Awesome Ball Bearings

Damascus steel is made by pressing layers of forged metal together. HANS shows how he made a gorgeous dagger using thousands of steel bearing balls. The resulting metal pattern is something he calls Dragon Skin. After making the blade, he fabricated a brass crossguard and a wooden handle. It’s based on a design by Neels Van Den Berg of Black Dragon Forge.

It’s all ball bearings nowadays. Given the ubiquity of these smooth-spinning widgets, it’s interesting to see how they’re made. Process X takes us inside the JTEKT Corporation, Japan’s highest-volume ball bearing factory. Watching millions of steel spheres rolling their way through the automated production line is reason enough to hit play. Turn captions on.

After showing off his square-wheeled bicycle, maker, The Q is back with another bike with oddly-shaped geometry. This model features triangular wheels with a slight curve. The trick to maintaining contact without huge bumps is a flexible suspension and a pair of conveyor belts that press against the tires as he pedals.

The Hydraulic Press Channel has figured out that you can get metal objects to explode even more dramatically by pre-scoring them. In this clip, they start by crushing a series of progressively larger ball bearings, then try the same with one they put cut marks into. The slow-motion footage is really impressive.