On 8/31/2017 8:37 PM, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Thu, 31 Aug 2017 16:04:36 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote:

I 've been saving all my 6061-T6 scraps for ages. I was planning to do some
casting with it, but now that I am getting close I find that 6061 - T6 is
reported to be not very good for casting. I wasn't planning to make
structural parts out of it or anything, but is there anything I can do with
the stuff other than sell it to the recycler for pennies on the pound?

Seems like it has to be formed at pressure and temperature to be of much
use.
I've never tried it, but it's supposed to be a fairly good casting
material. Why don't you just give it a try?

BTW, the T6 temper has nothing to do with it. Long before you reach
melting temperature, the temper is gone and it's indistinguishable
from annealed 6061.

Â* For a pure 6061 casting to be reasonably machinable it needs to be
chilled as soon as it comes out of the mold and then aged for a while or
it's gummy and smears . Aluminum that was cast originally will machine
easier right out of the mold but also is harder on (HSS) tooling .

Â* --

Â* Snag