...a good replacement for the Bic biro lid?

[LittleGreyCat]

A standard tool for removing and replacing loose ball bearings has always been the Bic biro lid.

All my recent biros seem to have integral lids or click to retract.
Very sensible as a design, but not useful for this specific purpose.

I'm currently hunting around in drawers, but I can buy some pens for about £4 from Amazon which is trivial really.

It just made me wonder if anyone knew of an alternative.

[Hellhound]

Tweezers?

[LittleGreyCat]

Tweezers might do, but the beauty of the Bic biro lid was the gently curve, which held the ball bearing in a dab of grease and didn't require any squeezing followed by a "ping".

Anyway, tracked some down eventually and I think I will add the lids to the tool kit.

[rjb]

I am struggling to envisage how you are using this. Are you dropping them through the hole in the top. Would only work for small balls.
Please enlighten us.

[Mick F]

I cannot envisage why anyone would want a biro lid.

I have always used a small screwdriver ........... and I mean ALWAYS.
Magnetic - or if it's not - drag it across a magnet to magnetise it.

Simple and easy, and the balls can go in clean into a pre-greased bearing cup.

[Eyebrox]

Wouldn't be without my Bic biro top. Magnetic picker for lifting out the balls and cleaning them or replacing them. Then pen top for fine tuning them into place amidst a fresh layer of grease. Had the same biro top for 20 odd years. They are hard to get now.

[[XAP]Bob]

I cannot envisage why anyone would want a biro lid.

I have always used a small screwdriver ........... and I mean ALWAYS.
Magnetic - or if it's not - drag it across a magnet to magnetise it.

Simple and easy, and the balls can go in clean into a pre-greased bearing cup.

Or just slap a wheel magnet on the side of the shaft for the duration of the operation.

[Mick F]

Yep.
Just as good perhaps.

Done loadsa wheel hubs over the years, and never needed anything other than a screwdriver to pick up the balls.
Front, rears, BBs, headsets .............. and even roller-skate bearings.

[rogerzilla]

Magnets aren't ideal unless you are throwing away the balls, as they magnetise the balls, meaning they attract wear particles instead of sweeping them aside.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bfdiO04Px4M

[Mick F]

Not clicked on the YouTube link, but I can assure all my readers that a screwdriver dragged across a magnet, or a normal screwdriver which tend to be magnetic anyway, will suffice to pick up bearing balls and allow them to stick to the pre-greased cups.

Used this system for more years that I can even consider.
They suffer zero "wear particles".

[iandriver]

I suggest a bread puch set designed for fishing may be the tool of your dreams.

https://www.google.com/search?q=3mm+bre ... 7360839844

[keyboardmonkey]

A standard tool for removing and replacing loose ball bearings has always been the Bic biro lid...

... I'm currently hunting around in drawers, but I can buy some pens for about £4 from Amazon which is trivial really.

It just made me wonder if anyone knew of an alternative.

What? These ones...?

£1.59 from Home Bargains. Tesco sell them for £3.00, but currently half price with a Tesco Club Card.

[rogerzilla]

Not clicked on the YouTube link...
They suffer zero "wear particles".

If you did, you'd see ball bearings are rather easily magnetised, and stay like that. So any metal worn from the races or balls sticks to the balls. Unless you have a microscope, you wouldn't see them.

[Mick F]

Not clicked on the YouTube link...
They suffer zero "wear particles".

If you did, you'd see ball bearings are rather easily magnetised, and stay like that. So any metal worn from the races or balls sticks to the balls. Unless you have a microscope, you wouldn't see them.

Ok, I'll experiment shortly.
Just having a cuppa post breakfast, and I'll pop into the workshop with my favourite screwdriver and test brand new balls.

Balls in a bearing situation cannot "stay like that" as they are continually rotating and will lose whatever tiny amount of induced magnetism is there.

No doubt if you left a ball on a big magnet for a spell, it would have some magnetism in it, but a small screwdriver wouldn't matter a jot.

[Mick F]

Photos to prove my point.

Two brand new balls in an alu roasting tray.
One small flat-blade screwdriver.
One iPhone to photograph it.

The two balls were shoogled about in the tray and didn't stick to each other.
I lifted them both out with the screwdriver, photographed it, and then dropped them back into the tray.
The balls still didn't stick to each other, and neither did they repel.
I repeated the test, with the same results.