Ball and socket joint

[qwerty123]

Hello,

 

Im trying to make a ball and socket wheel at the moment as a little project. It might be used to sit on but do not know yet , all i know is that it will need to take quite a bit of weight.

 

What i thought of doing is getting a cup shapes piece of metal with a ball inserted just over half way into the cup and then with ball bearings inside the cup to help the ball move around . The only problem i can think of is that the weight is going to damage the ball bearings and dirt is going to get in from the ball and onto the ball bearings and clog them .

 

I have thought of a solution for the weight problem by simply inserting a larger ball bearing into the top of the cup so the wheel can sit against that.

 

But all the weight against that wouldn't that prevent the ball bearing from working ?

 

I have never looked into this before a bit of advice would be great ,

 

Thanks

[YT2095]

PTFE or even a Nylon cup would be better, with a S.S ball (highly polished of course).

[Mokele]

Why not coat the inner surface of the cup with two layers, a deformable pad of sorts and, on the surface of that, a slick coating to reduce friction? Ideally, you could find something that does both, being both slick and squishy, like cartilage.