How They Make Stainless Steel Spheres

There has been a small clip of an explosive going off in large spheres in various video compilations on KZbin late 2021. I did not know what the clip was or what was happening. So I started doing some research to explain it.
I found a company in China who makes Stainless Steel Spheres for art sculptures. The companies name is Shenzhen Maoping Sculpture Arts, they have been making stainless steel sphere for 23 years and can create any size stainless Steel sphere up to 20 feet in diameter, all crafted by hand.
it can take about 15 days for a 6 foot diameter sphere.
Based off my research, there seems to be 4 common ways to create a hollow metal sphere, Spinning, Mold Pressing, Water Pressure Hydroforming and Explosive Hydroforming.
This video shows explains what the compilation video was and shows the process of how to make a Stainless Steel Sphere using the Water Pressure Hydroforming method from start to finish.
Thanks for watching.
The 4 ways are = Spinning, Mould pressing, Water pressure Hydroforming and Explosive Hydroforming.
► SPINNING is like working on a lathe, they attach a flat round blank onto a machine, while the blank is spinning at high speed, they use various types of tools to start pressing down the blank into a hemisphere and then weld 2 hemispheres together creating a sphere. This method uses the skills of an artisan to create the hemisphere, and a lot of labour. But Larger companies will use a robot or CNC machine to do the hemisphere forming.
► MOLD PRESSING is just what it sounds like, they use a big hydraulic press and press a metal blank into mould and form the hemisphere that way, and then weld 2 hemispheres together.
► WATER PRESSURE HYDROFORMING is when you create a sphere using either flat or slighting curved pieces of metal into a large polygon sphere, and then using a hose and pump to send lots of water into the sphere under high pressure, forcing the sphere into shape. During this processes they can find any holes in the welds they created and seal them up.
► EXPLOSIVE HYDROFORMING is where you have a large polygon looking sphere made out of curved plates, the sphere is then filled with water and a small explosive charge, and when you set off the charge, the explosive force of the water forces the sphere into shape.
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CREDIT LINKS
► Joyce Chung (company) KZbin Channel - / @dwentong
► Maoping Sphere-Ball Website - sphere-ball.com
► Engineering and Architecture KZbin Channel - / @engineeringandarchite...
► Explosive Hydroforming Original Video - • Video
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[@JosephDalrymple]

2:38 I imagine the caps at the top of the spheres when explosive hydroforming are probably designed to release at a pressure that's high enough to allow the forming to occur, but not high enough to destroy the sphere. Very interesting...

[@loganhamilton9816]

Would they have to use a pressure valve? I feel like all that water and such a small outlet, the water should mostly block the hole allowing the explosive to still build pressure. Kind of like blowing water through a pool noodle, if there's enough water in the cavity then your cheeks just expand and you cant blow it out.

[@JosephDalrymple]

@@loganhamilton9816 You're not wrong. I suppose you could do either or... Either use a pressure valve, or make the hole small enough. I was actually describing a bit of both. You wouldn't even need to use a pressure valve per se, but instead make sure that the material, adhesive, and dimensions are enough so that the plug releases only after enough pressure has formed inside to form the sphere. I suppose that might be considered a pressure valve 😅 I'm ignorant on the subject, though!

[@talesdemidioful]

@@loganhamilton9816 due supersonic shockwaves fluid dynamics valves and caps are not needed, the steel walls will get struck thousant of times reflecting shockwaves back to the center in the matter of a millisecond thats why it works soo good, the service holes are just to pour water and the explosive charge.

[@suprememasteroftheuniverse]

You must feel a genius, captain obvious.

[@JosephDalrymple]

@@talesdemidioful That's really interesting. Makes sense. When I first saw it, I thought I saw caps flying off, but I was wrong.

[@TMS5100]

@2:04 welding with no protection at all, why am i completely unsuprised

[@captainotto]

There's a reason they're so cheap!

[@alexeiiva2719]

they are doing spot welding with TIG. They blink right before they spot weld. (not recommended)

[@sussertheoriginal]

Also cleverly not having to waste any filler on it.

[@randy438]

Just close your eyes. Tig welding doesn't usually fry you that bad, and this is coming from a red headed/fair skinned welder

[@AuthoritativeBanana]

So how much of the art is the artists who had the idea for it vs the craftsmen who actually created it? If the idea is amazing, iconic, and unique, then it doesn’t matter, both groups are impressive

[@chargehanger]

half the welders use no welding mask. Don't buy those things from China.

