spinning metal

[duckkisser]

i have been thinking of buying the metal spinning set from penn state and trying to combine metal with wood to make bowls.  http://www.pennstateind.com/store/MSSTART.html has anyone tried this?

[wdwerker]

I watched a guy spinning pewter for several hours once. The Penn State kit seems to have the sort of tools and tool rest he used. Aluminum might be easier than pewter. I know some metals "work harden" and need to be annealed in a low oven to regain flexibility without cracking.

[Rick A McQuay]

Duckkisser, did you ever try metal spinning? I watched some videos on it but probably won't try it until I get a bigger lathe.

[duckkisser]

haven't yet I need to buy a few other things but I had thought to buy aluminum plates from newspaper offices. (its what they use for colored images) they just recycle them but I had thought to buy them and make my own discs. thought it would be cool if when you look at them you can read news print on the inside.  

[Rick A McQuay]

That would be very cool. Doesn't aluminum, like copper, harden when it gets hot?

[duckkisser]

yes I think so but its still a soft metal.  and if they can spin steel (granted you have to push harder) you should be able to spin aluminum.

[wdwerker]

I think the friction and stretching would erase the images. The plates I have seen on printing presses are fairly thin so there might be a bigger risk of tearing. Just my guesses , I haven't spun any metal but the guy I watched was using about 1/8" pewter.

Did you ever try gluing up those records? How's the shed now that it's cold weather?

[duckkisser]

i could not post the pictures been swamped but ill do it tonight. as for the records nope havent done it plan on after christmas.

[Byrdie]

Having worked for printers for many years (in the past - as recently as 3 years ago), don't get your heart set on buying a used set of plates from them.  They are considered a high buck recycling item and more than one pressman has found himself in very deep sh!t if not fired for taking some.

 

You might get some if you offered equal to or greater than recycling value for them but general policy is "just say no" so as not to have to deal with all the requests or to have to do the math to figure out what fair market value is.

[duckkisser]

the local paper sells them.  we went on a tour with my students and the lady told me that they sell them.  its cheap if you don't care what the plate says. if I want a specific plate in specific colors then its starts getting expensive. I think it was 10 dollers but if I just want the random plate for craft projects then its quite affordable I think she said a buck or two. 

 

birdie maybe you can tell me the plate look very thin do you think they are thick enough to make into a bowl? if not then I don't realy want to get into spinning.  just want to make bowls and boxes out of old newspaper I think that would be the selling nitch.  if it wont work then I don't realy want to just make plane metal bowls.

[Byrdie]

I think if you're molding them around a form of some type it might work but they are real thin and any kind of stretch is going to cause a tear.  Also, be **VERY careful when handling as the edges are typically very sharp.

[duckkisser]

the way it works is you pin the metal between two block of wood one is shaped how you want it.  then you slowly bend the metal around the block into a bowl shape.

[Byrdie]

That's pretty much what I envisioned.

[calblacksmith]

I tried a little once but the lathe did not have enough power to overcome the drag I was putting on the Al disc. It was fairly thin, gutter flashing that I was using but it needed to be anealed or softened. Alum and copper both are anealed by heating them until a layer of soot is burned off then left to cool or quenched in water. You use a sooty flame to apply the soot first.

 

With steel if you heat it and quench it, it becomes hard. You need to cool steel very slowly for it to get soft. You can test steel with a magnet to see if it is to the right temp, if the magnet no longer sticks or is drawn to the steel, it is at the right temp. Depending on the steel you quench in brine, water, light oil, heavy oil, heated oil or even molten salt. The higher the carbon content, the slower it needs to be quenched but all methods are much faster than just letting it sit in open air. This is true except for air hardening steel which, you guessed it, gets hard by cooling in still air.

 

When I get the Power Matic lathe up and running with the new motor, I hope to give metal spinning another try. Therer are a lot of things all around us that have been spun. Reflectors on shop lights, oil cans with the domed bottom you push to despense oil, are only two things that are spun, it is a big industiral process. You sometimes spin on "air" with no block under to form to, you do this also when rolling the edge. There are LOTS of videos on Youtube showing spinning.

 

The kit from Pen State, seems very expensive for what you get but then I work with steel all the time and am used to it, others may not be so comfortable or have the tools to work it.

 

Give it a try if you can, it sure looks like fun