If you drop a bearing, discard it. In addition to the fact that it may immediately accumulate damaging particles, there may be damage to the bearing which is not apparent to the naked eye. This damage may interfere with your application's efficiency or, at the very least, cause the application to generate a great deal more noise than desired. Also, when applying lubricant to your [miniature bearings], make sure that the lubricant is free from contaminants and refrain from using applicators like cotton swabs that could themselves contaminate the bearings.

Ball bearings are machinery components, which comprise an outer ring, inner ring, balls, retainers, shields and snap rings. Miniature and small-sized ball bearing mean ball bearing, up to 30mm in external diameter. Essential to high-precision rotary components, ball bearings determine rotational accuracy

First of all, raceways polluted with just a speck of dust can bring down tiny accuracy components. Therefore, close interest needs to be paid to the working environment. Clean, dust free workrooms and surfaces are crucial to guarantee miniature ball bearings have a long working life.

Exacting tolerances can only come with perfect machining. This is specially needed for miniatures. However, throughout manufacture, hundreds of thousands are run through in one batch and quality control constantly needs to be in effect to ensure a high quality standard is maintained throughout the processes. Unfortunately, small irregularities can result in parts being produced that have a inadequate fit and inaccurate tolerances. This can then result in blockages, overheating, and ultimate failure of the part. Early failure of a skf bearing can be prevented by mitiulously choosing suppliers and by physically examining the part for defects before use.

A proactive approach demands answers and then solutions as to why inconsistancies are apparent. Will a replacement bearing end up like the one that just failed? What would the remedy be?

The production of bearings demands that exact procedures be followed. For example, if even pressure is not applied to the inner and outer rings of the bearing, axial preloading could result, causing the balls to travel off centre around the raceway.  Thus, the radial ball koyo bearings will be exposed to loads beyond their design and the unit will fail.