Refrigerator Spiders

I made these spiders because refrigerators like Halloween too. They add a finishing touch to coloring pages of jack-o-lanterns and spooky ghosts. Each spider has a 1/2" neodymium disc magnet in its abdomen. 

I made them from 22 gauge sheet metal and 16 gauge wire.  

To start I found out which size depression in my doming block would fit a neodymium magnet. These magnets are 1/2" discs. Next I measured the diameter and traced that same size onto sheet metal. I used metal shears to cut out all the circles. There are 8 total; four small, 4 big.

In the second picture you can see the progression how the metal is formed. You start out with a larger depression and work your way smaller. Eventually a half sphere is formed. 

To clean up the edges I soldered the smaller halves to a nail and mounted them in my lathe. I used a file to get rid of the jagged edge. The larger halves I filed down with a file on a flat surface. 

At this point I used sand paper to sand off oxidation. 

After de-soldering the nails I applied soldering paste to both halves. I then butt them together and used a torch and silver solder to join them. 

I cut 8 short pieces and 8 long pieces of wire. I then bent them all at 90 degrees in the center. The smaller ones bent further so they fit into the curve of the other. I used a diamond wheel to remove any sharp edges. 

First I soldered the legs together. After that I soldered the body onto the legs. The joint of the two halves are centered on the bends of the legs. 

This part is easier than it looks. I used the width of the plier jaws as a guide. With that I went around to each leg and bent in all the joints. 

Using a buffing wheel and polishing compound I buffed the metal to a shine. The last Thing I did was slip neodymium magnets into each spider.

Thanks for reading.