Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

[dieselgeek]

weld-able steel balls about 1" in diameter?

At a bearing supply place maybe? This is for a metal sculpture project the wife is working on...

[KeithTurk]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

You really need to find someone with a lathe to build them for you Scott....

Easy stuff for someone who is clued in.... ( not me )

How many do you need? and how perfect do they have to be?

K

[dieselgeek]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

very imperfect is fine by me.

hmmm, what a great excuse to pick up a little lathe...!

[seanm]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

Do they need to be solid? You cold make a form and spin form them in halves and weld them together. Or make a buck in steel or wood and hammer form them.

Or maybe these? http://www.kingmetals.com/Default.as...pheres*20317@@

Look around that site, they have several options for balls and spheres

[Rustang]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

MSC Industrial, McMaster Carr both have them.

[Rustang]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

And yes, most bearing suppliers can get 'em too.

[moparmaniac07]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

I thought bearings were high in carbon and other alloys which would make them very hard to weld. I didn't realize there's a market for weldable balls that a supplier would actually be able to order them.

[dieselgeek]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

I thought bearings were high in carbon and other alloys which would make them very hard to weld. I didn't realize there's a market for weldable balls that a supplier would actually be able to order them.

I've seen a lot of places online selling "low carbon steel balls"

I was kinda hoping someone would say "Your ACE hardware might have them"

Baum Iron is very near my work, they'll probably have them.


What's funny is, they're for a metal sculpture of a pair of "storks" that my wife has me tacking together. It's been a great warmup exercise with a cutoff wheel, a cheap air nibbler, and a simple little flux core welder that I got for christmas. Just gotta figure out the "head" for the birds now, and she wants a steel ball about 1" in diameter.

Maybe pictures later. Guys like Loren and Ron Ward would laugh though :-)

[DanStokes]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

Scott, I doubt they will laugh (don't forget Mike Casella, either). Surprisingly, I'll wager they weren't born knowing how to do what they do and had to learn, too. Probably with a stork sculpture or something similar. I've been doing this stuff for years - and still suck at it.

Dan

[std]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

McMaster-Carr ships stuff seconds after you order it. We always get stuff the next day. Once I got something the same day! They have a good website too

http://www.mcmaster.com/

[fahrenschnell]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

McMaster-Carr ships stuff seconds after you order it. We always get stuff the next day. Once I got something the same day! They have a good website too

http://www.mcmaster.com/

That website is pure evil.....Damn you Dave!!

SEth

[std]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

It's the first place I go for everything.

[fahrenschnell]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

Everything??

Hmm.....That explains alot.

Seth

[IRONHEAD]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

pinball surply...
hell jim more than likely has a few rolling around his garage/shop

[rightpedal]

Re: Metal fab guys - where can I buy...

Do they need to be solid? You cold make a form and spin form them in halves and weld them together. Or make a buck in steel or wood and hammer form them.

Or maybe these? http://www.kingmetals.com/Default.as...pheres*20317@@

Look around that site, they have several options for balls and spheres

King architectural rocks!!! The main hub is 10 miles from my house and they have everything. I am up there once a month if not more it is one of my contractor secrets (how does he get that stuff?). If you are starting craft/projects you need one of their phone book sized catalogs. Mostly they have decorative iron work for fences and gates.

Steve