A ball unit is a closed unit consisting of a large ball that abuts a number of small balls in a spherical bottom. Ball units are mainly used in material handling to move and transport parts on a work table with minimal force.
These are an alternative with lower friction than, for example, sliding construction such as plastic or PTFE sliding plates.
Our ball units are mainly manufactured with a housing of galvanized sheet metal and solid steel balls, but also houses of turned steel that can withstand higher loads. Normally, ball units are mounted with the ball upwards but they can also be used upside down. The maximum load is then reduced by about 50%.
In very dirty environments we can supply sealed ball units. For mounting outdoors or in very humid environments, we recommend our stainless steel series. Where quiet operation is required, we also have the choice to get the ball made of Nylon instead of steel, but a nylon ball can not handle the same load as the steel ball. In addition to these, we also have resilient series with built-in steel spring and/or plate springs where the load can be changed and you wish the ball unit to follow up and down.