Making something out of ball bearings, (Any suggestions)

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johnnyb47

Guru
Location
Wales
Hi,
I've got a huge box of ball bearings sitting here at home.
It's about 10kg of them, that are the size of bicycle wheel bearings.
What can I do with them. I could sell them, but I've also been thinking i could create something artistic with them, but what is the big answer.
Any suggestions out there in Cycle Chat land? 😀
 

HMS_Dave

Grand Old Lady
Create an obstacle for your enemies to step on and subsequently go flying... Seems artistic enough for me. :whistle:
 

DCLane

Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
Given my son's just done his 3rd year engineering degree major project dropping different sized ball bearings he could have used these.

Suggesting he'd want a box full wouldn't go down well now he's already dropped them 24,000 times to measure the impact!
 

figbat

Slippery scientist
We make these at work:
1612539978683.png

They make nice giveaway mementoes but in truth they are the result of a lubricant extreme pressure test known as the "four ball" test. Simply, the three bottom ones are clamped tightly together, bathed in oil and then the top one is spun in contact with the three beneath it, with load being applied until the whole lot welds together through friction heating, as a consequence of lubricating oil film failure. Better-performing EP oils will support a greater load before succumbing, hence will have a higher "weld point" result.

Not a lot of help to you but your post made me think of it.
 
When we were young we lived near Leyland Motors who made Centurion tanks. The ball bearings out of their axles were about 1" diameter made great marbles in the playground.
Maybe you could invent a game and sell them as essential supplies?
 

MontyVeda

a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
get a big strong magnet and stick as many to it as possible to create a random sculpture that you can play with.
b.jpg

Or lay them on a large wooden tray, under some toughened glass for an interesting coffee table top, maybe?
1672066-poster-1280close_0.jpg
 
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Given my son's just done his 3rd year engineering degree major project dropping different sized ball bearings he could have used these.

Suggesting he'd want a box full wouldn't go down well now he's already dropped them 24,000 times to measure the impact!

Is that still a thing? I remember undertaking that particular lark (though as a lab, not a project) back in my BEng undergrad days in the mid 90s... :blush:

My major project was composites modelling.
 
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