[@petedude2lu3]

dollars

[@MrSoso1050]

The balls harden

[@zaqarnage]

The idea always comes first

[@suprememasteroftheuniverse]

It's called engineering.

[@greggreg2263]

True craftsmanship these things are amazing when they’re done and polished up, we should have more of them around the world🙏

[@jacobhoffman2553]

why - what is the practical application - this is wasteful

[@greggreg2263]

@@jacobhoffman2553 I think round, shiny ✨ objects, make people smile, and feel good for some reason?

[@El_Fabricio]

@@greggreg2263 Or it maybe does interact with HAARP to make people sick.

[@pineapplesideways3820]

Malls. Balls Adelaide xx

[@theriddick]

@@jacobhoffman2553 Their hollow so it isn't really wasting too much material. Think about the amount of material going into concrete art pieces or other solid figures.

[@bighaverlegend33]

“The balls harden “

[@MicroageHD]

bruh

[@murakami99]

You’ve got a voice that’s easy to listen to, and the music isn’t intrusive. And of course, you know your stuff!

[@WonderWorldYTC]

Thanks Muraka appreciate that :)

[@chetansharma6344]

*The balls harden!!*

[@artfx9]

Those are some big balls...

[@virtusetglorie]

The balls harden

[@sohomchatterjee]

*Balls harden*

[@FokkerBoombass]

The balls harden.

[@judelarkin2883]

Now I really want to make an explosive hydroformed sphere!

[@savourypotato]

The balls harden...

[@a_reptiledysfunction5267]

It’s really hard to admire welding done without eye protection

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

I imagine that position has a high turnover rate. Sucks to imagine being worth less than a welding mask.

[@peterlarkin762]

They have PPE, you can see a mask etc when he's doing a line. A lot of welders will do tacks with no goggles, just closing eyelids for a second. Not ideal practice but they do it by choice I think.

[@TeaRiker]

@@peterlarkin762 a good employer wouldn't let you choose to do that

[@theinspector1023]

Excellent and informative.

[@skitidet4302]

He's wrong though. Those original spheres are not made out of stainless and they are probably not for an art project unless they want rusty balls.

[@blackwater7183]

These guys probably have one of the most satisfying jobs.

[@esphilee]

Like many skills and arts, getting the shape is easy, getting the shine takes effort.

[@llYossarian]

The shaping is what takes all the skill and craft, the polishing just takes time...

[@gooscifur5327]

the balls harden

[@Aux1Dub]

Who knew there was a demand for large polished spheres

[@inebriatedengineering6288]

2:00 Guy is literally burning his retinas.

[@Sigouss]

Wow, human ingenuity is amazing.

[@DonCarlione973]

This is amazing to watch! Hydroforming! What an amazing idea 👌🏼

[@jcf_1760]

The balls harden

[@AGR25]

i always wondered how they made stainless steel spheres

[@evanfinch4987]

Of all factories to be fabricating in, this is a pretty cool one.

[@almond6520]

1:40 they glaze it to make the metal taste better.

[@meteorinc4259]

The editing in this video is next level! Seriously, your summarizing skills are on point. Thanks for putting it all together like this. Keep the awesome content coming, please!

[@DanteLevelsUp]

2:00 wow they are not afraid of the effects of the welding light on their skin or eyes. also I can see sugaring on those welds lol.

[@MrSoso1050]

The BALLS harden

[@adampatterson]

That concave disk would probably be a death ray under the correct conditions.

[@maopingliao2327]

Fast production, fast delivery, high quality

[@SaltyRamen.]

🎉🎉🎉 you are genius!!! ❤❤❤

[@suprememasteroftheuniverse]

Chinese quality. No, thanks.

[@spurgear4]

Colin Fruze built a pulse jet using hydroforming. Pretty cool

[@itsmeagain7825]

Explosive hydroforming is how you find small faults in the welding VERY QUICKLY.

[@jeromie6993]

The bigger low C steel ones tend to be ocean buoy parts.

[@maopingliao2327]

many thanks. large stainless steel sphere from maoping

[@ov7875]

Great video. I would never guess how it can be.

