Sigh....

Ok, it wasn't much of a home made metal brake, but it worked great
till the last crazy idea...

It is amazing how much force it takes to bend a 4 foot long piece of
0.06" thick aluminum sheet metal.. Guess its time to rebuild a bigger
and better version, but first I have to finish the project I'm working
on now..

So, here's the question, Anyone know of anyone with a metal brake near
Tampa, Florida area or South that might like to barter some powder
coating, welding, telescope building, shop floor sweeping work in
exchange for bending 6 piece of 48 x 2 x 0.06" aluminum?

(Oh and the broke brake story... First it started bowing, so I clamped
the crude out of it with addition angle iron. Then the hinges bent,
which I beat back into position and welded in additional support. The
grande finally led to the handle bending, which caused me to lose my
grip and smack my elbow into one of the clamps I added to hold the
angle iron in place, then in moment of angered stupidity, I kicked it,
it fell over and promptly cut my OA torch hoses in half... To add
insult to injury, the piece of sheet metal was just as flat as when I
started! )


Take Care,
James Lerch
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm (My telescope construction, Testing, and Coating site)

Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

You shouldn't be using 7075!

"James Lerch" wrote in message
...
| Sigh....
|
| Ok, it wasn't much of a home made metal brake, but it worked great
| till the last crazy idea...
|
| It is amazing how much force it takes to bend a 4 foot long piece of
| 0.06" thick aluminum sheet metal.. Guess its time to rebuild a bigger
| and better version, but first I have to finish the project I'm working
| on now..
|
| So, here's the question, Anyone know of anyone with a metal brake near
| Tampa, Florida area or South that might like to barter some powder
| coating, welding, telescope building, shop floor sweeping work in
| exchange for bending 6 piece of 48 x 2 x 0.06" aluminum?
|
| (Oh and the broke brake story... First it started bowing, so I clamped
| the crude out of it with addition angle iron. Then the hinges bent,
| which I beat back into position and welded in additional support. The
| grande finally led to the handle bending, which caused me to lose my
| grip and smack my elbow into one of the clamps I added to hold the
| angle iron in place, then in moment of angered stupidity, I kicked it,
| it fell over and promptly cut my OA torch hoses in half... To add
| insult to injury, the piece of sheet metal was just as flat as when I
| started! )
|
|
| Take Care,
| James Lerch
| http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm (My telescope construction, Testing, and
Coating site)
|
| Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
| Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
| Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
| Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
| Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
| Calvin Coolidge

"James Lerch" wrote in message
...


So, here's the question, Anyone know of anyone with a metal brake near
Tampa, Florida area or South that might like to barter some powder
coating, welding, telescope building, shop floor sweeping work in
exchange for bending 6 piece of 48 x 2 x 0.06" aluminum?

(Oh and the broke brake story... First it started bowing, so I clamped
the crude out of it with addition angle iron. Then the hinges bent,
which I beat back into position and welded in additional support. The
grande finally led to the handle bending, which caused me to lose my
grip and smack my elbow into one of the clamps I added to hold the
angle iron in place, then in moment of angered stupidity, I kicked it,
it fell over and promptly cut my OA torch hoses in half... To add
insult to injury, the piece of sheet metal was just as flat as when I
started! )


With enough experience (*) you will know when you are having one of those
days and quit for the day and retire to an upholstered chair, put your feet
up, pop a cold one and wait for another day.

(* Experience is what you get, when you don't get what you want!)


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

Well, today I decided, come hell or high water, I WOULD bend that
silly 0.06" x 2" wide x 48" long aluminum.

After much welding, reinforcing, and bracing, all I ended up doing was
shattering a 4" c-clamp and actually putting a length wise bend into
the 4"x 1/4" thick C-Channel I was using on the handle side of the of
the metal brake...

So, I'm throwing in the towel, its time to sheer the aluminum into 1"
wide pieces, and just weld them back together at the appropriate
angle.

(BTW, I don't know what kind of alloy this aluminum is, but WOW is
that some tuff stuff!) As a test, I was easily able to bend some
1/16" sheet metal of similar size...


