Aluminium bending..

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bear

bear

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Joined 2002
bearlabs.com
Nice looking bends.

I'd want to see a close up of the radius produced by these bends. I suspect you'd see stress lines.

And, also, the alloy used will have a large effect on how well this will work.

Someone suggested annealing the aluminum - presumably to soften it - and this might be a plan, especially if a home oven would do the trick. This I do not know.

Would be interested to see what sort of results are obtained by folks here... and to see some closeup shots.

_-_-
 
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simon7000

Member
Joined 2008
bear said:
Nice looking bends.

I'd want to see a close up of the radius produced by these bends. I suspect you'd see stress lines.

And, also, the alloy used will have a large effect on how well this will work.

Someone suggested annealing the aluminum - presumably to soften it - and this might be a plan, especially if a home oven would do the trick. This I do not know.

Would be interested to see what sort of results are obtained by folks here... and to see some closeup shots.

_-_-
Click to expand...

5052 is the alloy used for bending. If you want to minimize cracking you bend it in stages, usually not worth the effort.

6061 is the alloy most folks stock as it is weldable. 3003 is the cheap stuff you can find at places like home depot. Nice and shiny but not very strong.

Now as to a wood bending brake, believe it or not most the the earliest metalworking equipment was made of wood. Next step was to use the wood to make sand cast metal tools. If you think that is ancient history look at any of the large machine tools from the 1940's.

I have a small JET 3 in 1 Brake, Shear and Roll. It is sort of the home equivalent of a bench version table saw.

I also have a few other tools.
 
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ryanj

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Joined 2010
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multisync

Member
Joined 2008
cutting aluminum on a table saw is no biggie. Just use a non ferous blade and be carefull, cut slow and wearing safety glasses is a must. Very noisy

I have cut hundreds of patio stones for the back yard, sheet metal and ceramic tiles all on the table saw with the correct blades.
 
Turbon

Turbon

Member
Joined 2011
So, what is the verdict? DIY or buy a multithousand dollar professional tool as they produce what you expect every time? I believe everyone here is making lesser bends at any time for their diy projects than there are months to the year. So make your pick, a few strain lines or die marks - who cares - and if you do - there are options:)

I go for the DIY path.

Regards
 
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