# Anybody Ever Drilled And Tapped A Ball Bering?



## Vegemitesandwich (Oct 21, 2016)

In retrospect I probably should have picked a more forgiving material.


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## Ulma Doctor (Oct 21, 2016)

i have not, but i imagine if it can be cut with carbide- it can be done!

(do you come from the land down under? )


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## TOOLMASTER (Oct 21, 2016)

tried and failed

you can buy threaded balls from mc master carr


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## Joncooey (Oct 21, 2016)

I haven't done it but you might try heating it up and take the temper out of it. 
  I have had some success with hardened material using this method.  Ball bearing may be another story.

  Jon.


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## rwm (Oct 21, 2016)

I bought a 304 stainless bearing and tried to drill it. I used carbide and had no success at all. I didn't even know 304 could be hardened. I also tried heating it orange hot for three or four cycles without effect. 
R


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## DoogieB (Oct 21, 2016)

Yeah, I've drilled and shafted a few for a purely cosmetic use.  These were from a assorted size bag of loose bearings I bought on Ebay.

As long as you don't care if it's hard or not, just heat it up until it's red, let it cool, chuck it up on the lathe and drill.  Maybe you want to use a tool to put a flat spot for the drill.


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## RJSakowski (Oct 21, 2016)

Drilled, yes; tapped, no.

I have successfully drilled ball bearings on a number of occasions with carbide bits.  The smallest hole was about .030" the largest about .250".    I did the drilling with the lathe

I would not expect to be able to tap them with HSS taps.


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## FLguy (Oct 21, 2016)

RJSakowski said:


> Drilled, yes; tapped, no.
> 
> I have successfully drilled ball bearings on a number of occasions with carbide bits.  The smallest hole was about .030" the largest about .250".    I did the drilling with the lathe
> 
> I would not expect to be able to tap them with HSS taps.


 A nasty way to tap,(dangerous), heat your tap,not to cherry red but tan in color then plunge into mercury till cool. It will cut most any thing BUT it is very dangerous due to fumes and possible tap fracturing if hole is at 75%; go for 50- 60%.


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## Vegemitesandwich (Oct 21, 2016)

Yea, well prime example of not thinking things through. I heated them reentry hot then let them sit sure they drill and tap now but I wanted shiny balls. As for the store bought balls I need a bastard thread .5-12, .5-13 and 20 easy


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## Vegemitesandwich (Oct 21, 2016)

FLguy said:


> A nasty way to tap,(dangerous), heat your tap,not to cherry red but tan in color then plunge into mercury till cool. It will cut most any thing BUT it is very dangerous due to fumes and possible tap fracturing if hole is at 75%; go for 50- 60%.


Mercury quench? Huh. How may people have that much HG? Why me of course, but I think I will pass on that one for now.


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## FLguy (Oct 21, 2016)

If you want to try again you may luck out by wrapping the balls in stainless steel sheet: well sealed, then heat. A hole lot less scale / dis-coloration. Some thing like heat treating in a SS envelope. Hope this helps out.


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## FLguy (Oct 21, 2016)

Vegemitesandwich said:


> Mercury quench? Huh. How may people have that much HG? Why me of course, but I think I will pass on that one for now.


  Ya , good idea but I only had 5lbs on hand with additional 20 available. Mercury requires extreme caution!! I had the proper ventilation system.


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## DoogieB (Oct 21, 2016)

You can make your burnt black balls shiny again with some scotchbrite.


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## Vegemitesandwich (Oct 21, 2016)

Problem solved. Saw the threads off one end of the shafts rethread to something from this planet buy nice shney balls from Mc Master Carr to match threads voila. Had fun heating bearings though that was kind cool. Think i'll see whats on the DVR


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## 4GSR (Oct 23, 2016)

FLguy said:


> Ya , good idea but I only had 5lbs on hand with additional 20 available. Mercury requires extreme caution!! I had the proper ventilation system.


I bet you are on the radar scope with the EPA, too!  That is one element I would not have in my possession, ever! 
Guys, please be careful with that stuff!


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## jpfabricator (Oct 23, 2016)

I had about 12# s of Mercury. I found it in the shop of the house we moved into. I gave it to the hospital for disposal.

Sent from somwhere in east Texas by Jake!


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## kingmt01 (Oct 24, 2016)

4gsr said:


> I bet you are on the radar scope with the EPA, too!  That is one element I would not have in my possession, ever!
> Guys, please be careful with that stuff!


