Learn how to TIG Weld and fabricate with Aluminum here: www.6061.com The Welder used in this video: www.6061.com If anything isn't answered on the website, feel free to email me.
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Thanks for the response. Although I always break my edges along with bending against the grain. Seemed like the one that was against the grain was slightly better, I would be curious to see the results of broken edges included, because our CWI always made us weld on 2 sides to each box pan we made. Love the channel BTW, keep up the great content
In my world , your videos are the go to place for instruction on how to Tig weld aluminium. Thank you for all the effort It takes to share this with us. I prefer the longer verbalised detailed videos. But grateful for all your content.👍
I really like you fabrication tip videos. 15-20 minutes is plenty long enough. Very often I don't have time to watch a movie length video, so shorter videos like this are perfect. Thanks.
Your content has always been amazing. Anything you feel like posting, I'll watch. Bummed we missed your prime automotive parts days, but I don't blame you one bit for getting out of that game.
Damn straight I''d like to see more videos like this, no matter how long or short they are! A guy'd have to be a fool to not want to learn from a craftsman with so much real world experience.
I liked the comment about people saying "you have to do this" or "you have to do that" or "always remember" being almost always wrong because there are exceptions to every rule! Right on , well said!
Amazing videos! Been a subscriber for close to five years now! I’ve since graduated from pipe welding school, traveled all across the country getting certified in multiple different processes and alloys. And now have reverted back to my love of tig welding aluminum. I’m currently in the first stages of creating my own welding shop. Can you do a video on the dos and don’ts of branching out on your own, and how to get clientele specifically in the aluminum fabrication market? Thank you kindly good sir, God bless 🙏 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 👨🏭 🍻
longer videos are great, especially with you talking us through it. that way anyone can choose to watch it normally, fast forward and/or muted. thanks for sharing breadcrumbs of your knowledge.
Hi ! Its been ages since I tuned in to the 6061 channel, and I'm delighted to find you have started talking in your videos. That's mega brilliant. I have been a "fan" of yours for a number of years now. I am in awe of your work and talent. One day, I hope to tig weld the same way you do. Massive thank-you`s for the absolutely mega vidjayo`s .
Very interesting video, thank you. If making a box out of very, very thin aluminum it helps to prevent cracking by making the bends at 45 degrees to the grain. That's how we were taught while working at a major airline.
Yes but why would you? If you are having heat/anneal to get the bend you want without cracking, you are weakening the material in that area so you might as well just be using a grade that can be bent to what you want. For example if you are using 6061 but having to annealing the bend region to get the bend you want, than you might as well be using 3003 or 5052 since you've weakened the 6061 to the level of those in the annealed region.
Nice video. I really like the fabrication tips and your approach to investigation. If I may, I would like to clear up a few possible misconceptions. On the extruded 6061 material, what is being seen on the surface as "grain direction" is more likely just roughness from the extrusion die. Aluminum doesn't really have a "grain direction". Aluminum has a face centered cubic lattice. Imagine if you will, a cube and then each vertex has an aluminum atom and then there is an aluminum atom at the center of each face. This lattice structure has 12 basic slip planes. As a result, the material properties are pretty much the same regardless of the direction of force applied to the lattice structure. This is a property called isotropy. Aluminum is pretty much anisotropic. However, in rolled products, there is some isotropy due to the elongation of grains in the rolling direction. But this is a different phenomenon than from the basic structure. If a rolled product is annealed after rolling, this isotropy due to grain elongation for the most part disappears. This due to the grain structure in the rolled product not being an equiaxed grain structure, that is individual grains that are equal in all directions. Some materials, such as titanium are isotropic because their basic lattice structure does not have as many slip planes. Just to mention it, the basic crystal lattice for titanium is called hexagonal close packed at room temperature. This basic lattice structure is more complex than the FCC lattice, but it has only two independent slip planes. As a result, material properties, especially elongation depend on the direction in which the principal force is applied. It transforms to a body centered cubic at higher temperatures which is why titanium is often formed at an elevated temperature. This is also why grain direction on titanium sheets is tracked. On the bend tests that you did on the 5052, what you are observing is most likely exhaustion of ductility. In the O condition, 5052 has an elongation of 14 to 20% while in the H32 condition (which I believe is the standard condition for 5052) it has an elongation of 4 to 10%. When designing materials to be bent into shape, the bend radius is taken into account in order to avoid loss of ductility. This is noticed more on thicker items than on thinner items. That is, thinner materials can be bent to a sharper radius than thicker materials. You can compare the ductility of 5052 in the O condition as compared to the H32 condition by annealing a piece. This can be done by heating a piece of 5052 to 650F and then allowing it to air cool. For a small piece, you can just heat it with a torch until you get to 650F and just hold it there for a moment or two before letting it air cool. It can be annealed at a slightly lower temperature, but it will need to remain at that lower temperature for a longer period of time. The inward slant that you are seeing on the end surface of the bends is due to an effect called Poisson's ratio. This is if I deform a material in one direction by applying a force, it will also deform in the perpendicular direction in the opposite direction. That is, because the material is being elongated in the bend direction, it will contract in the direction perpendicular to the bend direction. The elongation in the perpendicular direction is opposite that in the principal strain direction. When bending, there is what is called the neutral axis of the bend when the material undergoes no elongation. On the outside of the bend, the material is being elongated and on the inside of the bend the material is being compressed which result in tensile and compressive forces respectfully. If you look closely at the ID of the bend, you may likely see a similar phenomenon, but instead the material will raise up as it is experiencing a compressive strain. HTH and keep up the good work.
