I need hollow aluminium or stainless steel spheres - any ideas?

[pfillery]

I am looking for some hollow lightweight aluminium or stainless steel spheres about the sixe of a baseball or cricket ball. Any ideas where I could source something like this?

Spheres or half spheres would do.

[clubagreenie]

You can buy pre-fab mandrel bends in both alloy and s/steel. You might be able to cut the outside section of the bend and reshape and weld together depending on how precise you need.

Can we ask the final use for these? Sounds interesting, and might give us a better idea and maybe some other options.

The issue in hand shaping is the embrittlement/work hardening of the metals. Could be done though. As an example I needed to make some alloy trumpets for a throttle body setup. I made a male and female press die and even with ridiculous amounts of lube I had to make over a hundred to get 8.

[isuzurover]

The mind boggles??? :eek:

County (and RRC) vacuum reservoirs are spherical (apart from a flange and a couple of fittings), metal (brass?) and about the right size.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2012/03/452.jpg

[gromit]

Wilton Sports Ball Novelty Cake Pan/Tin Set (http://bakingpleasures.com.au/p113/wilton-sports-ball-novelty-cake-pan-tin-set)


Colin

[isuzu110]

I drive past these guys at Coorparoo every day

Turbon Metal Spinners, the metal spinning specialists. (http://www.turbon.com.au/)

[steveG]

You can buy pre-fab mandrel bends in both alloy and s/steel. You might be able to cut the outside section of the bend and reshape and weld together depending on how precise you need.

Can we ask the final use for these? Sounds interesting, and might give us a better idea and maybe some other options.

The issue in hand shaping is the embrittlement/work hardening of the metals. Could be done though. As an example I needed to make some alloy trumpets for a throttle body setup. I made a male and female press die and even with ridiculous amounts of lube I had to make over a hundred to get 8.

Sounds like you needed to anneal whatever you made those trumpets from.
In metalwork class at high school we made soup ladles from copper sheet (probably about 16 gauge). From memory we had to anneal them 3 or 4 times to get them from flat to a hemisphere shape.

Steve

[pop058]

I have seen some garden statues and fountains with the water coming out of (what appears to be) spheres. So maybe a gardening centre or similar ??

https://jalex.com.au/shop/hollow-stainless-steel-balls.html?gclid=CJDi89Ox_K4CFYmBpAodaEAQ3Q

[Blknight.aus]

whats the application, metal plating a plastic ball of the same size may give the desired result and be a lot cheaper.

[rrturboD]

Citroen (and rollers and top line mercs) use suspension spheres as springs. They may help?

[clubagreenie]

you can also get small sperical hydraulic accumulators. Would probably have to source new but are only around $100- and then you'd need to cut off the fittings but are a true pressure vessel if required.

[VladTepes]

Metal balls?

http://www.bullsballs.com/chrome/truck/bbchchrfrt.jpg

Oh wait, right, the other kind....

Found these

AUS
Stainless steel balls - Procureit Australia (http://www.procureit.com.au/stainlesssteelballs.html)

O/SEAS
Chrome Steel Balls, Tungsten Steel Balls, Borosilicate Glass Balls, Aluminum Balls, Ceramic Balls, Rubber Balls, Brass Balls, Hollow Balls (http://www.craigballsales.com/)

[ramblingboy42]

possibly the easiest form to find them in are from "steam traps" or their correct designation....condensate traps.....surely someone on this forum would have them lying around at their workplace.....just about any type of food manufacturing industry/abbatoir uses them . ......in fact just about any industry that uses a boiler for steam or hot water will have them.

[pfillery]

possibly the easiest form to find them in are from "steam traps" or their correct designation....condensate traps.....surely someone on this forum would have them lying around at their workplace.....just about any type of food manufacturing industry/abbatoir uses them .

Would these be baseball sized? My preference would be aluminium because the wall thickness is slightly better than the stainless. For those who have asked, I need them for scifi prop making - yes I'm a sci fi geek too. I have been asked to knock together a couple of projects for people.

[ramblingboy42]

yes, you could get them about that size......most have a threaded socket on them, some have a tab with a hole for fixing to a small arm

[Blknight.aus]

Would these be baseball sized? My preference would be aluminium because the wall thickness is slightly better than the stainless. For those who have asked, I need them for scifi prop making - yes I'm a sci fi geek too. I have been asked to knock together a couple of projects for people.

If its just for looks then go grab cistern floats and spray them with chrome paint or get them plated, the base material is easy to work and subsequently modify.

once the shiney paint is dry apply lacquer

[zulu Delta 534]

Try some of the boutique kitchenware shops around the traps. Some of the 'artistic but useless' soup bowls and jelly moulds they sell should do the job. Do they have to be metal, otherwise some Christmas decorations are similar, although not quite so solid.
Regards
Glen

[pfillery]

Metal would be ideal, aluminium would be preferable to stainless. They need a bit of wall thickness (5mm or so) because external detail needs to be carved into them.

[Blknight.aus]

ahh...

so buy the plastic balls, they have about 3-8mm thickness engrave and then paint.

you might want to look at the effect that engraving metal plated plastic can give.

[mrapocalypse]

That's funny. I'm shooting a video for qld metal spinners he has hundreds of baseball sized Alumium spheres just looking for a home. Metal Spinning - Queensland Metal Spinners (http://Www.qldmetalspinners.com.au) fascinating process if you have never seen it done.

If what he has isnt right they can make them for you no prob.

Hope this helps.

Ian

[nugge t]

Saw a demo of metal spinning at the Petrie Village years ago. I was amazed as I had not seen it before. It was my first thought when I saw the thread.