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Hartford Technologies Blog

3 Important Quality Assurance Metrics for Ball Bearings

Posted: Oct 19, 2020 9:15:02 AM

Quality certifications

When searching for a ball bearing manufacturer, it is important that they can make products for specifications you need. For example, IATF 16

949, in conjunction with ISO 9001, defines the quality system requirements for the design, development, and production of automotive-related products, and is very stringent.

 ISO 14001 establishes criteria for an environmental management system, and assures customers and others in the supply chain that environmental impact is being measured and improved. Below are metrics that Hartford Technologies uses to assure quality of their ball bearings.

Lot traceability

It is of utmost importance that products are fully traceable from raw material through finished products. In addition to ensuring highest quality for every bearing and ball program, the Hartford quality lab assists with product analysis and troubleshooting, evaluate bearings used in tests, or in the field, to identify design or material issues, and make recommendations for improving performance and service life.

Quality Assurance Testing

Ball bearing manufacturers should have quality assurance testing. Hartford Technologies has a threefold quality assurance system.

Before parts are sent to bearing assembly, Hartford Technologies’ quality assurance camera precisely measures for “out-of-roundness” on each bearing race. Any bearing race that is outside the minimum/maximum circle is rejected. The Hartford system operates at approximately 1,000 races per hour and is ideal for the high-volume bearing race programs for which Hartford is widely known.

Hartford’s precision automated bearing assembly system has sensors that indicate the presence of balls, races, and separators, at 2,000 bearings per hour. The system also measures overall height to assure the inner race is properly inserted into the bearing. Parts are rejected if any parameters are not met; acceptable parts are then forwarded to x-ray inspection.

An X-ray inspection system is integral to our automated bearing assembly system, which assures that all of the balls are present for each bearing. Bearings pass down a conveyor belt and enter the x-ray machine, which images the part. If the full complement of balls are present, the bearing is accepted. If a single ball is missing, it is pushed off the bearing assembly line and into a reject bin.

7 Manufacturing Steps HartfordClick here to learn more about our manufacturing process.

Hartford Technologies

Hartford Technologies is ISO 9001, IATF 16949 and ISO 14001 certified.Hartford Technologies employs all of these techniques to follow Automotive Industry Action Group standards for Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) which defines the required steps to ensure that each product satisfies customer requirements.

Hartford Technologies products also conform to these major standard industrial specifications:

  • ANSI / AFBMA Standard 10 Metal Balls
  • ISO 3290 Rolling Bearing – Balls – Dimensions and Tolerances
  • DIN 5401 Finished Steel Balls for Rolling Bearings
  • ASTM F 2215
  • ASTM F2215
  • ASTM F2215-08

To learn more about Hartford Technologies or our quality assurance, Contact Us today.