[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: Ball bearings
I just looked at McMaster-Carr's catalog (www.mcmaster-dot-com), and they have some
ball bearings that might be useful for spark gaps. For the full list, go to
their page, and click on "Balls" under the product list. You need Acrobat
Reader
to look at the catalog pages. However, here's an excerpt based on the sizes
I've
seen under discussion:
They have a list of carbon steel balls with a hardened casing. Those are $13.54
for a package of 50 .75"'s, and $13.39 for 25 1-inch.
There are also type 302 stainless steel balls, which are unhardened, and cost
$11.47 for 5 .75" balls. 1-inch costs $12.84 each.
I don't know how well brass would stand up to spark gap duty, but you can get 5
3/4" brass balls for $9.46. That would probably be easier to drill, since in my
experience, brass is fairly soft.
However, have you considered forgoing drilling altogether and mounting the
bearings in pieces of pipe? You could take a short piece of, say, 1" steel
pipe,
and put the bearing in there, and then put some solder on it, to improve the
connection. Then hook up the pipe however you want to.
--Doug Brunner
<dabrunner-at-earthlink-dot-net>