Having a problem tucking aluminum

lingo

lingo

social pariah
I am trying my hand at a little metal forming to make my own seat and cowl. I can make a tuck in the metal, but as I try to hammer the tuck out, I get a fold in the aluminum and can't get where the metal folded to hammer out. It is leaving a crack for lack of a better term in the metal. What am I doing wrong? Can someone point me in a direction?
 
What kind of Aluminium are you using ? You need the right grade to start with and you will need to anneal it if it's been hardened.
 
Alright, I have another question. What gauge and type of aluminum should I be using to make a seat/cowl out of? Any recommendations on where to buy?
 
Couple of points:

1. When you make a tuck in the metal, ensure that they aren't too tall. Too tall of a tuck will allow the metal to fold over when hammered instead of it being hammered into itself. You probably shouldn't have tucks any taller than 1" or so in height.

2. For an aluminum seat pan you can use .080" 3003.
 
when you do a tuck, it's best to keep the sides at less than 60 degrees each, it also helps if you're using a well made tucking fork, it takes some experience to make one that works well with your material and technique, try some metalworking forums, should give you some ideas, also, if a rollover starts to form, immediately start back at the end of the tuck and hammer the whole thing flat, it should unroll the mistake
 
Thanks, I picked up a big sheet of AL this weekend to practice on. Maybe I will figure it out before I run out of material.
 
I have no idea how to work aluminum, but I searched the net and found some interesting Youtube examples that showed how to shrink aluminum to remove dents in sheets. You might want to take a look at them if not just for the knowledge. There were even some showing how to shape aluminum with an automated peening hammer :eek:. Masters of a craft that truly amaze me. I know my fingers would be flat if I tried!!!
 
I have spent a lot of time watching youtube lately. There is a lot of good info out there if you know the right things to punch in the search bar.
 
No arguement there! When at Barber last year I watched a technician braze weld aluminum with an aluminum rod. They were demonstrating the technique as they were refabbing a body panel for some Lotus racecar in the restoration shop. Once he welded the crack he went back to shaping it with a maul and leather sand bag :eek:.
 
Ok, I have learned so much about the properties of aluminum and it's abilities on the last few days. Can anyone give me any tips on annealing aluminum? I have read about the soap trick and the dirty AO flame. Any thing else I should i should know?
 
annealing most alloys can be done by coating the piece in a layer of carbon black from the acetylene torch, then go to a high temperature flame and work the piece until all the black is burned off, then let it cool in air, that'll take the temper out of most aluminum, I don't always recommend it though because most alloys won't reharden, and often the aluminum doesn't need it, you just need to hit it harder :)
 
I don't quite have the right alloy for what I am doing. 6061 T4, I picked up a 4*12*.040 sheet for $100 to play with. I believe that my early attempts I was trying to work the material too fast with my shrinker and it was causing cracking failures. I have been annealing my material, working it more slowly in the shrinker, and then planishing it out before more shrinker work. I am trying to make compound curves and it is just taking time. Unfortunately because of work, I don't have a lot of free time. Thanks again for all your help
 
Would be better if you had .063" n if you like 6061 ask for a t0 material. Or get 3003. The t4 will reharden after bout 7 days. if you are not polishing you can use 4043 rod n it will be real strong. .040 seems thin but will be good for practice. Softeneing as Roc City mentioned will make it easier and but if you wait too long you'll have to do it again. The temper won't allow the alloy to work back into itself causing the cracking.
 
I picked the metal up from a surplus lot from lockheed. I was limited to what the guy had. I have learned a lot to this point and my goal is to to continue learning. I have been working 60 hr weeks since the first of Feb. Going home and playing in the basement with the aluminum has been therapeutic. Hopefully I will have some thing nice to show for it.
 
6061 isn't meant for anything other than machining really, it welds well and cuts well, but other than that, it's really not a good choice for any forming, 5052 is OK but compared to 3003, it's still a pain
 
6061 is highly used for machining, but its also highly used in the building of aircraft. It can be shaped nicely but takes a lil more work. I recently completed a Fuel injected Thruxton all built out of 6061. The internal mount for the fuel pump was 1/8" plate of 6061 t6, and the tunnel was.090 t6,so i opted to build with all the same alloy. The shell is 6061 t0 material. Not trying to argue,just don't want to discourage Lingo. I also would like to commend him on his go after it attitude. Thats the same way I learned. Good luck with your progress brother Lingo.
 
I have a buddy who build race car bodies and he has been helping some. He works exclusively with 6061. I know that it can be done. I just bought a lot of material (cheap) so that I didn't feel bad about ruining some of it.
 
There are a lot of issues with joining different tempers of 6061 that you don't have to deal with when using 3003, usually riveted parts like airplane body sections aren't an issue because the joint is mechanical... If you've got a bunch cheap, use it, just saying its not ideal for starting out on, and I will stick to 3003 for my tanks, built maybe 100 that way and they're all still going strong to the best of my knowledge
 
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