[@nitrobreed]

Your videos are popping up for me everytime now

[@getprobed838]

i like the balloon dog

[@YATESA8]

Next time you walk by an artsculpture with these shiny balls, know that the 'artist' is not the one doing the work.

[@napleswolverine7189]

Not just art, fuel tanks, and other storage possibilities

[@scottowensbyable]

I was a career welder for 40 years. Mostly stainless fabrication for pharmaceutical products. I am curious if electro polishing was used to get the final mirror finish.

[@sjv6598]

Did you watch the video until the end?

[@edumacat3d]

1:00

[@thestormcall3r861]

Now imagine giant ball bearings

[@jisimon]

Why do they weld without mask? Poor eyes. Even considering economy and not suffering it is very profitable to wear a dark glass welding mask.

[@christopherjones7191]

Their poor skin, even if they close their eyes, its still like getting a ton of sunlight blasted on them.

[@llary]

If they refuse to do it without a mask there are ten poor suckers lining up for the low paid job behind them. Welcome to China.

[@Mr_Yod]

Hello and velcome, to the Slingshot Channel!

[@douro20]

The spheres being explosively hydroformed in the beginning were probably used to make buoys.

[@tomatomoussin9134]

Fascinating video ❤

[@danser_theplayer01]

Water is needed to distribute explosive energy evenly around all walls. If you just plonk down an explosive it'll blow a hole at the bottom or pressurise the air and achieve nothing.

[@ieatwater325]

This is exactly what my adhd brain needed rn

[@zenmasterjay1]

Great vid on a great topic🎉

[@mariuszkaa]

thank you China

[@Floxxx3]

Have a shot of tequila every time he says the word "Sphere"

[@YenzQu]

2:09 I don't think it is a good idea to sit right next to the sphere while it is pressurized. They really should rethink their safety procedures. 💥😱

[@moconnell663]

It's perfectly safe since water is not compressible and stores no energy in this state. If the sphere were filled with air, the compressibility would allow the storage of tremendous energy, making it a bomb.

[@frankpape7274]

also strange to see all the water spraying around next to a plugged in angle grinder. no one ever wears safety goggles it seems... and there is no safety housing for the big hydrolic press...just imagine what would happen to a hand if it is in there.

[@davidaugustofc2574]

​@@ithecasticyou make a fair point

[@hamjudo]

​@@frankpape7274The hydraulic press only moves when the operator is sitting on the funny pedestal. It appears that the pedestal is a safety switch.

[@K.D.Fischer_HEPHY]

I just hope this dudes would have reasonably safe work enviroment and safety regulations. Some of this looks dangerous like hell.

[@wearemany73]

The incompressible nature of water is perfect for safety.

[@Fester_]

It hurt by foot when i kicked one. Thanks for sharing.

[@ADF_Cable]

Thanks legend!

[@judyreyjumamoy]

setting the graphics from low to ultra

[@TheG5Studio]

Getting them to fly... is the final step?

[@wolfthorn1]

Ha ha..... Caught you in a ball gaze.

[@brettmoore3194]

Perfect for omnidirectional transciever🎉🎉🎉

[@TheEDNC]

That looks like Mylar!

[@theriddick]

I do wonder how long that polished surface lasts with weathering. Maybe they coat it with something to make it a bit more resistant to weathering.

[@Bob_Adkins]

Depending on how many trees, street traffic, insects, rain, it starts looking imperfect in a week, and pretty old in 2-3 weeks.

[@Kiwoeoe]

the way he was welding it without a face mask.....

[@Blessingsculptures]

Can you hydroform 3 mm thick stainless steel

[@JigilJigil]

0:00 The hydroforming explosion video at beginning is in Iran, I don't know what is the purpose of those but definitely they are not making them for artistic purposes.

[@BLUELEADER78]

Bouy, perhaps?

[@enricoandrade]

very cool how are they made, but why is they made? only decorations? is there any aplication?

[@madamabutterfly1986]

It reminds me of the mystery of Betz's sphere.

[@Dark0Prime]

as someone playing gregtech modpacks i can confirm that's a easy factory

[@lordhexon]

The first time this was done in Armenia in 1960 to make an oval dish for satelite’s antennas.

[@lordhexon]

@arsgabber-ls5vu during those times yes

[@liamobrien9451]

I mean, small holes in the welds shouldnt really be appearing, but their weird pulse tig tack welding is most likely to blame.

