METAL SPINNING PROCESS

ME 852 SEMINAR PRESENTATION

Anurag Dey (10/ME/148)

Abhimonyu Dutta (10/ME/152)
Aman Kumar (10/ME/149)
Deepak Nonia (09/ME/00)
Anurag Bhattacharyya (10/ME/150) Sandeep Kumar (08/ME/68)
Sourav Halder (10/ME/151)

OUTLINE

INTRODUCTION.
HISTORY.
CLASSIFICATION OF METAL SPINNING TECHNIQUES.
METAL SPINNING PROCESS.
MECHANICS.
TOOLS AND EQUIPMENTS.
COMPARISON WITH OTHER FORMING PROCESSES.
MERITS.
DE-MERITS.
APPLICATIONS.
CONCLUSION.

THE BASIC IDEA

Metal Spinning process is a cold forming process in which the blank metal appears
to flow somewhat like a piece of clay on a potter's wheel.

INTRODUCTION

Let us try
and identify
the key
components
here

INTRODUCTION
HOW DO WE DEFINE THIS?

Here, we basically have a metal

disk or cylinder , rotated at high
speed on CNC lathe or on hand
and by using specially designed
tools, we get axially symmetric
products
E.g.

WHERE DO WE USE
THIS?
to manufacture low cost, rapid
prototypes in metals.
bell shaped curves are ideal for
spinning as metals can deform
smoothly around them
easy to create concentric ribs to
strengthen parts
Almost all metal in sheet form can
be spun
Specially used when the product
requires mirror sheen

EVERYDAY EXAMPLES

I always wondered how

these commonly seen
objects are made.now
finally I got my
answers!!....

CRITICAL QUESTIONS

1)
2)
3)

WHEN METAL SPINNING PROCESSES?

Is the metal you are working with DUCTILE?
Is the final product AXISYMETRIC?
Is the product to be used for artistic application or commercial
applications like BELL, ROCKET NOSE, COOKING WARE?
4) Is the time you have is less and production
RELAX!!
number is high?
We use metal
5) Do you need mirror sheen?
spinning
processes
YE
S

HISTORY

O ne of the olde st te chnique s for chip-le s s

production of circular hollow me tal
compone nts.
in trod uce d in 1 840 and was fi rst use d almost
exclu sive ly for th e prod uction of fi ne g old,
silve r and pe wte r hollow-w are and chalice s.
O nly soft n onfe rrous me tals we re employe d in
indus trial applications as late as the 1 st
World War.
Aroun d 1 92 0, the ind ustry beg an to
exp er ime nt with toughe r mate r ials , he avie r
gaug es , and large r diame ters .

CHALICE

Metal Spinning

CLASSIFICATION OF METAL
SPINNING TECHNIQUES
Manual
(Conventional)
Spinning

Practiced by pressing a tool

against a circular metal preform.

Involves no significant thinning of

work metal; essentially a shaping
process.

Used for prototype manufacture

or in production runs less than
1000 pieces.
Metal is deformed using high
shear forces.

Power Spinning

Tube Spinning

Use of automated CNC machines.

Significant thinning of metal

preforms.

Suitable for high production runs.

Thickness of cylindrical parts

reduced by spinning them on
cylindrical mandrel rollers.

PROCESS OF SPINNING

Let us look
at a video
of metal
spinning
process

THE PROCESS OF SPINNING

A disc of metal is revolved at controlled speeds on a
machine similar in design to a machine lathe.

Instead of the clamping chuck common on a machine

lathe, a wood or metal mandrel is used.

PROCESS OF METAL SPINNING

The external shape of the mandrel corresponds to the
internal contour of the part to be produced.

The blank is clamped between spinning mandrel and a

follower on the tailstock spindle.
The mandrel, blank, and follower are then set in
rotation at controlled speeds.

PROCESS OF METAL SPINNING

Spinning tools or spinning rollers are forced against

the rotating blank either by hand or by auxiliary
power or both.

Employing a series of axial and radial (swivel)

strokes, the blank is spun onto the mandrel causing
the metal to fl ow to the shape of the desired part.

STEPS IN SPINNING PROCESS

Step 1 : Metal Forming

This step involves the laying down of the material onto the mandrel.
It is accomplished with short inside to outside moves.
Material gets easier to form as the part is closer to completion

Step 2 : Trimming
Parts having been spun are trimmed at the end to blunt sharp edges and also to bring the
component to the desired length.

Step 3 :

Finishing

Finishing is done at very high RPMs (1200+) so that a minimum of force need be applied
and very smooth strokes can be used.
The flat side of Duckbill spinning tool is used for straight surfaces and rounded side for
curves and radii.