Really? Why would you think that?
I just bought some not long ago. Maybe 2 years ago. You don't need any license, it's not hard to find, & there is no hoops to jump. My only use so far for it has been in my carb synchrometer & the filings in my teeth.

I've read about coating taps with it a few times. Seems that it must not be that uncommon.


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## John Hasler (Oct 24, 2016)

kingmt01 said:


> Really? Why would you think that?
> I just bought done not long ago. Maybe 2 years ago. You don't need any license, it's not hard to find, & there is no hoops to jump. My only use so far for it has been in my carb synchrometer & the filings in my teeth.
> 
> I've read about coating taps with it a few times. Seems that it must not be that uncommon.


The hazards of mercury are greatly exaggerated.  Mercury vapor is toxic but it boils at 674F so there isn't going to be enough vapor around at room temperature to poison you..  The metal cannot be absorbed through skin.  Just don't boil it or eat it and don't pour it down the drain (it can react with naturally-occuring chemicals in sediment to form toxic compounds).  Some mercury compounds are very toxic but then so are some carbon compounds.


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## Bill Gruby (Oct 24, 2016)

I have in my collection at least 5 mercury filled plumb bobs by B&S.  It really is an over rated material. It was banned primarily because of the probability children getting into it.

 "Billy G"


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## kingmt01 (Oct 24, 2016)

Bill Gruby said:


> I have in my collection at least 5 mercury filled plumb bobs by B&S.  It really is an over rated material. It was banned primarily because of the probability children getting into it.
> 
> "Billy G"


I know it doesn't get used as often anymore but I didn't know it was baned. I know there are regulations against dumping it & people get frantic about it. What kind of ban is on it?


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## RJSakowski (Oct 24, 2016)

Anyone with silver or gold fillings has mercury in their mouth.   Back in the seventies, improved detection techniques made it possible to detect mercury at parts per billion levels and there was a rash of investigations looking for mercury everywhere.  I worked for a battery company then and because we used mercury in our batteries, we were required to monitor our waste water to these levels.  I took some fresh amalgam from my dentist in to be analyzed and we couldn't detect any mercury vapor from the amalgam.

Elemental mercury has a vapor pressure of .002 mm Hg @ 25ºC according to the CDC.  This in itself is interesting since the measurement  is technically measuring against itself.  This leads to a concentration of 18mg/m3 which is above permissible limits.  However, to reach this level in a room would take a fairly long exposure of a large surface area or heating the mercury to vaporize it.  Mercury's toxicity first gained notoriety in the millinery industry as it was use in the process of making felt for hats.  This gave us the term"mad as a hatter". 

Another interesting tidbit is that more mercury is released into the environment in the burning of coal than all other sources combined.


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## Billh50 (Oct 24, 2016)

I can remember rubbing it on pennies to change the color when I was a kid.


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## John Hasler (Oct 24, 2016)

Bill Gruby said:


> It was banned primarily because of the probability children getting into it.


I suspect that you are thinking of lead.  Regulation of industrial and commercial use of mercury are, as far as I know, aimed primarily at reducing chronic occupational exposure and reducing environmental release.


RJSakowski said:


> Mercury's toxicity first gained notoriety in the millinery industry as it was use in the process of making felt for hats. This gave us the term"mad as a hatter".


Yes.  They removed it from the felt by heating it.  In unventilated shops.  Lots of things are toxic if you breathe enough of them over a long enough period of time.


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## John Hasler (Oct 24, 2016)

kingmt01 said:


> What kind of ban is on it?


It isn't banned in the sense of being illegal to sell it or possess it.


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## Bill Gruby (Oct 24, 2016)

I stand corrected, it is a federally regulated substance. Thank you John.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_regulation_in_the_United_States

 "Billy G"


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## FLguy (Oct 24, 2016)

4gsr said:


> I bet you are on the radar scope with the EPA, too!  That is one element I would not have in my possession, ever!
> Guys, please be careful with that stuff!


Ya, When you work on secrete gov. stuff it's OK to do this. Yes it is legal but dangerous for hobbyist.


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## Andre (Oct 24, 2016)

I have a 100 year old book by popular mechanics titled "700 things for boys to do"

You'd be surprised at how many projects involve mercury or lead. At least 200 projects in the book.

Heavy metals like lead and mercury are hardly toxic in their metalic form. It's the oxides that are very toxic, as they are absorbed into the bloodstream much quicker. 

