to create his Marble Machine!
I was expecting some japanese grandpa making every ball by hand
Or a Swiss watchmaker, eh? :D
Pre WWII.
Excellent. Very happy to see manufacturing process. It was better if type of steel used is also mentioned.
The music is like every NES and SNES RPG game ever made. Japan production detected!
i like the part:
called "steel"
like that was something overly special :D
Beautifully made video to show the ingenuity of science applied in technology.
Anyone with ability to use their brain will be in awe.
I think it was 'special'
Well steel is considered 440 material. There obviously chrome, gold, REX 40, silver and so on
yeah, i love how nonsensical it is.
"Steel balls are made from wire rod called steel made of feroalloy containing carbon."
There are several layers of nonsence and bullshit in there while still being somewhat correct and sounding ultra fancy. Insane.
Steel is incredibly special, your just spoiled.
This was more entertaining than 99% of the junk shown on regular TV these days. It's actually fun to learn! But then again, I'm not young enough to know everything.
They don't have the heart to tell the old guy that automated packaging was invented fifty years ago
Laugh's at your "Automated Packaging". I work at a place where all the packing is done by hand.
Jeff Barrett
It's called taking pride in their work. You think he's just an old guy, he probably been there his whole life and knows more than you think.
But you knew that.
Great video of everyday things we most often take for granted to our detriment. Next time i look at my balls, i will do so with ever so much more appreciation!
lol
Idiotic zings and zaps throughout the video are juvenile and distracting! Why is there such passion for adding this nonsense to videos, sports productions, and so many other presentations? It's an example of runaway sound pollution, and you're constantly thinking that one of your cursed 'devices' is alerting you to yet another event.. It even ruins radio shows. Enough already! Give the constant alerts and warnings a rest, can't we? How about some good old golden silence?
The sweet sounds of a genuine compliment suddenly breaks the silence; then, stillness evoked.
TANCHIN can supply special bearings of all types including those with integral shafts that help reduce the tolerance buildup of mating components. pls send EMAIL :sales@hktanchin.com for any inquiry
harvey wind, could not agree more.