ball bearings

Appleyard

Appleyard

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 Oct 2004
Messages
4,380
Location
UK
Visit site
I am trying to source some of the plastic(?) balls which are used in the mainsheet traveller between the car and the track. they are approx. 1/4" dia and made of a material whose name I can't remember,(although I'm sure I will soon find out ) Can anyone tell me where to get some? I tried Lewmar ...,e-mailed them but no luck . Thanks in anticipation.
 
.How about a bearing supplier? For example Orbic Bearings Ltd, Handcroft Road, Croydon. I have found that firm very helpful, even for very small orders. They certainly sell stainless steel balls so they could probably supply plastic ones.
 
Thanks gents !!! Delrin is the name I was after..and having had a look at the Precision plastic ball Co ,I reckon I can get what I need from them. Vive la forum!!
 
Torlon is better...

For applications such as mainsheets, torlon balls are more suitable than delrin as they'll withstand considerably higher loads.
 
This thread has reminded me that I'm still searching for a small dia (probably no more than 2mm) buoyant brightly coloured ball to insert in my sight guage attached to my fuel tank- the red staining makes it difficult to see the actual fuel level- The PPBall Co. hasn't anything that small, although they told me I should look for a hollow HDPE sphere,

The only thing I can think off is to smash my kitchen kettle at home and extract the small red pellet from its sight gauge. If the SG of diesel is different to water this may not work anyway.

Any other ideas chaps?
 
Torlon is brown and the better option. I've come accross 1/4 inch and 6mm, close but not close enough if you use the wrong ones. Theres a guy on ebay America selling them for about 40c, other than that they are about £1 here.
 
[ QUOTE ]
This thread has reminded me that I'm still searching for a small dia (probably no more than 2mm) buoyant brightly coloured ball to insert in my sight guage attached to my fuel tank- the red staining makes it difficult to see the actual fuel level- The PPBall Co. hasn't anything that small, although they told me I should look for a hollow HDPE sphere,

The only thing I can think off is to smash my kitchen kettle at home and extract the small red pellet from its sight gauge. If the SG of diesel is different to water this may not work anyway.

Any other ideas chaps?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a change of thread but I like the idea as I too have trouble reading my fuel sight gauge. A few thoughts: Firstly, if the ball floats in water it'll probably float in diesel [S.G. about 0.9]. Secondly, the ball needs to be big enough not to float out of the top of the gauge and into the tank when the tank is full to the brim. There's hope here as the i.d. of the steel pipe will be less than the i.d. of the transparent hose. Thirdly the ball must be unaffected by diesel so a plastic as used for making fuel tanks would make sense. Fourthly it ought to be easy to install by disconnecting the top of the hose from its pipe.
 
Hadn't thought of that and I think my son may have some yellow ones in a 'grenade' he bought abroad and brought back by 'plane- stupid boy!
 
From: "Sales" <sales@theppb.co.uk>
Date: 20 September 2007 15:14:59 BST
To: "'Graham Wright'" <welcome@artitus.co.uk>
Subject: RE: Torlon Balls

from the PPB Company;-
Thank you for your enquiry

We can offer only 5/16" (7.94mm) ' Torlon '
Price is £65.00/100 with packing and postage @ £6.55 plus Vat
This item is available from stock.

Best regards

Ian Summers

Lewmar sell at £40 per hundred and (I think) Mailspeed at £45 per hundred!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top