MECHANICS OF CONE SPINNING

The most common application of metal spinning is for conical

shapes, in which the metal is volumetrically displaced in the
axial direction.

Metal deformation during spinning occurs in accordance with

the sine law .

The sine law relates the wall thickness of the starting bla nk, t 1 ,
and the wall thickness of the fi nished product, t 2 , as t 2 = t 1
(sin ), where is the semi-apex angle of the cone.

The thickness of the component in axia l direction is the sa me as

the thickness of the starting bla nk.

When spinning metal cones of smaller apex a ngles, it is

gener ally convenient to use multiple spi nni ng passes with
diff erent cone angles for each pass.

Deviations from the sine law that ca n occur, a re usua lly

expressed in terms of over-reduction or under-reduction .

In over-reduction, fi nal thickness of work-piece is lesser than

that indicated by sine law, while in under-reduction the
thickness is greater .

SINGLE AND MULTI-PASS

SPINNING OPERATION
Single Pass Spinning

Multiple Pass Spinning

T h e m a n d re l d i a m e t e r i s 7 . 5 i n c h
( 1 88 m m ) .
T h e t h i c k n e s s o f t h e p re - f o rm i s
0. 5 i n c h .
T h e i n c l u d e d s e m i - a p ex a n g l e o f
t h e c o n e i s 3 0 d e g re e .
Wa l l t h i c k n e s s o f fi n i s h e d
component is 0.25 inch.

T h e s e m i - a p ex a n g l e o f t h e c o n e
i s l e s s t h a n 1 5 d e g re e .
T h e t h i c k n e s s o f t h e fi n i s h e d
c o m p o n e n t i s re d u c e d
s u c ce s s i v e l y i n a c c o rd a n c e w i t h
t h e s i n e l a w , t o 0 . 1 25 i n c h .
Original blank diameter is
re t a i n e d a t t h e b i g e n d o f t h e
cone.

MANDREL

Mild steel mandrel

Stepped wooden mandrel

T h e m a n d re l o r b u c k i s t h e f o rm o v e r w h i c h t h e s h e e t m e t a l b l a n k i s f o rm e d .
M o re c o m p l i c a t e d t h e f o rm o f t h e co m p o n e n t , t h e g re a t e r t h e n e e d f o r c a re
i n m a c h i n i n g t h e m a n d re l .
C a n b e m a c h i n e d f ro m a v a r i e t y o f m a t e r i a l s , w o o d b e i n g t h e ch e a p e s t .
M a n d re l s c a n a l s o b e m a d e o f m i l d s t e e l o r a l u m i n i u m , w h e n c l o s e
t o l e r a n c e s a re re q u i re d .
I t i s i m p o r t a n t t o d e s i g n t h e m a n d re l w i t h a t l e a s t a 1 d e g re e d r a ft a n g l e s o
t h a t t h e p a r t c a n b e re m o v e d f ro m t h e m a n d re l a ft e r s p i n n i n g .

TOOLS
Wi d e v a r i e t y o f t o o l p ro fi l e s c a n b e i m p l e m e n t e d f o r s p i n n i n g t h e
m a t e r i a l i n t o d i ff e re n t s h a p e s .
To o l s a re p ro v i d e d w i t h l o n g h a n d l e s t o p ro v i d e a m p l e l e v e r a g e t o w o r k
t h e m a t e r i a l d o w n t h e m a n d re l .
To o l s c a n b e u p t o 3 f e e t l o n g w i t h a 1 i n ch d i a m e t e r s t e e l ro d f o rg e d
i n t o t h e p re f e rre d t o o l t i p .
S p i n n i n g s h o p s m a ke u s e o f t o o l s w i t h ro l l e r s m o u n t e d o n t h e l o n g
handle.
T h e p r i m a r y t o o l s a re t h e S h e e p s n o s e u s e d f o r m o s t o f t h e f o rm i n g
a n d t h e D u c k s b i l l u s e d f o r fi n i s h i n g o p e r a t i o n .

Ducks bill

Sheeps nose

Roller-ended tool

LUBRICANTS
Lu b r i c a n t s a re e s s e n t i a l i n a l l m e t a l s p i n n i n g o p e r a t i o n s , re g a rd l e s s o f
t h e p re f o rm s h a p e o r c o m p o s i t i o n o r t h e t y p e o f m e t a l s p i n n i n g t o o l s
t h a t a re b e i n g u s e d .
Fa c i l i t a t e s e a s y r e m o v a l o f t h e p a r t f ro m t h e m a n d re l a n d a l s o h e l p
i m p r o v e s u r f a c e fi n i s h o f fi n i s h e d c o m p o n e n t .
Pa r t s a re l u b r i c a t e d b o t h b e f o r e a n d d u r i n g t h e s p i n n i n g o p e r a t i o n .
C o m m o n l y u s e d l u b r i c a n t s i n cl u d e w a x , t a l l o w s , s o a p s a n d g re a s e .
I n s e l e c t i o n o f t h e m o s t s u i t a b l e l u b r i c a n t , t h e e a s e o f re m o v a l o f t h e
s a m e a ft e r t h e f o rm i n g p ro c e s s h a s t o b e c o n s i d e re d .

