Anybody ever annealed aluminum?

Furyous

I got some really great thick aluminum to use as floorboards in my cart. The rear floor ( it is limo style) was pretty cut and dry since it only had to be flat. The front floorboard I wanted to do something a little different- instead of creating a break that angles up to the foot wells, I wanted to create a gradual curve. I tried to devise a means of clamping the material down to bend it, but it wouldn't budge. I tried standing on it (240 lbs.), and it didn't budge. My neighbor showed me how he was able to have a shop do multiple breaks to achieve a curve on his airboat, but it was still "stepped" and I want a graceful curve that will look great when it is all polished up ( I will have grip tape on the floor to try to keep the shine).

Looking deeper into the problem, I found some videos on YouTube of people annealing aluminum by rubbing it with a bar of soap and heating it with a torch until it turns brown or black indicating it is close to its melting point. Then they let it cool completely and the metal is soft enough to bend.

My questions are:

Has anybody on here ever done this? Any advice?
Is this something I should tackle my first time around?
Will the annealed aluminum be able to be cut with a jigsaw and metal blade for the pedal cutouts, or should I do it beforehand? I have read that it will be too soft to cut easily since it won't chip like hardened aluminum.
Will I be able to only anneal the portion that I want to curve, or will I risk damaging the material as it cools?

I know there are some experienced metal workers out there... Any help would be appreciated.


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BGW

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Outlawsnemesis

What you would be doing isn't so much called annealing as you are just basically heating it to it becomes maluable. Not an easy task aluminum dissipates heat faster than most any other metal so it takes lots of heat and spreads though the metal quickly. Cretian alloys of aluminum will not bend at all without cracking even with heat. Also you want to bend it 90 degrees to the grain to help prevent cracking. How thick is the aluminum you are trying to bend? If you know someone who has a sheet metal brake would make this job much easier. You can do many small bends to make it appear like a radius. Maybe find a metal shop and have them bend it. They should have the ability to bend a nice radius like you are wanting.

Furyous

Thanks! I'm bringing it to a friend of mine who has a body shop to see if I can do just that. Here's what I am starting with, I believe it is .125. It was leftover from a custom fabricated fuel tank for a boat. I believe I have it set to bend along the grain- before I knew about grain I cut it to be bent this way, along the printed lines in the material.

Furyous

kab69440

Find a shop with a slip roll. A gradual bend like you want can be accomplished with much less stress to the metal. Annealing will not be necessary.

Furyous

I went to my friends shop and it was closed down. Guess its been a while. I went to 2 auto body places a welding place, and a boat fabrication place. All turned me down.

The problem with a slip roll machine is that most of the are 40" wide, and this piece is 44" wide.

I'm going to ask my neighbor to give me the info for the shop that bent the aluminum for the hull in his airboat.


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LURCH

Try a commercial heat and air place or a race car shop drag, dirt or circle track should have a break that will do a radius. We bolt on pieces of pipe made to fit the break and have 2 sizes of pipe to determine the size of the radius. Hope this helps!

LURCH!!!!!!

Outlawsnemesis

Sounds like you are on the right track now. Just some FYI since it was ally that was left over from a fuel tank that most likely means it's 6061. Which is the most common and widely used alloy of aluminum it's weldable and bends fairly easy. Where you are running into problems is due to the width and the thickness. Anyone with a decent sheet metal break shouldn't have any trouble. Most breaks start at 48" and go up from there so 44" shouldn't be any problem.

sms-shop

Most breaks are for 18 gage tin and up that your going to find in hvac shops .. You are going to have to find a fab shop that's has a slip roll machine That will meet your needs ...and no 40 inches is not the biggest roll machine made .I have what is considered light gage and it for 10 gage at 60 inches mild steel... So there out there you just have to find one .. Don't give up on what you want .... Just do a little more leg work and you will have the look that you seek..

kab69440

Dang! Don't tell me you've got a 60" box and pan brake too?