Yes, there's a lot of different alloys that can be tempered to T6 -- so
feel free to educate me.

Is it at all a sensible thing to think that I could get some 40 - 60 mil
aluminum sheet that's already tempered to somewhere between T3 and T6
(harder is better), and be able to put 45 degree bends in it? 60
degree? 90? Bend radius? Is this something that could be done on a
normal brake? Clearly springback would be an issue, but is it just a
pain, or a real @#$% pain?

Or did I accidentally smoke something this morning, and do I just have
to get some decent alloy in an annealed condition, bend it up, and
figure out how to bake it?

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html