Cup Grease

Tallow

MACHINES FOR SPINNING

Machines for spinning a re specifi ed by the diameter and
length of the largest component tha t can be spun.
They are also specifi ed by the maximum load that can be
a pplied to the work.
The capacity of spinning ma chines ra nges from 0 .455m in
diameter and 0.380 m in length to 6m in dia meter a nd 6m in
length.
Metal spinning machines can be both ver ti ca l or hori zontal .
Machines used for spinning la rge diameters, such as 1.8m or
more are usually vertica l.
Mostly l athe based machine tools ( both conventiona l and CNCbased) are employed for spinning opera tion.
Most modern machines used for spinning are a t least semi automated; that is, they are loa ded a nd unloa ded by the
operator, but the entire spinning cycle is controlled
a utomatically.

hematic diagrams of a vertical arrangement employed for spinning of large diameter cone

SPINNING MACHINES

Horizontal lathe and mandrel

arrangement for spinning largediameter cone. Courtesy of Leifeld
USA Metal Spinning, Inc.

CNC metal spinning machine

Courtesy: Draft-Air India Pvt. Ltd.

Photograph of a 4m diameter cone and dish-shaped

components produced by the Leifeld Company.

COMPARISON WITH OTHER

FORMING PROCESSES

Low tooling cost compared to other forming

techniques.
Conventional spinning also wastes a considerably
smaller amount of material than other methods.
The standard method of press forming the part
requires eight steps, as opposed to only three steps
for spinning.

MERITS

Pro v i d e s n a t u r a l m e t a l l u rg i c a l b e n e fi t s , w i t h a re fi n e d a n d s t re n g t h e n e d
g r a i n s t r u c t u re .
C o l d w o r k i n g o f t h e m e t a l a l s o i n cre a s e s t e n s i l e p ro p e r t i e s a p p re c i a b l y.
U n l i ke a c a s t i n g , a s p u n p a r t w i l l n o t b e d i s ca rd e d b y a h i d d e n b l o w h o l e
or inclusion.
A s p u n s h e l l c o u l d b e m a d e i n h a l v e s a n d w e l d e d t o f o rm a s i n g l e u n i t
w i t h o u t c o m p l ex , ex p e n s i v e t o o l i n g .
T h e t o o l i n g c o s t s a n d c a p i t a l i n v e s t m e n t s a re re l a t i v e l y s m a l l .
The setup time is less.
D e s i g n c h a n g e s i n t h e w o r k p i e c e c a n b e a c c o m m o d a t e d a t re l a t i v e l y l o w
costs.
C a n b e e a s i l y a u t o m a t e d a n d i s a n e ff e c t i v e p ro d u c t i o n m e t h o d f o r
p ro t o t y p e s a s w e l l a s h i g h p ro d u c t i o n r u n s .
S i n c e t h e re i s n o re m o v a l o f m e t a l b y f o rm a t i o n o f ch i p s , t h e re i s n o
m a t e r i a l w a s t a g e a n d t h e p ro c e s s i s e c o n o m i c a l .

DE-MERITS

Requirement of highly trained operators in manual

spinning process, for, the uniformity of the product
depends to a large degree on the skill of the operator.
Manual metal spinning is usually signifi cantly slower
than press forging.
Deformation loads allowable are much lower in metal
spinning than in press forging.

APPLICATIONS
The following are examples of products
that can be manufactured by metal
spinning:
Vases, baskets, basins and bowls.
Bottoms for tanks, hoppers and kettles.
Housings for blowers, fans, fi lters and
fl y-wheels.
Ladles, nozzles, orifi ces and tank
outlets.
Cones, covers and cups.
Funnels, cylinders, domes and drums.
Rings, hemispheres and shells.
Vents, venturis and fan wheels.

CONCLUSIONS
Metal spinning techniques and mechanics have been
presented.
Equipment for spinning is based on lathe technology.
Wide range of products can be obtained using this
technique.
Metal Spinning is competitive with other forming
processes such as pressing and deep drawing.
It is an economical technique to produce both simple
and complicated parts for single application, lowvolume production as well as mass productions.
Process technology, equipment and tooling for
spinning have been discussed.

THANK
YOU