Powder keg
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- Oct 10, 2007
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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
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