Thanks! i was wondering if that "grain" in the alu isn't just "surface optics from the manufacturing process". This video was the first time i have heard the term grain used with metal, i only know it when it's about wood and other materials (but then again, i only had one school year of being taught about metal properties in engineering school long ago, and nothing like it since.) And i wasn't aware of what you described about titanium. (we didn't cover titanium then) I only remember having heard that titanium "flows" over time. (changes shape under pressure that would not deform it right away but does over a very long time).
Loving the videos mate, especially since you’ve started talking. Longer or shorter doesn’t bother me much. The tips in general are great. I can never seem to get the end dab on the edge of a part like that look like the rest. Even with the fine tapering off of amperage needed it still looks average so I’ll definitely keep this tip in the memory bank.
A lot of people may not realize that depending on the end use, a lot of aluminum extrusions are heat treated and depending on alloy will be far more prone to crack or break even on small bends.
The striations in the middle of the bend look more like tensile test elongations, necking imo. The material on the outside of the bend is under tension, material on inside being under compression. At the corners, as you described, do look to be the start of cracks. Good video, I always learn something, usually it’s the things you do but make no mention of, or the pragmatism in your tooling. 😉👍🤙
So, most extrusions are 6061-T6 a hardened material and more likely to crack when bent in a tight radius. Sheet aluminum is more available in unhardened varieties and easier to form. Some alloys can't be hardened (5000 and 3000 series) But you are correct that grain makes no difference other than the surface finish since there is no directional "grain" in aluminum.
The grade of the aluminum is more important, 6061 needs to be annealed or a large bend radius is required. 5052 and 3003 bend far better. It’s a hardness and bend radius issue, and like you said sometimes you have to bend both ways. I come from automation and CNC rolling for manufacturing custom tubing and we usually roll tubes across the grain. However on a sheet metal brake, inside radius is usually a minimum of 1.5 T.
Why don't you use a height gauge with a carbide scribe?. (I have 2 analogue and 2 digital ones now, they arent expensive) It'll save your calipers from getting worn and more accurate than a sharpie in a scribing block. Most fabricators could use one daily but don't seem to know about them? Great vids though, very helpful tips 👌
Something i do, mainly because i dont have a bender at home, is cut a groove on the inside of the bend. On 1/8 material i went about half way and then folded it. Seemed to work ok. The bend isnt going to be exact like you achieve , but close enough for the girls i go out with
Great video, THANKS! I worked at a fab shop where we used to make aluminum diamond plate industrial staircases. We would bend the diamond plate (if I remember correctly 3/8") by heating it before putting in the break. When the heating process wasn't just right the plate would crack when we attempted the break. Would heating be worthwhile for this smaller work?
At my shop we use a radius die in our hydraulic press brake on most of the aluminum projects, our finger and hand brakes come in handy here and there. We only worry about keeping consistent grain direction on polished 304 stainless. Excellent video and free information provided👏
I worked at a garden tool factory and we made aluminum grain shovels and annealed the material with a molten salt bath and the quenched after bath, which made it soft enough to form without ripping. Is there an at home way to annel aluminum?
