10 Questions You Should to Know about Spin Forming

Metal Spinning is a craft dating back to the years of Ancient Egypt and has considerably developed over the years since the introduction of automated machinery such as the Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) Spinning lathes. The introduction of such machinery has revolutionised the industry and it is already paving the way for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the Internet of Things (IoT).

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However, only a few people actually know how to metal spin in the UK, let alone know what metal spinning actually is and the applications it is used within. Over the next four weeks, we aim to address these questions and bust the myths around this ancient craft. Today, we will provide you with a tutorial on how to manually metal spin!

First and foremost, you must ensure you wear the correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in accordance with government legislation of Health and Safety at Work act (HASAWA) . These include wearing correct clothing such as overalls, gloves, steel toe-capped boots, ear protection and eye protection. This is because metal spinning sheet metal discs can generate a lot of heat and swarf material.

Second, and most obvious to some, you will need a manual spinning lathe, which is not to be confused with a turning lathe! If you already have one, great! If not, these can be quite expensive but If you have the money to afford such a lathe you can often find many for sale from independent sellers / businesses online.

For more information, please visit US Metal Spinning.

Thirdly, you should ensure you have enough room and that you are safely away any person/people, that the floor around you has no trip hazards and that you have spinning tools! These are fundamental for metal spinners as this allows them to form the sheet metal disc around the tool to create the desired shape with its desired dimensions.

With these checked, you can proceed to metal spin! So, you are fully prepared, you are wearing the correct PPE, you have purchased your spinning tools and manual spinning lathe, you are complying with HASAWA . You must now load on your desired tool that you wish to form the sheet metal disc around. The next step is to turn the Manual spinning lathe on and set your desired speed preference. In the video below, we demonstrate this on a Wilson Spinning lathe. The speed preferences vary with each metal spinner based on their confidence and skill levels.

Step two requires the blank to be “true”. In short, this involves a slight release of the Tailstock to Free the Blank enough to allow the back stick to move the blank. A metal spinner would be able to perform this through use of touch and sight. As you gain more experience over time, you will be able identify when the sheet metal blank/disc is true and dead centre. Be sure to watch the video demonstration to observe how our metal spinners perform this. Once the blank is ‘true’, the Tailstock needs to be cranked up in order to clamp the blank against the metal former / tool of the desired shape and size.

Manual Spinning tools are crafted in accordance with a metal spinner’s preference. There are many spinning tools on the market, some better than others, but all have similarities to the desired performance to form blanks over the loaded tool. As you can see in the video, our Metal Spinner moves the spinning tool in the shape of an arc. The arc shape is large at the start of the spinning process of forming the blank. It gradually shrinks as the spinning tool presses against the loaded tool/mould. The operator is in full control throughout the process and their skills determine how successful they are in performing this stage.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website Spin Forming.

Bruce,

I have crafted a couple of copper and aluminum items with the metal spinning technique on one of my wood lathes several years ago. I was able to find a set of metal spinning tools and cleaned them up for the project I was working on. Depending on the size of item you want to metal spin will determine the horsepower you need for the lathe you use. You will also need to turn some wood forms to match up to the shapes you want to spin. The metal discs used for spinning needs to be suitable for spin forming, you also need to lubricate the metal while forming the items. There are a number of books written on the craft and a number of YouTube videos that show the basic tools and techniques used. Like any other craft it takes a fair amount of time and practice to learn the use of each tool and proper techniques used for forming the metal to different profiles of the wood forms. After completing the project I was working on I sold my metal spinning tools to one of the members on this site. If you do a search on metal spinning you should find the post. Turned a few bowls from aluminum, copper and pewter. bought a few spinning dvds and books so I know enough to be dangerous. Funny, I just ordered two more books on metal spinning yesterday, they should be here in about a month or so...
Not sure about fusing, one of the books I read suggests using a soldering ring inside the two hemispheres to make a sphere. The book I'm referencing is A step-by-step guide to hand spinning by Paul G. Wiley. Has some good info on disk to diameter size and blank thickness for a given size.
Here is a bowl I turned to shield the mounting of a weather vane staff. About eight inches in diameter.

Turned a few bowls from aluminum, copper and pewter. bought a few spinning dvds and books so I know enough to be dangerous. Funny, I just ordered two more books on metal spinning yesterday, they should be here in about a month or so...
Not sure about fusing, one of the books I read suggests using a soldering ring inside the two hemispheres to make a sphere. The book I'm referencing is A step-by-step guide to hand spinning by Paul G. Wiley. Has some good info on disk to diameter size and blank thickness for a given size.
Here is a bowl I turned to shield the mounting of a weather vane staff. About eight inches in diameter.
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I have done some spinning a few years ago. I haven't done any in about 4 years now. I made my own tools. One of the most important things about spinning is don't go in just one direction. The metal moves and if you go in the same direction all the time it gets thinner and thinner at the start of the push. By going back down the bowl with the same force you are pushing the metal back down to hopefully achieve the same thickness. Annealing metals is also important because the work harden. I've done copper , Aluminum and pewter. Pewter was by far the easiest but it's so soft it makes a lousy bowl. It can be scratched with your fingernail. The aluminum and Copper had to be annealed often on anything over 4", at least for my skill level.
To put parts together such as forming a sphere there are two methods I'm familiar with. Silver solder and Epoxy. Obviously Epoxy is easier. The first guy I saw demo Metal spinning used epoxy to put spheres together to make oil lamps. He was a commercial spinner. I put the epoxy in, put the spheres together and then turned on the lathe so the spinning forces pushed the epoxy out into the joint. I have uses silver solder to put handles or knobs on. I don't have a good torch and always have a tendency to overheat the metal and leave discoloration that is difficult to get out. If you want to talk to a person with actual experience look up Ted Sokolowski. Really nice guy as are most turners. Should be able to find him in the member section. We had him at our symposium in I think and he did a great job spinning metal. Mostly pewter because it's easy for a demo but he has done other metals as well. I have one of his demo pieces.

Thanks Mike,
I have been spinning for about 3 months now. I have some specific questions about fusing two hemispheres to make a sphere (both copper and aluminum). I’m also having trouble spinning over an 8 inch diameter wood hemisphere form using a 12 inch circular blank.
I’ll try to find the those previous posts. Appreciate your help.
Bruce

I haven't tried spinning yet, but isn't a 12" disk too small for an 8" diameter form, or does the metal stretch that much during the spinning process? The circumference of 8" diameter is a bit over 25" so you might need a larger disk or a smaller form.