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AFBMA
- Anti-Friction Bearing Manufacturers Association; An organization
of bearing manufacturers with established standards for balls
and bearings.
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ANSI
- American National Standards Institute; A private, non-profit
organization that administer and coordinates the U.S. voluntary
standardization and conformity assessment system.
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Annealed
- A metalgraphic process in which a ball is softened. An annealed
ball can be ground, drilled, filed and welded. Heated to remove
or prevent internal stress; free from internal stress by heating
and gradually cooling; toughened or tempered.
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Application
- an act of putting to use.
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Ball
- A sphere; a round body of various sizes and materials, either
hollow or solid.
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Ball
Diameter - A width of a sphere indicated by fractions of
an inch. For example: ¼" ½", ¾". When balls are ordered by this
size designation, it is the basis on which the diameter tolerance
per carton and diameter tolerance per shipment applies. This
diameter indication is also known as the "nominal diameter."
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Basic
Diameter - A size specified by a fraction plus a decimal.
For example ½" +.0003." When balls are ordered by basic diameter,
it is the basis to which the diameter tolerance per carton and
diameter tolerance per shipment applies.
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Basic
Diameter Tolerance - A maximum allowable deviation from
the basic diameter. For example a grade 25 ball is +/-.0001"
in basic diameter tolerance.
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Brinell
Scale - A system of numerical notation called Brinell that
measures hardness of the specific ball material as compared
to the Rockwell Scale.
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Burnish
- To polish by friction; to make smooth and bright, especially
by rubbing or friction; to brighten or make lustrous.
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Burnishing
- A process in which non-precision balls are used as a media
to smooth or brighten parts in tumbling barrels. Burnishing
media is mostly made of carbon steel.
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Case
Depth -A distance from the surface of the ball to the unhardened
core. It is measured radially from the surface to a point where
carbon content or hardness becomes the same as the core.
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Chemical
Certification - A form that certifies the chemical analysis
of the material.
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Corrosion
Properties - An element that is within the chemical analysis
of a specific material that can resist against corrosion (example:
stainless steel alloys).
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Crushing
Strength - A resistance of a ball to crushing loads. It
is measured in pounds as determined by the three-ball method.
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Density
- Mass per unit volume is measured by pounds per cubic inch.
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Diameter
Tolerance per Shipment - A permissible range of diameters
of individual balls within any one shipment. It applies to all
shipments for that basic diameter and is sometimes called "basic
diameter tolerance."
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Diameter
Tolerance per unit Container - A permissible range of average
diameters of individual balls within any one unit container.
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Durometer
- A term that is used to indicate the hardness of plastic or
rubber. The higher the durometer, the harder the ball as compared
to the same Shore A scale.
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Eddy
Current Tester - A machine to safeguard the quality in final
inspection and to check for surface cracks.
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EDM
- Electric Discharge Machining is a process that utilizes an
electrode to create a hole or threads in a hardened ball.
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Ferrous
- A metal ball that contains iron in the content of the chemical
analysis, such as chrome steel.
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Final
Inspection - A quality process that assures the ball order
is to the exact specification of size, material and tolerance
needed.
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Flashing
- A process that gives a ball blank a rough finish and removes
the excess material around the ball.
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Forge
- To form by heating and hammering; to beat into shape; to make
by concentrated effort.
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Grade
- A guaranteed sphericity expressed in millionths of an inch.
For example, a grade 25 ball is spherically accurate within
25 millionths of an inch.
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Grinding
- A process in which balls are polished or smoothed with a grinding
wheel to make a ball a smaller size.
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Hardness
- A measure of resistance of balls to penetration.
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Heading
- A process that produces slugs from raw wire or rod material
through cold forging.
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Heat
Treating - A high temperature process that hardens the ball
by subjecting a metal or alloy to controlled heating and cooling
to improve hardness and other properties.
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HFC
-Headed, Flashed and Cleaned is when the ball is not put through
any lapping process to make a precision tolerance. HFC balls
are not hardened allowing them to be machined.
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Hollow
- A ball that has a space or empty cavity in the middle and
is mostly used for decorative purposes or in floating applications.
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ISO
- International Standardization Organization - A group that
sets policies and procedures for industry standards in the manufacturing
of products.
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Lapping
- A process that polishes the ball to a shiny finish and to
the exact size required.
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Micrometer
- A tool to measure the accuracy of the ball size; any of various
devices for measuring minute distances; also called a mike,
a precision instrument with a spindle moved by a finely threaded
screw; for the measurement of thicknesses and short lengths,
commonly used by machinists and inspectors.
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MS
Numbers- A Military Standard number is assigned by the Department
of Defense to represent a certain size, material and tolerance
of a ball.
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Non-Ferrous-
A metal ball that has no iron content in the chemical analysis,
such as Brass, Aluminum, and Copper.
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OEM
- Original Equipment Manufacturer.
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Oxidize
- A process in which a ball can change color or develop a surface
condition due to the influence of outside contaminants; to combine
chemically with oxygen; to cover with a coating of oxide of
rust.
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Passivation
- A process in which balls are dipped into acid to clean off
any leftover metal shavings; a treatment to render the surface
less reactive chemically.
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Physical
Certification - A form that certifies the physical properties
of the material.
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Polished
- A process in which a ball is put into a lapping machine and
tumbled to improve the finish.
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Precision
- The degree of refinement with which an operation is performed
or measurement stated.
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Quality
control- A set of procedures determined by an organization
that the quality of the ball is met with certain standards.
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RMS
- Root mean square; the square root of the arithmetic mean of
the squares of the numbers in a given set of numbers determining
the surface finish in micro inches.
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Rockwell
Hardness - A term that signifies the hardness of the ball,
which is measured on various scales on a device, called a Rockwell
tester.
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Soft
Polished - A ball that has not been heat-treated, for example
a material that is already soft such as carbon.
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Special
Burnishing - A process in which a ball is put through tumbling
barrels to make the balls completely round without flat spots.
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Sphericity
- Roundness which measures the difference between the largest
diameter and the smallest diameter on a single ball.
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Surface
Roughness - The finely spaced surface irregularities. Their
height, width, and direction establish the predominant surface
pattern.
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Surface
Waviness - A geometric irregularity of the ball surface.
The wavelengths are longer than roughness.
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TalyRand
- An instrument that measures the roundness of the ball.
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TalySurf
- An instrument that checks the surface of the ball.
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Tempering
- A process that runs a ball for a specific length of time at
a specific temperature to accomplish a specific Rockwell hardness;
a substance added to modify other properties; the degree of
harness and strength imparted to a metal, as by heat treatment.
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Tensile
Strength - Amount of pressure or psi the raw wire can withstand;
the resistance of a material to longitudinal stress measured
by the minimum amount of longitudinal stress required to rupture
the material.
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Tumbling
- A process used to cut balls and smooth them. It also is used
to make a ball shiny.
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Tumbling
Barrel - A drum in which objects are loosely placed and
subjected to a tumbling action, as for mixing or polishing
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Vacuum
Melt - A process in which material is melted twice to make
very fine steel.
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Valve
Grade - A process in which a ball is lapped twice for a
fine finish.
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Visual
Inspection - Observation of the ball surface by the naked
eye. It is also called macroscopic inspection.
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