I did some experimenting, based upon what I was told Tree Sling’r did.
One roadblock I ran into was cost. Ortech wouldn’t sell me ceramic balls in any quantity of under 100. You need silicon nitride, which is the priciest of the bunch, to make hybrid saw bearings.
What made matters worse was that the expansion coefficients were different (variables) between steel and SiN balls. I mic’d the steel balls from 6202, 6203, and the fly side 026 bearing. Nothing was offered in the sizes I came up with. I called Ortech to discuss and they were asshòles extraordinare. So the correct size balls were a guessing game.
I was told Jasha had great durability results, but others did not. The price for experimenting was around $200 and the balls were not returnable. Also, seems the gains aren’t so great, so really race only. Then the lack of durability came into play. I pulled the plug at that point.
One thing is for certain, you better bring your A game for assembly with ceramic bearings. I’d only use the MattyO tool that puts no side load on the bearing. Also, forget about tapping the crank back and forth after case is assembled, you can damage the balls.
I guess the shortcut would be to purchase a hybrid ceramic and disassemble. Mic everything up and make copies. Use their R&D instead of my own. Still not sure it’s all worth it though.