BEIL0014_The Torus

Equipment:
Aluminum Sheet (120mmx240mm)	Guillotine
Wood Mould (Round log with a saddle cut)	Dolly
Nylon Headed Mallet	Sand Bag
Planishing hammer	English Wheel
Sandpaper	Rag

Two different methods can be utilized to make the torus.

English wheel, mainly using tension and expansion to create curvature. Advantage is the finish product is smooth even without polishing.

Hammering method. This method creates a deeper curvature, but has a quite rough surface in the end and quite noisy. And this method has less limitation of the size and shape we want to create. Most importantly, this way is more manly and excited. So, I chose this method.

Step one:

Mark all the information I need.

70mm strike area in the center of the metal sheet along the length.

this is a photo I took at home... I forgot to take photo at the beginning when I was in square house...

Step two:

Fix the log in position by a benchtop vice. Bend the metal sheet around the log and ask your friends to press on the sheet and try to keep the metal sheet in the bent shape. (the metal sheet tends to become flat every time you hit it.)

Step three:

Start hammering. Start from the edges., hammer with angle to fold the metal as the shape of the edge.) don’t smash too hard, otherwise, folders may occur. Use mallet smooth all the extreme indents.

At this moment.. I realized I forgot to take photos...

Step four:

Slowly hammer close to the center. And smooth all the big indents. I shaped sand bags into certain shape with is designed for demolish the huge indents. This is a good method I discovered, which is efficient and has less impact on the areas around the indents.

create the shapes you want

check if they are the right shape to fix the indents.

Step five:

Use English wheel to smooth small indents.

Step six:

Check the curvature. if the curvature is not enough, repeat step four. VERY IMPORTANT. After you star hammer two side of the metal sheet you CANNOT come back to this stage. And check the radius of the English wheel! Don’t make any hammer marks on your torus.

check for second time

fourth attempt

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Step seven:

Hammer the sheet with dolly and planishing hammer. Be careful with the folders and huge indents.

Step eight:

Sanding. I don’t have any sandpaper and polishing medium for metal at home so I google online and used toothpaste and old rags… roughly polished my torus.

Step ten:

Find a nice looking wall and take some photos.