First Paper: Imperfections in Vacuum Remelted Precision Steel Balls Which Affect Ball Race Performance

In a study of ball motion in an angular contact ball race the author found that precision steel balls having their centre of mass displaced from the true geometric centre of the ball show tendencies to run in a ‘heavy end outwards’ condition resulting in preferential wear of parts of the ball surface.Three techniques are described which permit the sorting of balls and the elimination of those which limit race life due to errors in ball sphericity and errors in centre of mass position.