7 Design Tips For Your Metal Spinning Project

Metal Spinning is a powerful craft used to create axi-symmetrical components for a wide range of industries. It’s recognized as one of the oldest techniques for the production of hollow metal components which can be traced back as far as Ancient Egypt.

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Working with designers, manufacturers and fellow artisans we have recognized the different pain points they have during the design process of their products. It’s why we have compiled this simple, easy to read guide to help you make the most of the Metal Spinning Process.

Below, we take you through 7 design tips we think will make your life easier when it comes to your next Metal Spinning project.

It is important to understand the function of your component or product in order to effectively design it. This information is extremely useful throughout the different stages of the design process.

Take some time to really think about the purpose of your product. Will it be used in a deep sea exercise? Or sent to observe the Sun? Will it serve as an ornament? Or will it assist with chemical transportation for a scientific breakthrough? The questions you ask yourself will be important going forward.

Of course the important question ‘can it be Metal Spun’ is just as important if you are considering the process to begin with. As mentioned earlier, the process involves the creation of hollow, symmetrical shapes formed from a piece of sheet metal over a tool. Make sure your design(s) match this basic requirement.

Now that you have defined your component’s function, the next decision you should consider is what material it should be made from.

Brass and Copper are popular materials for products in the home and furniture industry due to the aesthetics of the materials. Stainless Steel is also popular when the function of the product heavily involves elements of hygiene. Meanwhile, an Alloy such as INCONEL 625 has properties best suited for deep sea operations.

It’s important to understand the properties of the materials because it can make or break your designs.

Cost of materials should also be considered within your budgets. Given the increasing prices of Steel, which you learn more about here, the slightest increase / decrease in material thickness can have major implications on the cost of your project.

It’s important to bare in mind the impact Metal Spinning has on the material. Multiple passes with the spinning tool can actually harden the material in use, which you can use to your benefit by opting for a lighter material like Aluminium.

We do recommend picking the right material ahead of time to get the best out of the design process, allowing you to best prepare your budgets and reduce waste. It is also important to note the finish requirements of your component. Additional services can be used that utilize standard scotch-brite finishes and even mirror polishing and these can be discussed with us during the design process.

After a careful consideration of what materials you want your product / components to be made from, it’s time to define the thicknesses of your project.

For more information, please visit US Metal Spinning.

Projects with a large corner radius will thin the material less than tight corners for example. It’s also important to consider the length of your component. Too thin a material will stretch and ‘tear’ over specific dimensions.

The thicker the material, the harder it is to form which will increase the time spent to form a component. This will have implications on the cost of your project as more man hours are required to fill out the process.

During the decision process of material thickness, you should also be considering your dimensions.

You should now, at this stage, have a better understanding of your project’s function and should therefore have a good understanding of dimensions. Especially if your project is a component that is part of a sub-assembly.

The size of your components will weigh heavily on the cost, and shaving off a few millimeters can save you further money.

The tolerances you require will largely be dependent on the function of the product / component. In some cases, the metal-spun component doesn’t need a uniform thickness throughout. In any case, it’s important to specify if your project needs a uniform thickness.

Operators will be best equipped with the knowledge of where to focus their stress points during the metal spinning process. We recommend performing a cost analysis, which we’ll talk more about next, to give you a better understanding of how best to use your money when it comes to tolerance specifications.

Metal Spinning is considered one the most efficient metal forming processes within the production community. It has added advantages whereby small batch production would be too expensive in processes best suited for large production.

Over recent years, Metal Spinning has aided many with prototyping and Bespoke project cost effectively. It’s why it is important to perform a cost analysis to see if Metal Spinning is right for you.

In some cases, as mentioned earlier, you can benefit from using lighter, cheaper materials as the Metal spinning process itself can actually harden the material. This gives the process a further advantage over other metal forming processes.

There is also less waste involved, further reducing the cost of the project as it fully utilizes the sheet metal discs that the component initially starts as. Be sure to factor these, and other advantages of Metal Spinning highlighted in the linked guides, within your cost analysis.

As a leading expert in the field of Metal Spinning, and the leading organization in the UK Metal Spinning Industry, Excell’s services have been widely sought after worldwide. With the vast skills and knowledge required, we can ensure quality products are delivered on time and to your requirements!

To get started on your next project with us, and to determine the best possible solution for your industry needs, you can fill out a Quotation Form. Our team are on hand ready to help you!

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Metal Spinning Applications.