Believe it or not, aluminum is actually pretty toxic as well. So are the oxides from copper and brass. It's not about the danger of the chemical, it's how much you manage to get into yourself. 

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk


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## savarin (Oct 24, 2016)

I love that book, its amazing how anyone survived to produce offspring.
You would be locked up today if you tried half the things in it.
Have you see the "Boys book of Atomic experiments"?


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## jim18655 (Oct 24, 2016)

A little reading for your spare time:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mercury/docs/healtheffectsmercury.pdf
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/hazardous/topics/mercury.html


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## rpmMan (Oct 24, 2016)

as long as we are off topic...back in the 70-80s we used a glass beaker with an inch or so of mecury , covered with an inch or two of motor oil...to weld thermocouple junctions from 18-22 gauge tc extension wire... simply twist both ends ,, the junction end should just be one twist,,, connect the non junction end to one side of a small variac, connect the other side of the variac to a conductor that is inserted into the beaker of hg, so it will not move...now simply insert the junction end into  beaker for a few seconds as it just touches the hg ... you will see/hear it sparking and when reomoved will have a nice round ball juction...note that the voltage can be varied as needed.. we usually started of at 25-50...also note that 110 vac variac have both hot and neutral connections at 110 vac to ground when open circuited,,,
rich


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## Andre (Oct 26, 2016)

savarin said:


> I love that book, its amazing how anyone survived to produce offspring.
> You would be locked up today if you tried half the things in it.
> Have you see the "Boys book of Atomic experiments"?


I have not, but I did know about the toy kit that actually included some real plutonium!


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## Billh50 (Oct 27, 2016)

All I know is I played with Mercury many times when I was a kid. And my doctor says I'm just fine. Really I am.


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## Farmboy1 (Apr 13, 2017)

RJSakowski said:


> Another interesting tidbit is that more mercury is released into the environment in the burning of coal than all other sources combined.


As a worker in a coal fired power plant for the past over ten years I can say that yes there is mercury released  from burning coal but at a rate of about 4litres per year burning about 6 million tons of coal a year, not to mention the mercury is the naturally occurring stuff that came out of the ground in the coal in the first place then we put in activated carbon injection systems that remove 98% of the mercury so it goes out cleaner than it came in. At least I go gome with only two eyeballs as far as I know!!!


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## whitmore (Apr 13, 2017)

Andre said:


> Believe it or not, aluminum is actually pretty toxic as well. So are the oxides from copper and brass.



I'll choose not to believe aluminum (something like eight percent of the Earth's crust
is aluminum, we grow all our food in it).   The tailings,
though, from copper mining are a rather lifeless selection of landscapes.

For sure, keep copper-alloy swarf out of any cut...
The big hazard from aluminum, is that technically it's flammable
so the dust from sawing/grinding has to be kept in control.   Titanium likewise, if  you
ever grind something that exotic.


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## whitmore (Apr 13, 2017)

A nice  hardened steel ball CAN be drilled, with an EDM (or ultrasonic
tools with abrasive slurry).   If I wanted one drilled and tapped, I'd
press a knurled threaded insert into an EDM'd hole.


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## Vegemitesandwich (Apr 13, 2017)

whitmore said:


> I'll choose not to believe aluminum (something like eight percent of the Earth's crust
> is aluminum, we grow all our food in it).   The tailings,
> though, from copper mining are a rather lifeless selection of landscapes.
> 
> ...


Dust from the porta-band is pretty fine. I have tried to light it to no avail even with cutting torch.


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## Four Corners (Apr 19, 2017)

DoogieB said:


> Yeah, I've drilled and shafted a few for a purely cosmetic use.  These were from a assorted size bag of loose bearings I bought on Ebay.
> 
> As long as you don't care if it's hard or not, just heat it up until it's red, let it cool, chuck it up on the lathe and drill.  Maybe you want to use a tool to put a flat spot for the drill.


Agreed. I've done this as well. The balls go black from the heating, but it can be cleaned off easily enough. I'm making some ball joints for a delta 3d printer using BBs. Don't even think about using HSS tools on the balls unless they have been softened. Money down the u-bend immediately. There's a discussion about using ball bearings in a vise to take up slop and account for odd shapes. I posted a link to a YouTube video in which the fellow has a very clever way of holding the balls in a lathe. I would post a link to that discussion, if I knew how to. Try to find the discussion and scroll down to the YouTube vid.


