Creating half a sphere

Here I am in the metal fabrication shop at Pollock Auto Restoration. We're located in Pottstown Pa. This is the first video of two where I'll be making a sphere out of aluminum.

This is meant to be an exercise in metal forming and welding finesse. To make a perfect sphere by raising two flat sheets of 3003 .050 aluminum Then weld the two halves together making it impossible to use a dolly on the back side to hammer up against.
This would have been done to plannish out distortions due to extreme heat from welding. First step- I'm using the P-9 Pullmax with a 1-1/2 square thumb nail die shrinker made by Fay Butler. A nice size for small detail work. Making the first half of a sphere,I took it as far as I could which was about an 8" radius before the Pullmax interfered with the raising process. I then took it to the English wheel ( G. Kendrick Birmingham) with a 2.50" anvil radius to pop out the bottom , the polar region of the sphere. Final shaping of the edge, the equator region, was done by crimping, tucking and beating it in to thicken the metal which in turn tightens the diameter of the circle. The goal for this is a 4" radius. This will give me a nice 8" diameter sphere. Further shaping was done by gathering up the side by making pumpkin ridges then pushing the metal into itself again to match a 4" radius from polar region to the equator completing the roughed out sphere half. Next step would be to continue to smooth out the surface in the English wheel. If there happens to be any high spots I can use the wheel to shrink it down by taking off the pressure and tilting the bowl and wheeling the metal into its self.

Synclastic raising-a form in which the dominant curves both move in the same direction such as a bowl.

"There is only one right way to raise- the way that works. Methods will differ depending on the size and shape of the piece, the tools available, and the metal being raised."-Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• metal
• working
• aluminum
• pullmax
• english
• wheel
• Pollock
• Auto
• Restoration
• Ragtops
• and
• Roadsters
• Dorian
• Custodia

[quatfro]

Make a wooden form and then spin it into shape, it would take far less time!!

[LenapeFireTurtle]

@quatfro Well, you do know there are plenty of ways to come up with a bowl. Why not stamp a bowl out. That way it will take even less time...so then I'll be able to make my millions making a shit load of bowls for the price of a good bowl press. If I wanted to show how to spin a bowl, I would of gotten ye old spinning lathe out. Then I would of made a video on how quick it is to spin one to form.

Maybe next time....maybe next time....

[quatfro]

@LenapeFireTurtle Something tells me you didn't take my comment well!

Don't be such a big girl, it just seemed terribly laborious that's all.

[LenapeFireTurtle]

@quatfro what should I have expected from a cheeky Brit?? No offense was taken...just telling like it is...

[honeybunchickens]

brilliant work my friend, superb :)

[honeybunchickens]

@quatfro patients is discipline, doing things that will take longer then other ways, it takes a good skill and a hole lot of motivation , discipline to accomplish something like that. How many people can just pick up a piece of metal with confidence and bust out a half sphere with it the way he did it. I don't know any body that can. even if you tried doing it his way you'd be intimidated by the fact that in your head i could get this done so much faster. you couldn't compare to him

[honeybunchickens]

@quatfro  thats referred to metal spinning

[cpu22128]

Very impressive. A good wheeler nowadays is rarer than an honest politician. I am in awe of your craftsmanship. Keep up the good work.

[pdiben]

It looks like you really know what you're doing. Thanks for posting this video.

[quatfro]

@n9xvt Walk everywhere do you?! Didn't think so.

[sk8wnec]

@LenapeFireTurtle I agree. You can make bowls a thousand ways but thats not what your video is about lol.

[n9xvt]

@quatfro sometimes its more about the ride than the destination,,

[hulk182003]

and then he filled it with Lucky Charms. MAGICALLY DELICIOUS!