[@Survivalguy]

Holy crap man! That chinese company made a solar death ray dish and it said its supposed to invite the viewer to stand in front of it. Unless it was pointing away from the sun, that would be a lawsuit waiting to happen. I just ordered a dish just like it for boiling water. It gets over 1800 degrees f at the focal point which is in front of it. Jesus

[@CIS101]

Interesting

[@pieterverhoeven1642]

Is there an engineering reason for not starting from regular platonic solids, such as an icosahedron or dodecahedron? Those seem more straightforward to construct since all faces are identical, but I don’t know anything about the physics or material considerations.

[@IgorGermani]

O processo de "water pressure hydroforming", caso não saibam, foi inventaro por Jaime dos Mythbusters. Adam fala sobre isso no seu canal no YT. Não foi patenteado na época, sendo mostrado somente do programa em um episódio de Mythbusters, mas mudou a forma que as industrias moldam chapas de aço.

[@esuelle]

Não é bem assim. Esse processo é muito mais antigo que os MythBusters, já era praticado coisas do tipo a muitas décadas atrás, desde pelo menos 1950. O que aconteceu é que o Jamie resolveu utilizar isso pra fazer um pedaço curvo de metal que eles precisavam. Ele sem dúvidas foi engenhoso e criativo ao aplicar o método e construir a estrutura para segurar a chapa de aço, mas não inventou a técnica. A história que o Adam contou é sobre como um fabricante de tambores metálicos curvos, "handpans", descobriu a técnica atrás dos MythBusters, e decidiu adaptar para o que ele precisava. Se você procurar sobre isso vai inclusive achar um bom vídeo desse cara explicando a história e o método que ele acabou desenvolvendo para fazer os tambores.

[@klakkinkittykat]

Im glad justice was served

[@michaelculhane3058]

I wonder how much water pressure they use.

[@deborahchesser7375]

Now that’s a big pinball

[@justayoutuber1906]

Balls

[@ToddHowardWithAGun]

Bro welding without glasses rip

[@kellyshea92]

Cant say I have seen one.

[@rosomak8244]

The prefabricates where not polygons.

[@telmeljj]

You can also spin them on a spinning machine i do

[@skitidet4302]

You are wrong. Those big spheres that where formed with explosive hydroforming are not made out of stainless and they are not meant to be shiny art pieces. How do I know? They have rust and mill scale on them! They are clearly made out of some type of hot rolled steel that's not stainless. My best bet would be P355NL2 or something similar as I think that these are pressure vessels of some kind. inb4 someone does not believe me. Look at 2:28 you can see a streak of rust down the side. Then look at 2:40 there's 2 older balls in the bottom right of the shot that was done before and you can clearly seen they have been siting outside rusting for a bit as they are now a reddish brown colour.

[@saito125]

Nice sfia...

[@CookieCraftMedia]

1:16 Seeing that worker use a lathe while wearing long sleeves is making me uncomfortable to say the least

[@FISH_CAKE1]

Cause why does that look like the back of my iPod but with no scratches like how the heck

[@mewt5358]

The balls harden:

[@joseislanio8910]

The first video doesn't seem right without the fart sound effect

[@asbestosfibers1325]

No eye protection. Thumbs down. No one shoukd profit from this useless waste program.

[@alexshield7532]

Thanks! I now know a new reason how stupid this spheres in art installations are.

[@tigertiger1699]

And we in the west look down on so much…

[@HiThisIsMine]

4:26 “6 foot diameter sphere such as the one being polished on screen now..” Wow.. so these legend is true… Asians are a short people.

[@whiskeyvictor5703]

Thelonious Monk's middle name is Sphere. 😎

[@gameeverything816]

Neat

[@sampleoffers1978]

Should fly like hot air balloons.

[@bourbonfan1]

how long till this death star operational

[@ablazedguy]

Why don't you show the company who the Chinese stole this from?

[@happyestus6688]

What company was that?

[@edwelndiobel1567]

Do birds land and poop on them though?

[@Thrillbo341]

2:03 no welding masks/goggles, no extraction, poor buggers

[@kafkaesk3449]

Hydroforming?

[@TheRealStructurer]

Cool 👍🏻 Can I get a solid one? 😈