Oh well, live and learn, the stuff you find in the scrap bin isn't
always the best idea


Take Care,
James Lerch
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm (My telescope construction, Testing, and Coating site)

Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

James Lerch wrote:
Well, today I decided, come hell or high water, I WOULD bend that
silly 0.06" x 2" wide x 48" long aluminum.

Can you anneal the workpiece back to T Zero, then bend?

--Winston

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 17:06:20 -0800, Winston
wrote:

James Lerch wrote:
Well, today I decided, come hell or high water, I WOULD bend that
silly 0.06" x 2" wide x 48" long aluminum.

Can you anneal the workpiece back to T Zero, then bend?

--Winston

I ran the OA torch (after fixing the hoses!) back and forth over the
piece, expecting to take the anneal out of it. Didn't seem to make a
difference.... Is there some trick I don't know? (I heated the Al
in stage from just warm to it looked like it was nearly ready to
melt) Still can't bend this stuff... Wish I knew what alloy it was!



Take Care,
James Lerch
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm (My telescope construction, Testing, and Coating site)

Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:55:24 GMT,
(James Lerch) wrote:

Well, today I decided, come hell or high water, I WOULD bend that
silly 0.06" x 2" wide x 48" long aluminum.

After much welding, reinforcing, and bracing, all I ended up doing was
shattering a 4" c-clamp and actually putting a length wise bend into
the 4"x 1/4" thick C-Channel I was using on the handle side of the of
the metal brake...

So, I'm throwing in the towel, its time to sheer the aluminum into 1"
wide pieces, and just weld them back together at the appropriate
angle.

(BTW, I don't know what kind of alloy this aluminum is, but WOW is
that some tuff stuff!) As a test, I was easily able to bend some
1/16" sheet metal of similar size...


Oh well, live and learn, the stuff you find in the scrap bin isn't
always the best idea



Did you try to anneal it first?

Rub a bar of soap on the bend line, hit it with a A/O torch until the
soap burns away, let it cool then try.

Ive never done this...but its supposed to work.

Sure its not titanium?

Gunner

Take Care,
James Lerch
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm (My telescope construction, Testing, and Coating site)

Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling
which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight,
nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being
free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- John Stewart Mill

On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 03:39:09 GMT, Gunner
wrote:


Did you try to anneal it first?


Rub a bar of soap on the bend line, hit it with a A/O torch until the
soap burns away, let it cool then try.

I didn't use the bar of soap trick, but it was so hot that it didn't
"Ring" anymore (which as another aside, ever notice that recently
welded, but still hot aluminum bits wont got "Ting" (ring) when
struck, they just go 'thunk'? I've always thought that was odd, but I
deviate from the problem at hand..

Ive never done this...but its supposed to work.

Sure its not titanium?

Not certain, but I've welded two pieces together with 4043 filler rod,
so I figure it was aluminum. Can Titanium be welded (maybe brazed)
with 4043 filler wire?


Take Care,
James Lerch
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm (My telescope construction, Testing, and Coating site)

Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

"James Lerch" wrote in message
...
| On Sat, 01 Jan 2005 03:39:09 GMT, Gunner
| wrote:
|
|
| Did you try to anneal it first?
|
|
| Rub a bar of soap on the bend line, hit it with a A/O torch until the
| soap burns away, let it cool then try.
|
| I didn't use the bar of soap trick, but it was so hot that it didn't
| "Ring" anymore (which as another aside, ever notice that recently
| welded, but still hot aluminum bits wont got "Ting" (ring) when
| struck, they just go 'thunk'? I've always thought that was odd, but I
| deviate from the problem at hand..
|
| Ive never done this...but its supposed to work.
|
| Sure its not titanium?
|
| Not certain, but I've welded two pieces together with 4043 filler rod,
| so I figure it was aluminum. Can Titanium be welded (maybe brazed)
| with 4043 filler wire?

A piece of aluminum that was softer (2024, 6061T3 or the like) will have
less of a ring than what you have, which will be a nice note. If it's 7075
you aren't going to be able to do anything with it. Don't think it would be
weldable, though, so you might have something else along that line, though.
Don't know what aluminum is both hard and weldable, though.