To Bend Aluminum Sheet Should I Heat It

Heavy gauge aluminum bars or rods must be heat bent using an acetylene torch and vice.

To bend aluminum sheet should i heat it.

For steel or aluminum heat the metal until it is red hot. Grain direction bend line should go across the grain for the best bend having said that a typical sharp 90 bend on a piece of 1 8 aluminum sheet should be a minimum 1 8 inside radius use either 3003 or 5052 ideally the bend line should go across the grain. Put one end of the aluminum in a vise and use a piece of 1 4 black pipe or a 1 2 bolt to bend the aluminum around to achieve your angle without trying to force the metal into a sharp 90degree bend. I would not try and bend t6 at a sharp angle even in t3 state you must use at least 3 times the metal thickness as your bend radius and polish the ends first no sharp edges.

If you do inadvertently bend a piece of aluminum don t assume it is ruined and throw it away. Keep in mind that many kinds of fabricated metal have extremely high melting points and applying your torch injudiciously could cause damage or do harm to your sheet metal or equipment. Proper bending can be done with annealing the aluminum first although it s not an ideal candidate for formed parts. As a aircraft sheet metal worker bending aluminium is part of my trade most of the extrusions used in the clamping systems are 6061 t6.

If you bend anything harder than 5054 aluminum you will need to anneal it by heating along the bend line. The aluminum series ability to bend tends to decrease as you move down the list of tempers from annealed to t4 and t6. This will give you a nice bend. Ideally part designers should know that when it comes to aluminum grades 3003 and 5052 will bend 6061 will not.

With the right tools you can easily straighten aluminum yourself rather than spending money on a new piece of metal. If you don t such hard aluminum will crack and break during forming. A bending brake will be best suited for shaping flat square sheets of light gauge aluminum. Aluminum is highly malleable which makes it easy to work with but also easy to accidentally bend.

You can not bend a sharp 90 degree angle or the aluminum will crack and break heat will help but it will also weaken the metal. You need to use something as a guide to give your bend a small radius. For most other metals it usually is not necessary to use heat but if you have to heat them slightly and avoid heating metals such as brass or copper which melt very easily. Miserable to bend cracking is very common and cold bending will always weaken the metal.

Highly formable and one of the best kinds of aluminum to bend. This is generalizing of course as there are ways to form 6061. Once the metal is heated use a hammer or tongs to beat a bend into the metal.