Making steel shot or steel balls

[sprotz]

There is no information on the Internet about making one's own steel balls (shot) especially for air shotguns so I wanted to ask of a possible technique, and propose my own. Making Lead shot is easy but steel requires melting to high temperatures in order to use the same techniques as making lead shot.

One technique I devise is by cold grinding a spinning steel rod with a metal cutting piece such as a metal cutting disc. The technique works by getting a steel rod of the same diameter or close to the diameter you want your steel balls to be, then mounting the steel rod on an electric drill and getting the drill to spin. Then positioning a 'guiding' rod close to and perpendicular to the spinning rod as shown in the pictures below, then pressing the cutting piece against this guiding rod while moving the cutter up and down. The cutter then grinds the spinning rod in a circular motion, shaping it into a sphere, similar to how they mold clay pots on a spinning table.

The cutter is finally moved deep into the rod below the guide and a piece of sphere is cut from the rod and drops off as a neat steel ball.

This technique can be used to make shot as well as steel bbs for bb guns.

 

[brian_null]

After working in the machining industry for many years, I can tell you that this is a near impossibility. Even with 100% accurate alignment, the material will "climb" the cutter as it gets thin and provide you with terrible results. 

Hit YouTube and look up vids on making ball bearings. It's done with grinding plates and not a "lathe" type operation...

 

[Metalmaniac]

If you want to cut the spheres out . Use a metal lathe with a parting tool with a radius ground on it. You will need a left and right hand tool to make a complete sphere. 

It is possible to grind a spinning rod into a sphere but the leading edge of grinding wheel will wear fast and will constantly need dressed.

You can forge them out of a piece or rod using a mold or die set that has the two halves connected with a flat spring Just insert hot metal in die and hit with hammer cut off tang , done.

This is a lot or work no matter how you make them and they want be perfect. You can probably order them from Alibaba they have everything pretty cheap if you can wait 2 or 3 weeks to get them.

I would not recommend casting them because of almost 3000 degree temperature that it takes to melt iron/ steel and any moisture in mold will cause an molten metal explosion. It also uses lots or fuel to melt metal. I have been in on iron pours. You need special equipment to be safe. We poured hot cast iron at night into a hollowed log that was wet. The iron shot up in the air about 15 feet like a fountain in all directions. This was intentional to put on a show for spectators. Proper safety equipment was used. Hope this helps. MM