Ball roller BUSM 19

Do you have a specific application in mind? We will help you choose the right size.

With its threaded stud in M6, BUSM 19 is a ball roller that is screwed in place instead of dropped in. You screw it into an M6 hole or lock it with a nut through a sheet, and then it stays. That makes it a quick way to build small ball tables, turning stations and fixtures without having to make cut outs with tight tolerances; drill, tap, screw and start rolling.

The load capacity is 20 kg dynamically, stated at 4 km/h. That places it in the light goods class: cartons, plastic parts, circuit board magazines, smaller aluminum blanks and the like. The load is spread over several balls as always. Let the goods rest on at least three at once, and it slides evenly and without point loading, and count on one ball extra as a margin rather than one too few.

From the manufacturer's data sheet: threaded stud M6 x 14, overall height 22 mm, outer diameter 23 mm and a net weight of 0.05 kg. The ball is in steel. Exact ball dimensions and other details are shown in the data sheet, which you find via the product page.

A ball table differs from a roller conveyor in that the goods can move in every direction, not just forward. For light parts that means one and the same operator can feed, turn and pick without reaching; the table does the turning, not the wrist. In repetitive operations such as marking, inspection and packing that is a larger ergonomic gain than it sounds.

The stud mounting opens up applications where drop in ball rollers are impractical. In assembly fixtures ball rollers are screwed straight into threaded holes in a steel plate and create a sliding surface for the part that is to be positioned. In machine builds the same principle is used to guide boards and panels into place without scratches. And in light work benches, for example in electronics assembly, labeling or manual packing, a few ball rollers give a table where the operator turns the goods with two fingers instead of lifting them.

A practical advantage of the threaded stud is that the unit is replaced in seconds; loosen it, screw a new one in, done. That makes it suitable in equipment that is rebuilt often, such as test rigs and prototype fixtures where the hole pattern has time to change several times during a project. The M6 thread also fits threaded slot nuts for ordinary aluminum profiles, which makes it easy to bring rolling support into a profile structure.

Think about the underside of the goods. A small ball needs a flat and relatively hard base to roll well; soft corrugated board can bulge down between the balls if the spacing is too wide, and then the resistance rises quickly. Set the balls closer together for light and soft goods, wider apart for stiff goods. Keep the ball clean as well: dust and chips in the ball seat show immediately on a unit this small, so blow it clean with compressed air when needed and replace balls that start to stick.

The weight also comes into it. At 50 grams per unit not even a dozen ball rollers affect the structure, which means they can be put on hatches, pull out boards and other moving parts without hinges or rails having to be resized.

If you need more capacity with the same mounting principle there are ball rollers with a heavier M8 stud and a higher load capacity in the range.