Copper Sheet / Foil Inclusion in Turnings

[Tomsk]

Hi all

I've been thinking about including a little copper sheet / foil in a segmented turning for accent. Does anyone know or have an opinion (dangerous!) about what thickness of material can be turned with standard HSS tools before this becomes detrimental / dangerous / damaging etc?

I'm only looking for a very fine 'wafer' of metal, but sheet thicknesses seem to start at a microscopic 0.05mm and go upwards. 0.5mm seems about right looking at a micrometer, but would this be too thick to turn?

Cheers

Tomsk

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I wouldnt have thought so in terms of the tool steel. HSS is pretty dam good at cutting metal and copper is very very soft.

I would have a concern about whats in the air if it were me ie both eyes and lungs but if you protect yourself (eg Trend airshield pro etc) it could work.

If cost permits, maybe experiment with successively thicker pieces starting with the really thin one?

 

[CHJ]

Normal HSS tools will turn solid copper no problem on a wood lathe so inclusions should be no problem from a turning point of view.

Selecting a suitable adhesive/encapsulating media and how you prepare the copper surface to ensure a good bond will be the most critical criteria.

Don't forget that wood moves with air moisture content, copper moves with temperature changes, so consideration must be given to not relying on the join interface having a critical support function.

 

[Tomsk]

Thanks Bob and Chas

I was going to try using it in a segmented fountain pen initially, so the structural element will be taken care of by the brass tubing and bonding should be ok with superglue.

If the tools will handle any copper thickness then this opens some interesting avenues with wire too...

Cheers!

 

[woodyturner]

I have turned pens out of solid copper, brass and ally also bowls , boxes with metal inserts all on a wood lathe with HSS tools one box I still have 10 or so years on

 

[nev]

likethis?

(nowt to do with me, found it googling.)

In last months bowl challenge, or the month before, I turned some 10mm ally rod down to about half its width with a spindle gouge quite easily, as long as you take fine fine cuts it cuts quite easily.

 

[Tomsk]

Yes, thanks Nev, that's the sort of thing, though my tastes in pen kit are a little simpler, or should I say more understated than that example.

Cheers


Tomsk

 

[Richard Findley]

Although I would have said .5mm is rather thin to turn in itself, I saw a South African chap called John Wessels at the AWGB seminar in 2011 and he uses these thin pieces of pewter to great effect. Couldn't find a website but if you put him into google images you should hopefully see what I mean.

A very interesting demo

HTH

Richard

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I don't think I would worry to much about dust - copper's soft and heavy.

 

[Tomsk]

Richard - the foil would be encapsulated / laminated between other woods so hopefully very thin sheets would be supported and still turn.

Phil - I turn wearing a respirator whenever possible, so hopefully I will never have to worry about it!



Tomsk

 

[nev]

i did experiment once with a soft drinks can cut up to give me some metal slivers in a pen. The turning was a success the gluing alas wasnt - superglue i think i used. so a decent glue and you should be ok.

 

[Tomsk]

Cheers Nev - The drinks can is an excellent idea for a source of aluminium!

 

[loz]

These were done a while back, i just used pva, still solid

laminating-t45115.html

alu from bottom of biscuit tins, cut, with ease.

 

[JohnMessUK]

I have used copper wire on a couple of my projects and with a decent glue its easy to do. I used cooker wire to do the following as an inlay instead of a lamination (see attachment).

As for laminating it I like the idea and will give it a try at some point. Let us know how you get on as its an interesting idea

 

[Tomsk]

I've used wire as an inlay around a bowl, but never tried to 'tool' the wire. It was after following on from this, and after producing a few inlay pens, that I wanted to try inlaid sheet between laminations.

The wealth of replies above suggest that theoretically there should be few problems - only my ability!

Cheers

Tom

 

[Gary Morris]

Would or could you use a thin leaf copper to gild the piece, or use copper powder and resin to apply?

 

[Tomsk]

Hi Gary

On this occasion the sheet of copper would be seen and turned 'edge on' so I suspect that copper leaf
would be just too fine for the application.

Others have shown above that quite substantial thicknesses of non-ferrous metals can be turned quite well without damaging tools.

Cheers

Tomsk