The bearing either roller or ball-type is basically used to provide mechanical support for countering axial or radial loads in reciprocating and rotating shafts.  The main purpose of using bearing is to help decrease friction. When metal gets in contact with metal it will produce great friction, which will cause wear and tear to the metal surface. These ball and roller bearings are used to avoid friction as it helps the two surfaces to roll over one another. To know in detail about these bearings keep on reading the article.  

Ball Bearing

When you talk about classic ball bearing, it has outer and inner raceways and a number of round elements alienated by a carrier. It is normally designed in such a way that it will protect the inner surface from dirt and keep the grease inside. The ball bearings are designed for serving different purposes like handling pure axial load, pure radial load or both at the same time.

The ball bearings are also described as point contact, it means that every ball contacts the race in a small patch. The ball bearings are designed to bear the load that a machine is thought to exert upon. Remember one thing, that these bearings don`t have infinite life. These bearings may fail from fatigue, rough usage, spilling or any other cause. They are made on statistical basis which determine their useful life. They tend to fail after a prescribed number of revolutions.

Roller Bearings

Roller bearings are almost constructed the same way as the ball bearings. The major difference is that these work on the mechanism of line contact as compared to point contact in ball bearings. This will help them in taking higher shock resistance and greater capacity. They usually come in different shapes like spherical, cylindrical, needle and tapered. The Cylindrical roller can handle only limited load while the Needle bearings can manage the high radial loads. You can select any type of roller bearings as per your requirements.  

Selecting a Ball or Roller Bearing

• If you are looking to use bearings for lighter loads and higher speeds then ball bearing is best for you.
• Roller bearings are preferred for impact loading and under shock.
• Ball bearings can be easily replaced as they are used as assemblies.
• Parts of roller bearings can be disassembled and replaced individually.

By reading above I hope that you are now in a better position to decide about using ball and roller bearings that can serve your purpose effectively.