# My metal spining adventures\o/



## Powder keg (Nov 22, 2009)

For quite a while now I've been going to mess with metal spinning. I've just never had a project that need it bad enough for me to "get with it". Well, The time has come. I'm building a spare fuel tank out of Stainless for my motorbike. The ends will be spun on my lathe at home. I thought some would be interested in my progress. 

If you've never seen it done, There are a few good videos on You tube. Just serch "metal Spinning".

I did a couple practice pieces with fair results. I determined though, that the 3-Jaw chuck that I was using to hold my pattern. Had to go. To dangerous (Even for me :) So I began making a threaded spindle adapter for my lathe. My LeBlond has an oddball thread. It's 2 1/8" - 5. 

Here is my threading setup.







A couple passes down, About 50 more to go ;D






An action shot ;D





There is a second piece that will bolt onto the first piece. This will have a 1" -8 thread for my patterns to screw onto.






I scribed a bolt circle on the end after the pilot was made.






The first piece was threaded onto my lathe and machined to length and the OD was then turned down. 






I removed the first piece and milled a slot for a spanner wrench.






It works ;D






I drilled and tapped the two pieces then threaded it back onto the spindle of my lathe. I machined a relief on the adapter. 






I then finished the OD of the 1" thread and threaded it. 






Now that the spindle adapter is done, I need a solid steady rest. Here is what I made up out of some scraps I had lying around.






I made a couple of hand tools. The metal bits are just mild steel. I machined/ground the ends to shape then polished them up. The handles are made out of table legs. 











Here is where I'm at now. I started on a couple of patterns today. I'm going to do a few "practice" pieces before I start on the stainless caps for my fuel tank. More pictures to follow\o/


Wes


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## zeeprogrammer (Nov 22, 2009)

Hi Wes. This is the first time I've come across 'metal spinning' on the forum. I thought I understood when you talked about making a fuel tank (from some TV episodes on Orange County Choppers) but the tools at the end were a surprise.

Can you tell us newbies something more about it?

And thanks for the pics and especially the vid. Always good to see the action. It helps understand what is meant by fast/slow etc.


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## Powder keg (Nov 22, 2009)

Carl, 

Metal spinning is basically taking a flat disc of sheet metal and spinning it to shape against a form in a lathe. Many things are spun. Examples would be pots, light fixtures, 2 piece pulleys can be made, lamp bases, and tank ends. You use the lathes tail stock to hold the disc against the form. Then while the lathe is spinning, you push against the disc with the hand tools. The metal will form to the shape of your pattern. To a certain extent.


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## zeeprogrammer (Nov 22, 2009)

Sorry to be a dunce. The tools you showed are going to be used in the process? Not a result of the process?

In any case...I look forward to seeing more and learning about this. Thanks Wes.


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## Powder keg (Nov 22, 2009)

Right, The tools I made will be used to push the spinning metal disc into the shape of the form on my lathe. Sounds dangerous doesn't it ;D There are a bunch of videos on You tube. I'll have some of my own on there soon.


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## xlchainsaw (Nov 23, 2009)

excellent! ive been researching metal spinning for the last 2 years and never gave it a go. i have the "how to" in my old set of pm books. my interest is to spin brass sheet into "chimney caps",small buckets...filler funnels... acute need hasnt arisen as yet! old wood lathes are great to convert to metal spinning as "chucks" are easily turned. i will follow this thread with keen interest.


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## tmuir (Nov 23, 2009)

Metal spinning is also used to make the bobs for clocks.
Its something at some point in the future (Not for a couple of years though) I will need to learn.
I look forward to watching your progress.


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## Powder keg (Nov 28, 2009)

One of the challenges in my shop in the metal spinning department is cutting out metal circles to spin. I got the idea when I was making my spinning steady rest to mount a throatless shear to my lathe. I bought it a couple years ago but haven't used it much. The main reason is there was no place to mount it in my shop. Now when I'm done, I can hand it on the wall\0/







Later...


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## enjen joes (Feb 12, 2010)

If you need a lube try some brownpolymer when I first started I ruin a lot of parts. till I found the lube wasn't working found this and I was spinning perfect pieces
Thanks Randy


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## 1hand (Feb 12, 2010)

Interesting, very interesting.


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