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## samthedog (Apr 19, 2017)

whitmore said:


> I'll choose not to believe aluminum (something like eight percent of the Earth's crust
> is aluminum, we grow all our food in it).



Not entirely correct. Some aluminium alloys are found but aluminium on it's own is quite rare. You are probably refering to bauxite which is plentiful. Aluminium can be dangerous in nano-particle size as it can pass through the blood-brain barrier via the olfactory nerve (the nerve that carries the signals responsible for your sense of smell to the brain) where it contributes to lesions in the brain causing alzheimers:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0946672X16303777

Aluminium is also bad for for DNA replication as it damages the DNA and this can be the result from ingested aluminium. Here is some more info:

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=1076&tid=34

I wouldn't read too much into the statement that it exists naturally - naturally it is very rare and it's a very technical process to extract it from bauxite:

http://aluminium.org.au/FAQRetrieve.aspx?ID=42259

And the by-product of which is sodium flouride which is highly toxic and interferes with calcium metabolism and as a result the heart and circulatory system (which could explain the higher rates of cardiac disease since sodium flouride's introduction into oral hygeine products).

It's increasingly found in nature, however science is apperently powerless to find out how it's getting there. The recent prevelance of aluminium is argued to be contributing to the skyrocketing rates of Alzheimers and it also seems to be a contributing factor in the demise of bees:

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0127665


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## cathead (Apr 19, 2017)

I don't know about the rest of Hobby Machinist land but in northern Minnesota there are daily displays of chemtrails
spewing micro particles of aluminum and or barium and who knows what else.  

As long as I'm off topic, if you mix 3 parts of iron oxide with one part of fine aluminum, you have a mixture that will burn 
really hot and vigorously I might add.  Temperatures can reach 4500 degrees Farenheit.  The railroad uses this to weld
track sections together(Thermite).  I havn't tried this yet but am considering it.  You can fire it off with a sparkler...


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## T Bredehoft (Apr 19, 2017)

Back to drilling holes....I have a 1" ball bearing on the end of a rod, as a handle to rotate my four-tool.   I drilled through the hard skin with carbide, drilled a No. 7 in about half an inch, tapped it 1/4-20, and screwed my handle into it. This was back in the '70s.


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## whitmore (Apr 19, 2017)

samthedog said:


> Not entirely correct. Some aluminium alloys are found but aluminium on it's own is quite rare. You are probably refering to bauxite which is plentiful.
> 
> ...contributes to lesions in the brain causing alzheimers...
> 
> ...



In referring to '8 percent', I meant that eight percent, by weight, of the Earth's crust
is aluminum atoms.  They aren't atoms in native pure metal, but in other compounds.
Washita sharpening stones are nearly pure aluminum oxide, bauxite is just
the most economical ore for making pure metal.   

The electron microprobes of Alzheimers' plaques that showed aluminum content, were
not finding metal, just atoms.  The original findings have been traced to tissue preparation
materials, so the aluminum is not a likely culprit in the malady.   It certainly is not
a known toxin.

The CDC link is full of guarded language, but one statement is clear:
"You cannot avoid exposure to aluminum because it is so common and widespread in the environment."


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## samthedog (Apr 21, 2017)

whitmore said:


> In referring to '8 percent', I meant that eight percent, by weight, of the Earth's crust
> is aluminum atoms.  They aren't atoms in native pure metal, but in other compounds.
> Washita sharpening stones are nearly pure aluminum oxide, bauxite is just
> the most economical ore for making pure metal.
> ...



Aluminium oxide and bauxite are not aluminium - aluminium is the metal in it's pure and refined state. To illustrate my point,  you can ingest arsenic found in certain compounds reasonably safety because it is bonded, but this in no way means arsenic is safe. As this report states regarding aluminium and AD(Alzheimers Disease):

" However, recent reports concerning sporadic AD [12] and environmental [13] and occupational [14] exposure to aluminium have allowed the conclusion to be drawn that, under certain conditions, it is inevitable that aluminium will contribute towards AD [11] ;  [15]. The suggestion is made that wherever in the brain the concentration of aluminium is pathologically-concerning (>2.00 μg/g dry wt.) that this aluminium will contribute towards any ongoing AD and will result in the disease being earlier in onset with a more aggressive aetiology [15]."
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0946672X16303777

Considering this report was published in March 2017 and has been peer reviewed by the medical community, the link seems pretty conclusive. Anyway, that's enough OT posts from me. Each person is responsible for their own health and safety.

Paul.


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