On Thu, 04 Jun 2015 14:17:41 -0500, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

Ed Huntress fired this volley in
news
t could crack if you don't anodize it


Very likely will crack even if you DO anodize it.

I'd be more prone to tell him to anneal it.

Aack! I meant anneal, not anodize. Great, now I'm really screwing him
up, I'm sure.

These seemingly simple little things can really get messy. If it's
6061, no matter what he does, he's going to have a range of different
hardnesses across the dent a week or two after he knocks it out. That
shouldn't matter at all in this job, but it will make a big difference
if he anneals it and then lets it sit for a week before he pokes the
dent out.

Here's something for those with a general shop interest, although it
doesn't apply to the OP's question. With 6000 or 2000 Series
aluminums, you can anneal them, and they will never harden. But raise
the temperature a bit to the "solution" stage, and they'll naturally
age harden. 6061 will harden to T3, just sitting there. I think that
2024 is in the same range. And if you anneal with a torch, you're very
likely to hit the solution temperature in some part of the job.

Where hardness changes, you have a weak spot. Again, that should mean
nothing in this case, but it could matter on another project. Heat
treat aluminum with care. It doesn't behave at all like steel.
--
Ed Huntress


Lloyd