Quite a number of magicians have asked me about aluminum cups for the cups and balls effect. Although I can easily spin aluminum, I usually prefer to spin my line of cups from heavier duty pure copper. As an experiment in creating a servicable set of aluminum cups, I have spun a special set of my Riser Standards from 3003 aluminum alloy. Aluminum has a few drawbacks which must be addressed in order to create a nice set of cups from this metal:
1. The metal is inherently soft and easily dented.
2. The metal is extremely light in weight.
3. Cups spun from aluminum must be loose in their stacked position so that when a cup is quickly removed from on top of another, the second cup is not pulled off with the first by the partial vacuum created when the top cup is rapidlly lifted.
I selected my Riser Standards Cup as an excellent candidate for this experiment. I wanted a large diameter depression, great stacking, the rounded look, and the capacity to hold a tennis ball as the final load.
I decided to spin this experimental set of my Riser Standards from very thick .080" aluminum. This would add some weight to the individual cups and make them much more dent resistant. The image below illustrates how thick this aluminum is when compared to a nickel coin. This aluminum is thick! Most of the aluminum cups on the market are spun from softer 1100 alloy only .026" - .032" thick.
Conclusions drawn from this experiment:
1. This makes a fine set of aluminum cups.
2. Even with the very thick alloy, the cups are still rather light weight compared to my usual copper cups.
3. The amount of labor to create these aluminum cups is about the same as that required to make a copper set.
4. Due to the labor involved, they may well not be worth making commercially.
5. It is possible to create a nice set of aluminum cups with careful designing.