28/11/2017 Spinning

Today we get to play with one of the scary machines in the basement. 
We're spinning a disk of copper on a lathe to form a small, shallow bowl. 
First the easy bit.  We mark out a circle and it’s centre with dividers, cut it out with snips and anneal it. 
Then it’s pickled and cleaned with pumice powder.

Place the copper disk (blank) between the chuck/mandrel and the pressure pad and tighten the tail stock (which had already been setup for us).
Turn the lathe on.
Whilst gradually releasing the tail stock, push the blank central using the back stick.
Reclamp the tail stock nice & tight.
Apply tallow to the blank.

Place back sticks under tee rest to support the metal, and place the spinning tool under the tails tock.
Touch onto the metal with firm pressure and work the metal onto the chuck constantly supporting the metal with the back stick.

A trimming tool and file are then used to tidy up the edge.

Polish can be applied at this point with a normal mop.

After the lathe has been stopped and the piece removed, any remaining sharp edges can be removed with a deburring tool.

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