Patent ID: 8312631

Claim:
A method for forming a bearing assembly, comprising: forming a curved major surface on at least one of a plurality of superhard bearing elements, wherein the at least one of the plurality of superhard bearing elements comprises at least one bearing registration key or at least one bearing registration keyway; providing a bearing body including at least one recess therein comprising at least one complementary registration feature generally corresponding to the at least one bearing registration key or the at least one bearing registration keyway of the at least of the plurality of superhard bearing elements; after the act of forming the curved major surface, inserting the at least one of the plurality of superhard bearing elements into the at least one recesses of the bearing body so that the at least one bearing registration key or at least one bearing registration keyway is in substantial registry with the at least one complementary registration feature; after the act of inserting, mounting the at least one of the plurality of superhard bearing elements to the bearing body; and after the act of mounting, removing material from the at least one of the plurality of superhard bearing elements via a wire electrical discharge machining (“EDM”) process at a distance from the curved major surface thereof that is less than an EDM kerf of the wire EDM process.