# My Little Balls Are Falling Out  (i'm Askin For It)



## davidh (Feb 1, 2016)

I'm trying to fine tune one of my ball shafts, end bearings, etc etc, and I'm turning the shaft by hand and i hear ding, and another ding, and looked at the table, and here';'s a couple little ball nut balls.  what ?  
i turn the shaft backwards and then forward again and ding, ding, dingity ding.  more balls falling out.  whoa, stop, what the heck is going on ?  they are winding right out the end of the nut .   they should not be doing this,  the first question is why, and the second is how can i stop this ?  i don't think the other two are doing it or i have not noticed anyway.   here's a pix of the ball nut with the cardboard tube back in it, and all the balls are also back.   the metal tube at the top, is not full of balls, is it suppose to be ?  I'm a bit afraid to take the others apart.  and better than that, i cannot for the life of me remember where they came from.  an on-line place, not eBay , not chineese but made in usa altho they do not say "thompson" on them. . .
can anyone help me here ?  
thanks very much.
davidh


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## TOOLMASTER (Feb 1, 2016)

where is the top transfer tube?


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## davidh (Feb 1, 2016)

thats off so i can reinstall the balls. . .


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## TOOLMASTER (Feb 1, 2016)

............


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## TOOLMASTER (Feb 1, 2016)

should be full of balls


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## davidh (Feb 1, 2016)




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## TOOLMASTER (Feb 1, 2016)

you have to have the shaft in it then start shoving balls in one end while turning the shaft...put a washer or something to plug the other hole..keep rotating and shoving them in till no more can go...then fill the the tube and put it on top...


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## davidh (Feb 1, 2016)

i must have a bunch of them swept up with the swarf.  crap !   ok then ,  thanks very much.  next question is why have they decided to start rolling out when the shaft is rotated do you think ?   could it be because of the end i started the shaft into when i screwed it on ?  removing the cardboard tube as i go ?    i don't remember which end i inserted the shaft into at that time, but i have had the bearing on and off the shaft more than a couple times. . .   and I'm hunting all over the place trying to find the original supplier, sheesh, why didn't i save the information or if i did, where did i put it ?   sheesh.


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## TOOLMASTER (Feb 1, 2016)

the only way they would fall out 

tube fell off

ran past the end of threads


not enough balls in it to begin with and the nut shifted to one side


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## davidh (Feb 1, 2016)

well now,  i will measure them little guys and order some replacements.  it must be that they are short of balls and as you said, shifted or ran past the end of the threads.  whew. not the end of the world, thankfully.    i believe i ordered them from roton


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## TOOLMASTER (Feb 1, 2016)

one more..

wrong size shaft vs nut
or balls

did it come assembled??


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## davidh (Feb 1, 2016)

they did not come assembled.   i have emailed them and asked for a copy of what i bought.  we'll see i guess.   its a .631 shaft if my memory serves me.  its been 10 months or so.  i did order them all at the same time however.    based on what you have said, I'm pretty much sure that its lack of balls in the system.   thanks much.   and they are a little difficult to re-install, not impossible but difficult. . .


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## TOOLMASTER (Feb 1, 2016)

ask them how many balls should be in there per that size


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## kd4gij (Feb 1, 2016)

I must refrain.


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## jer (Feb 22, 2016)

I might want a DRO in the future so I'm not going to say anything smart, this time.


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## davidh (Feb 23, 2016)

TOOLMASTER said:


> ask them how many balls should be in there per that size







they said 63 or something,  i just ordered another nut.  the dam thing was only $27 bucks or so but the shipping was $18 .  thats from ROTON.  i will not be ordering anything from then ever again.  holy crap, it weigh'd about 8 ounces.  then when i went to install it on the ball screw, three balls came rolling out. . . . i think it had something to do with which end i started it on. . . . but the guy said it won't hurt it to be a few balls short. . .  so we will carry on carrying on i guess. . .
when this last shipment of DRO's are gone I'm going to quit.  i need the time to do my own things . . . . . . only so many saturdays left, and like most others, i don't know how many. . . . . . .


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