A method includes separating a strip of sheet metal from a sheet metal body by a combination of punching and laser cutting, the strip having a first joint edge having at least one first alignment element and a second joint edge having at least one second alignment element complementary to the at least one first alignment element, folding a longitudinal edge portion of the strip to form a flange, bending the strip into a ring and materially bonding the first joint edge to the second joint edge, installing the ring on a radially inner circumferential surface or a radially outer circumferential surface and mounting a plurality of rolling-elements on the ring. The first joint edge and the second joint edge are formed by the punching, and side edges connecting the first joint edge and the second joint edge are formed by the laser cutting.

A wing foil bearing may include one or more wing or tab foil layers. A tab foil layer may comprise a thin material with a two-dimensional array of tab shapes. A tab shape may be defined by a boundary of material separated from the thin material and having an integral edge and a free edge. Tab shapes may include one or more free-state bends relative to the thin material, forming a two-dimensional array of cantilever wings or tabs. Tab arrays may be one or more of various types or two-dimensional arrays, and a tab foil layer may include additional tab arrays and tabs. One or more tab foil layers may be engaged with a mounting surface layer and a counter-surface layer to form a wing foil bearing. Tab foil layers may be stacked and or nested, including partial nesting and complete nesting.

For friction reduction in sliding bearing, it is known to structure the sliding surface (1) by ECM by introducing a plurality of microscopic small indentations (27). According to the invention it is proposed in particular in the same process step to smoothen also the intermediary spaces (6) between the indentations (27), thus to remove the tips of the surface profile.

A method to fabricate a fluid bearing spindle includes creating a hollow cylindrical bore through a solid workpiece. The hollow cylindrical bore has a journal bearing portion including first and second distal tapered bearing segments separated by a central bearing segment having a constant radius. Each of the first and second distal tapered bearing segments has a tapered bearing radius that increases with distance from the central bearing segment to a maximum tapered bearing radius that is in the range of 0.5 microns to 1.5 microns greater than the constant radius. Subsequently, a cylindrical spindle shaft is inserted into the hollow cylindrical bore. In an alternative embodiment, a cylindrical outer surface of the spindle shaft includes the tapered bearing segments, rather than the hollow cylindrical bore.