Model Engineer Beam Engine - 9/16 Brass Ball Bearings

I am making the ME Beam Engine. It specifies that I need 2 x 9/!6" Brass Ball bearings.

Can enyone tell me where I can obtain these ? or do I use 1/2"

Thank you

Malcolm Farrant

Edited By Malcolm Farrant on 21/06/2020 13:01:25

Try here **LINK**

I’m guessing that these are for the governor ?
It isn”t difficult to make them , if you turn up some brass to the correct OD or just a little oversize then part off most of the way through at the same dimension then set up and cut a bit of a 45deg chamfer on each side and file to finish with the lathe rotating slowly you will be surprised at how quickly you can produce a ball .
I did this on my Roseberry engine and it worked out ok - they called for a 7/8 bronze ball which would have cost me $50! Probably half an hour of work on the lathe had that sorted for free!
Unless you are going to present this model in a show where it would be scrutinised to death no one is going to notice the fly weights on the governor .

building on XD's suggestion, a bit of geometry and a spreadsheet will work out the co-ordinates of a 'stepped ball', which can then be smoothed off with a file, just less filing and more likely to get it round. If your lathe is up to it you could do it with form tool, or I'm sure GeoHThomas reckoned that a 9/16" ID hardened pipe made from silver steel and presented to the brass would produce a ball. Never tried it, but the theory is sound

I suppose it comes down to how much Bling you like but I'd go for reasonably easily drilled and readily available 14mm stainless ones.

Edited By JasonB on 21/06/2020 19:19:18

15mm brass might be appropriate. If the weight is important, it is easier to drill deeper than fill with a more dense material. The last brass balls I wanted came from my local bearing supplier (ABC) - Ii would have settled for steel but that was all they had in the size I wanted, at the time. They were till cheap enough, IMO.

A. J. Reeves stock bronze balls of the size that you want. I have used them to make governors in the past. Drill and tap quite easily.

XD 351, I see you are building a Rosebery engine, I presume the ball was for the governor located in the flywheel, I am building the Roseberry stationary engine, I bought the castings for it when I was in Oz for my daughters wedding. Unfortunately progress has been slow on the project, for the governor ball I was able to get a stainless ball bearing of the correct size, I thought it might be difficult to drill but was surprised that it drilled easily. Apologies for diverting this thread.
Dave W

Hello Malcolm,

In answer to your initial post, unless you specifically want to use brass or bronze balls, you can use ordinary steel balls which of course are much more in keeping with an original engine. These can be softened by heat treating and allowed to cool slowly - preferably as slowly as possible. I used hot sand gradually turning the heat down over about an hour. The ball can then be drilled using an ordinary HSS drill bit.

You can also purchase 'soft state' single balls from here Simply Bearings who have them in 9/16 diameter.

I have placed some photos in an album of the hardened balls being treated and drilled for the governor for a Waller Engine which may be of use/interest to you.

Hope that helps some, if you have any further questions I'll be glad to try to answer

Regards - Ramon

Edited By Ramon Wilson on 21/06/2020 22:54:49

What happened to my post for an Aliexpress source????

.

Seems to have disappeared, along with my comment.

MichaelG.

Michael,

Forum elves at work me thinks!!

Bruce