Alternate Toroid Shapes

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: Zimtesla-at-aol-dot-com 

A friend of mine has made several "oblates" from aluminum frying pans. The 
older uncoated variety is more desireable. After removing the handles and 
grinding any connections flush, he uses aluminum solder to join two 
identical skillets. This makes a good top load and seems to work as well as 
a smooth toroid for the size. Also looks good and is pretty hard to dent.

He has also used this process to join some aluminum vent covers. These 
things come in a miriad of sizes and shapes. I have tried a large one he 
made which looks like a squashed sphere about 24" in diameter by about 12" 
tall. It worked ok. If you can find some approximately a half toroid, you 
would have a great find.
Jim