Replacement to plastic ball in swivel

[pip]

I recently bought 3 everlast plastic swivels but they seem to helicopter quite a bit. So I have managed to replace the balls with stainless steel ones & managed to get them drilled & tapped & they now work perfectly. Took a couple of hours to bed in, with a small amount of lubrication. Hoping to put a progress video on soon, in the meantime here are some photos. Hope this is of interest?

[Biff]

Hey Pip, what's your take on this type of hybrid? Some of us have made the same switch and are happy with it. Looking forward to your vid.

[fingers]

Nice work pip!! where did you get the steel balls from? the ones i got turned out to be un-drillable!!

[Tim]

Looks good. I think plastic base with a metal ball may be the ultimate combination. I've got two we are going to test at SPEED B.A.G. 2010 that Operator 3 made

[pip]

Fingers, I got the balls from simply bearings but they are NOT hardened chrome, they are precision made stainless steel 316 & are 25.4mm
They were quite hard to drill apparently & needed to be kept lubricated. I got an engineering firm to do them for me (friend of a friend!) When tapping them they were a whitworth thread not metric. The 3 balls cost £18 incl delivery & the service was superb as I phoned them (couldnt find the balls on line) at 4.45pm & I got them the next days post! Also I had to get some studlock adhesive on the threads before screwing them in.

[fingers]

Thanks Pip!! i may give them a go but i am quite liking the plastic ball at the moment

[spinsmashpop]

nice work pip!! Where did you get the steel balls from? The ones i got turned out to be un-drillable!!

well he didn't get them from me cuz mine are still intact!
And no, you definitely cannot drill mine either!
I've had these steel balls since the day i was born!
Hahahahaha!

[fingers]

Balls off steel...mabe!!....but stainless steel