Ceramic ball for ball detent?

sph3ric pyramid

sph3ric pyramid

Joined
Jul 24, 2002
Messages
861
Are there any production/semi-production companies which use a ceramic ball detent? What are the advantages of it over a ball detent made of hardened steel?

I know that the ceramic ball will wear less, but don't a bunch of makers use one made of hardened SS?
 
Ive always used ss for mine. Anyone use ceramic? Ive never heard of it being done, or tried? I know that if you had something harder than the blade material you could run into the potential of it wearing into the blade perhaps?
 
I recall hearing a small discussion here in which ceramic balls were mentioned, but don't actually know if they're used. Sounds reasonable that a ceramic ball would wear grooves into the blade over time.
 
Yes, I had some of the early Marfione era Microtech USSOCOM tantos, the ones made form ATS-34 and the pocket clip with two screws.

Those detent balls were ceramic.
 
Rev_jch,

Sorry, they were sold or bartered long before my wife got a digital camera.

They look just like the same USSOCOM as now. It simply said 'ATS-34' on the blade near the pivot, and the clip was sort of 'L' shaped and held on with two hex-head screws.

Ya' know, they still might be using ceramic blls now, a real enthusiast would know; the last Microtech I bought was an LCC, easily one year ago. I used to be a big Microtech client, but like most of my hobbies, I drift around.
 
The earlier model MT LCC with Ti bolsters used ceramic detent balls. I do not know of the current models though.

N2.
 
Ceramic balls are strong and used for many things. The 15 ton turret on the older M60A3 main battle tank of the 70's and 80's (prior to the M1 Abrams) rode on 96 ceramic ball bearings hand placed into the race before the turret was placed on the chassis.

I'm not sure about the M1 since I left the maintenance company just as it was coming into service. Ceramic is tough, lighter, but could be abrasive when called on to provide friction between two pieces of metal.

Bruce
 
The Newer '98 Socom I have has a steel ball, I can't see any advantage of a ceramic ball as stated earlier it would be likely to wear a grove in the blade.
 
I have been using ceramic balls in ALL of my knives for about three years.
I've had knives that had seen rough use come back after four or five years for adjustment or re-sharpening and I always changed out the stainless steel ball detente as a matter of courtesy because they were usually worn pretty bad.
Ceramic has eliminated that problem. They are so slick that they cause no wear at all in the blade, even after several years of hard duty.
In addition to my custom knives, my AMERICAN MADE T-101 also has a ceramic ball detente against the S30V Blade.
 
I trust all that have positive experiences with the ceramic but must say it surprises me...ceramic is hard but usually not ideal for compression/ expantion applications. Would think the ceramic with little wires/ rods (rebar) would be ideal. Apparently because of the size or lack of pressure it does not effect it? My Strider SMF detent ball seems to get some pretty extreme pressures...
 
Some years ago, folks at Ohio State made an internal combustion engine out of ceramic. One of the design team told me lack of friction was one of the strong points, along with light weight and dimensional stability. Must have been other problems as I never heard of ceramic IC engines in actual production.
 
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