Spinning Conical Whistles?

Whistle
1

Does anyone, besides me, use their lathe to spin Aluminum/Brass/Britania tube into conical bodies and flared bells? (For those of you who are unfamiliar with spinning metal, A flat disk or tube of softened metal is forced/pushed flat over a wood or metal form with a heavy polished lathe tool. Most fancy brass lamps,candlesticks etc. are made in this way)

Anyone with a small variable speed lathe can use this technique. It sure beats annealing and “drawing out” hot metal over a form. http://class.et.byu.edu/mfg130/processes/graphics/JPG/d14s007.jpg
There is very little thinning when you spin metal and the thickness can be kept more uniform. I like to spin copper conical bodies and then electroplate them with German silver. These give wonderful tone when tempered.

Here are some spinning sites and some photos
http://www.jamesriser.com/CD_Preview/Intro.html
http://users.moscow.com/oiseming/lc_ant_p/pic_Spin.htm

Uses/types of forms
http://www.texasmetalspinning.com/images/txpart2.GIF
http://www.lgspin.com/img/spin.gif

Lathe set-up and spinning form photo
http://www.studiofurniture.com/FS/Images/closeup.jpg

2

I would love to see a picture of this technigue in action. It sounds very interesting. I just can’t quite picture the method.
Ron

3

Hmmm… the title of this thread brought a VERY strange image to my mind.

4

Metal spinning can still require annealing depending on the metal. Aluminum doesn’t require annealing. Good sources of metal spinning books are the reprints of Popular Mechanics booklets or Lindsays Technical Books.

5

I agree with you Daniel, Aluminum and Leadless Pewter(Britania) do not need annealing(softening) but a Spinner can use a trigger ignited hand-held torch and a “rag stick” soaked in light oil to anneal “on the fly” if the metal you are turning becomes hard while spinning.

I don’t recommend Britania or soft aluminum alloys for the beginer. These metal sheets can become thin and fly off the lathe if too much pressure is used, tubing is much safer. Hard Aluminum alloys(T-6 etc.) are suitable, if you keep the thickness at 16g to 22g.

6

slight o t here, but david daye spins his uilleann pipe chanter reed staples.
always seemed like an interesting alternative to rollin um.