Captain Ron
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- On the horizion
Ever want to bracket something up in 6061-T6? Drop the idea because your sure it'll crack when you bend it? Don't have the time and money to use condition zero and heat treat?
6061-T6 sheet likes 1.5 to 3 times thickness, inside radius, during forming, depending on thickness. If you have a good hydraulic press brake and lots Vee dies, no biggie.
But if you don't have the dies, if your doing an acute angle, or your going to do a vise bend here are a few tips.
1) Layout your part with the longest bends "across" the grain. Look closley at the sheet, you will see the grain direction.
2) Get out the cutting torch. Fire it up, then turn down the oxygen for a sooty flame. Run the torch along the line you will bend, you only need to do one side of the material, preferably the "outside" of the bend. You will be leaving a layer of soot on the aluminum exactly where your bend will be. Turn the oxygen back up. Heat the soot line evenly until the soot just burns off. Presto, perfect anneal. Bend your part!
6061-T6 will age harden back to a T6 condition with time after doing this.
--ron
6061-T6 sheet likes 1.5 to 3 times thickness, inside radius, during forming, depending on thickness. If you have a good hydraulic press brake and lots Vee dies, no biggie.
But if you don't have the dies, if your doing an acute angle, or your going to do a vise bend here are a few tips.
1) Layout your part with the longest bends "across" the grain. Look closley at the sheet, you will see the grain direction.
2) Get out the cutting torch. Fire it up, then turn down the oxygen for a sooty flame. Run the torch along the line you will bend, you only need to do one side of the material, preferably the "outside" of the bend. You will be leaving a layer of soot on the aluminum exactly where your bend will be. Turn the oxygen back up. Heat the soot line evenly until the soot just burns off. Presto, perfect anneal. Bend your part!
6061-T6 will age harden back to a T6 condition with time after doing this.
--ron
