Kevin is using his slip roll to create a gong for 1 of his sound sculptures, Kong Gong.
He shows the back, front, 2 sides and top – he’ll leave the bottom open.
Kevin goes to the slip roll to show how he shapes the metal so it fits the curved sides of the gong. After that, he’ll get out his Everlast Lightning MTS 275 multipurpose welder to tack together the metal.
He runs a piece of 4″ wide, 8″ long cold rolled steel through the slip roll to give it a gentle bend. Kevin puts the metal through both ways because, when you start out with a flat piece and go through the slip roll the first time, the little gap between the first 2 rollers and the roller that actually makes the shape, you wind up with a little flat spot in the metal. If you turn it around and run it through again you get rid of the flat spot. Kevin Caron shows how the metal is now curved the same the whole way.
Kevin goes back to his workbench and lines up the shaped piece of metal on the edge of flat metal of the back of the gong. It’s just the way he wants it, with enough edge to weld. He marks where the curved section meets the back of the gong. After using his square to mark a line to cut off on the chopsaw, that piece is ready to go.
Next he’ll roll the two sides, get out the welder, and “Tacky, tacky, tacky.”
Kevin goes back to the slip roll and rolls out one of the side pieces. He can tell just by looking at it: “That’s a little much.” He holds it up to the side of the gong, and it is way off. No problem! He flattens the piece by hand, then goes back to the slip roll. It takes 2 more trips before he gets just the curve he wants.
Next Kevin puts on his welding safety gear and checks his welder’s wire feed and voltage settings by welding on a test piece of metal. He’s using the MIG function on this Everlast Lightning multiprocess welder, mixed gas, 282 on the wirefeed, and 20 volts to tack together the 4 pieces.
After tacking the metal pieces together, Kevin shows how he was fitting them together by placing together the edges of the metal, leaving a wedge-shaped gap. Then he can come back with a TIG welder or MIG welder and lay a fillet right down in that little groove. That gives Kevin plenty of penetration and enough metal to grind it neatly, feathering it in so it disappears but still leaving enough of a weld to be structurally strong.
Now that this part of the gong is tacked together, Kevin will figure out how he is going to hang the gong on the stand’s 2 crossed arches.
Watch this sculpture develop (or see it completed) – Kevin Caron posts photos as his sculptures develop.
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