Topic: Bending aluminum sheet metal

[stay youth]

Hello I know there are some really talented metal fabricators here and I was hoping for some advice. I'm making a table for a class I have and need some advice. I want to make the table look as if it was origami with lots of bends and I want to use aluminum sheet metal (.125") We have decent brakes in our metal shop at school but I'm worried about getting stress fractures in the bends. Does anyone have any good tips or secrets for fracture free bending? Can I anneal it like steel?


Thanks
Mark

[martino1972]

it can be done,but you will have to bee real carefull with heating the allu,and the speed of bending....

[rhos1355]

Hello I know there are some really talented metal fabricators here and I was hoping for some advice. I'm making a table for a class I have and need some advice. I want to make the table look as if it was origami with lots of bends and I want to use aluminum sheet metal (.125") We have decent brakes in our metal shop at school but I'm worried about getting stress fractures in the bends. Does anyone have any good tips or secrets for fracture free bending? Can I anneal it like steel?


Thanks
Mark

Mark, I'm not sure what it is you're worried about, maybe I'm missing something. Brakes? What do you mean?
The sheet metal you want to use is about 3mm, and on the face of it I don't see a problem with that. The problem is in the machine, is it strong enough to do the job?
Next on my list of questions is the grade and purity of the sheet metal you're going to use. As you well know, there's no such thing as 100% aluminium, well, no such useful thing. All aluminium has some alloys in it. Different alloys for different properties. Don't ask me which is which, the possibilities are endless. Most fabrication sheet metal aluminium is 99.99% pure. And with this you can do pretty much anything you want.

hope this helps a little

[754]

Use 3003 or 1000 series.. learn how to anneal if you are doing a lot of bending on same piece..

 if you use hard Aluminum make sure to us at LEAST 2.5 X Thickness as your minimum bend radius..

[cb650]

Annealing it helps for tight corners.  Proper stock helps too.   
On a side note be sure to have good "brakes" on the machine

[stay youth]

Hey Thanks guys for the quick replies. I will keep you posted

MK

[754]

When you buy or order get the Sheet in 0 temper.. that is dead soft..

You may want to go a bit lighter for less cost & easier working.. like.080 or .093....

 You can bend some of it by hand, depending on width, over pipes, bars, firewood, whatever..

[Grumpol]

As has been mentioned, anneal it to prevent work hardening, do it as often as you like.
All you need to do is get a carbon rich flame on you oxy setup, coat the piece with soot then with a nuetral flame carefully heat it evenly until the soot burns off, and i mean CAREFULLY, Ali goes from solid to liquid very very quickly. DONE piece annealed.

[tramp]

aluminum does have a grain
bent with the grain not against it