Well I got into it but then got married and moved and had to spend almost a year getting the shop back up and running. So what I'm saying is it's almost like starting new. I will try to answer questions. There are two guys who do it a lot and I'll try to remember their names. Probably hit me about 2am when I wake up in the middle of the night. I took a class with David Marks and had a ball. I apparently had a good touch and took to it pretty fast. About half the class or more wrinkled up their first few vessels. by the end of the weekend we all were doing pretty well. I made my own tools. I don't really know where to buy them right now. Penn State Ind. was selling tools and materials for a while but they quit. Oneway sells a metal spinning tool rest. I built my own for that also. I will have to do some more research to find other metal spinning resources. There is an excellent DVD listed online. I"ve never purchased it but heard a lot of good things.
there are also some pretty good youtube videos although many of them are too professional for most of us. Mike, can you give us an idea of what you want to spin? Size, material, etc, etc.

In general, you'll want annealed material which is sometimes not so easy to find in small quantities. Possibly, a method of annealing if working with material that tends to work harden. Copper alloys will need a pickling solution to remove heat scale after annealing.

Tools,... you can make those yourself. The lathe will need a tool rest with pivot pin holes, again a DIY item.

I would say becoming proficient at metal spinning is a bit more challenging than wood turning. Doug,

One of the items I will be forming will be metal spheres in various sizes. 4" thru 12" diameters
Intend to use aluminum and copper metal mostly. I located some 4 foot steel pry bars that
can easily be worked into spinning tools. One end is tapered to a point the opposite end has a
curved flat duck bill. A little work with a grinder and should have a usable tool. I have some carbide
cutting tools for my metal lathe that I can braze or weld onto another steel bar for a trimming tool.

Doug,

One of the items I will be forming will be metal spheres in various sizes. 4" thru 12" diameters
Intend to use aluminum and copper metal mostly. I located some 4 foot steel pry bars that
can easily be worked into spinning tools. One end is tapered to a point the opposite end has a
curved flat duck bill. A little work with a grinder and should have a usable tool. I have some carbide
cutting tools for my metal lathe that I can braze or weld onto another steel bar for a trimming tool.

Mike, not to spoil all your fun, but.........

http://www.necopperworks.com/copperballs.html

A 4" ball is $29. Buying the material at onlinemetals.com a 12" x 12" piece of dead soft .040" copper is $24. So about $12 in materials per 4" ball, using two 6 x 6" pieces. Doug,

I have a supply of copper and aluminum sheet metal for this project already. The spheres need to be made to a specific diameter to fit the intended application. I am sure I could have someone make them but I would need to pay for the mandrel forms for each specific size which I intend to make myself. Once I get all of my mandrels made I might look at jobbing it out, but the market I work in has a limited volume of business. I have a few other items besides the spheres that I also want to spin. I also have a couple of Tesla coils that I would like to finish one of these years with a custom made toroid.

Paul,

Most of the retail tools sold for spinning are somewhat undersized for the abuse these tools take when spinning the bigger items and harder metals. I already have a metal spinning tool rest for my lathe I intend to use for my metal spinning.

John,

I have access to a full equipped metal fabrication and tool shop at my day job. I can heat treat and weld just about any kind of metal there. I can turn some metal rollers on my metal lathe for the more complex beading and roller tools and set them up on a tool shaft and handle. The tools I am making will be about 4 foot long with the handles when done.

Some spinners use copper sheeting from the lumber yards that are used for gutter and flashing applications.

You have to be very aware of thickness when you compare prices and buy. Online's price I mentioned for dead soft C110 copper was .040" thick (the thinnest they sell in 0 temper). Roofers copper from Online Metals in .043" thickness is even more expensive for the 12" square.

A friend who works exclusively in copper tells me Online's prices are about 3 times what he pays in volume purchases. Places like Online are the only place to buy small quantities though.

I believe typical roofers copper at lumberyards would be .021" thick, know as 16 oz. Probably half hard so might need annealing prior to spinning and mighty be too thin (depending on the spinner's experience of course).

Copper is expensive wherever you buy.

Anyone on the site using their wood lathe for spinning metal? I have several jobs coming up where I need to spin some metal parts. Looking for any resources that may be available tools and materials etc.

I’ve done a bit of metal spinning, just a few pieces, and made my own spinning tools and toolrest, used copper as it is easy to soften and I had/have some copper sheeting, so never had to buy any.

The sheets I used came from an pressure-less water heater that had started to leak at the seams, for the rim fold over I just two tools at the same times to hold and raise the edge and then roll back.

A skew works just fine for trimming the edge.

If you can turn the forms from hard wood the rest isn’t that hard to do, even if you have to anneal the metal more than once to get there.

These are nothing special, just some of what I made,
The professional spinner that i met one time used an Oak stick as a back up especially on larger platters. I set up a demo for club. He was turning the lower half of the Kerosene well on an Aladan's kerosene lamp. It literally took him about 30 seconds or less. After he finished he said does anyone want to see it again. We said yes because we didn't see it the first time. The scary part was he chained himself to the lathe and used his whole body to swing the tool. These were about 12" discs when he started and ended up being about an 8" bowl with a lip. He would turn two of these and put them together by spinning epoxy into the joint. That was the reservoir for the kerosene for those lamps.