# How are ball bearings manufactured?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-ball-bearings-manufactured/226792
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 30, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-ball-bearings-manufactured/226792 "2004-01-30T18:49:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![ricmeyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@ricmeyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricmeyer)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-ball-bearings-manufactured/226792/1 "2004-01-30T18:49:09Z")

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How are ball bearings manufactured?

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### Author: ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-ball-bearings-manufactured/226792/2 "2004-01-30T19:09:23Z")

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[How Ball Bearings are Made](http://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/ball.htm).

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### Author: ![ricmeyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@ricmeyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricmeyer)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-ball-bearings-manufactured/226792/3 "2004-01-30T23:17:52Z")

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thanks so much… verrrrry interesting!

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### Author: ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-ball-bearings-manufactured/226792/4 "2004-01-31T00:11:01Z")

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HowStuffWorks has [this answer](http://science.howstuffworks.com/question513.htm).

(I liked that stone ball machine)

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### Author: ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-ball-bearings-manufactured/226792/5 "2004-01-31T00:20:11Z")

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I wondered about ball bearings too. Thanks.

This is related.

How ‘Shot’ was made. I’m not sure if they are talking about shotgun shot, or ‘balls’ for muskets.

[http://www.baltimore.to/ShotTower/](http://www.baltimore.to/ShotTower/)

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### Author: ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-ball-bearings-manufactured/226792/6 "2004-01-31T06:39:22Z")

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Shotgun shot is made in towers. There is some overlap as the largest shotgun shot is as big as smaller muzzle loading pistol calibers but large shot for “front stuffers” is either cast in molds or preferably swaged to shape.

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### Author: ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-ball-bearings-manufactured/226792/7 "2004-01-31T07:06:45Z")

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There’s a shot tower still standing inside Melbourne Central Shopping Centre. Yes, they appear to have built the Shopping Centre around it, so as to keep a Historical Building standing.