Spinning Tops

[cascao]

this milling create air drag

 

[scwhite]

Cool! If you wouldn't mind sharing, can you post a picture of your rotary table setup? I have a small import rotary table that my dad gave me, but I honestly don't understand how to affix work to it. It doesn't really have a center taper, and the table doesn't appear to be made to hold a chuck. I don't really get it. This is the only picture I have on hand at the moment. I think it's probably a 4" table or so.

Also- did you see the video above of my milled top spinning? Pretty freakin' proud of that one!!

You can make a adapter with a plug to fit in that hole on you rotary table slide in four T- nuts and bolt it to the table on the roatary table with a plug to fit the back of you chuck and bolt the chuck to the adapter
Plate . Should be easy

 

[rwm]

I saw the video. Great!
My table has a threaded center hole. I have an adapter that fits that hole and the other side fits the 3/4-16 threads of a Sherline chuck. I hold the disc in that chuck for machining. Looks like you could do that with your table.
Robert

 

[rwm]

this milling create air drag

There are tops that are meant to spin a long time and there are tops that are meant to look good. Rarely are they the same tops.

I'm pretty sure this won't work well for a top...

Robert

 

[wildo]

Made this little guy last night. This is another three piece, but this time the pieces are stacked vertically rather than axially. The bottom ring is cast iron, and the top ring is titanium. This is my first titanium turning. I also did some milling (18 evenly spaced milling slots) on the titanium. The stem is brass. This one spins REALLY well, but unfortunately I set the bearing just a bit too deep. It still spins well, but it's a SUPER lowrider.

 

[rwm]

Slick! I see you are not afraid of new materials!
Robert

 

[wildo]

Slick! I see you are not afraid of new materials!
Robert

Heh- I don't know what I'm doing anyway, so why not try out some new stuff!? Actually, I found turning/shaping of the Ti pretty easy, perhaps not so different from aluminum even. Even the milling went pretty well. But sawing off a chunk in my horizontal bandsaw took FOREVER and parting on the lathe was a nightmare. Not sure what I was doing wrong with those operations. Overall, I'd work with it again. I was really shooting for the ability to get some fancier colors on the stem, but then changed gears and went with a brass stem anyway. But here was some practice with flame coloring the titanium:

 

[DHarris]

If Ti is too hard to work with, you can do the same flame coloring of stainless steel from light straw brown/gold to dark blue too! Might be easier to work with.

 

[wildo]

Yes, that's true but I found (and have seen from other makers) that the color vibrancy of titanium is significantly more than that of stainless. I have made a top using a stainless stem that I flame colored- and it's cool looking- but it's nowhere near as vibrant as the titanium is. I think this is one major reason why titanium is the "go to" metal for spinning top stems in the higher end tops.

 

[wildo]

Made this little guy tonight. Cast iron over titanium with milling all the way around. Spins almost dead still. Body O.D. is .625" or, in other words, it's really tiny! Pretty dang proud of this one!

Still working on better flame coloring- just not getting the colors I want. And also, while my knurls are not double tracking (I'm starting with the proper o.d.) I'm just not getting them as crisp as I want. Not sure what I'm doing wrong on that. In real life they look great, but I've seen some pics from the best of the best makers where their knurls are unbelievably crisp. Even still- this top rocks!