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diameter of the ball bearing in a standard 1/4" socket adapter?

F

Ferretface

Plastic
Joined
Nov 13, 2021
Anybody know the diameter of the ball bearing in a standard 1/4" socket adapter? Regards, Ferretface
 

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The answer is, slightly larger than the exposed part of the ball. I suspect that different makers use different size balls, some inch and some metric. The only "standard" dimension is the 1/4 inch, + around 0, - a little bit, or thereabouts.

Not a joke, just the best answer I can provide without destroying a lot of tools and tabulating the results. I will leave the tool destruction to the OP.

Larry
 
Ferretface said:
I'm getting the feeling this isn't a professional forum... just lonely jokesters.
Click to expand...

It's not easily measured because it's not accessible. Feel lucky you got the jokesters and not the dickheads lol...true story.

It's an interesting topic because it's a rare, unusual, and unique question.
 
Sorry about attitude, just need to 3d print out a design tonight and do not want to spend time breaking apart an adapter. Was hoping the internet was good for more than porn.
 
I just drilled one out from the backside and it rolled away so I could use the 3/8" as a chuck key. Do you need that exact size or could you do something similar? Dave
 
In theory you can measure the size of the ball that's exposed. Then measure the height of the exposed part and derive the size from the chord formula. d=(4bsq+csq)/4b, where b is the height and c is the exposed size of the ball.
 
I don’t know the diameter of the ball, but I once lost the spring under the ball none to be found. I found a chunk of Oring works real good for a spring.
 
The ball is slightly less then the diameter of the hole. Ballpoint pens and single lever faucet seals are widely available sources of small coil springs.
Bill D
 
Two simple measurements of the exposed diameter and height, and then a bit of math with the theorum of intersecting chords should get you what you need to know.
 
Normally I would assume it is metric since ball bearing, and hence cheap balls, are metric and have been for more then 100 years. But Sockets and socket drive sizes were invented in the USA and long ago enough it may be English size.

Bill D
 
There's no reason ball size would be standardized over different manufacturers even if the square drive size is standard. For volume manufacturing, availability and cost of parts and tools would overwhelm other considerations so long as the ball used is able to hold a socket. Any near metric equivalent should work fine. It's not a precision fit in the socket detent.
 
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