Aluminum Sheet Metal Forming

Follow along as i demonstrate how you can begin shaping metal with hand tools only.

Aluminum sheet metal forming.

Aluminum strains locally meaning that it has poor stretch distribution as well as poor elasticity. Usually a diamond shaped mesh is preferred as it has a structural advantage over other shapes. In both sheet metal is sunk or pressed into a die. This series has the addition of silicon thus lowering the melting point and for this reason it is used entirely for manufacturing welding wire.

How can you go about shaping metal with hand tools alone. The bend radius you select may not be available if the geometry of the part will not allow us to bend with the specific tooling required to achieve that radius. If i could give one bit of advice to those forming aluminum it would be to limit extensive stretching in small areas. They exhibit a very good combination of high strength resistance to corrosion formability and good weldability.

In this metal forming process a sheet of metal is passed through perforating scissors where it is cut and stretched into a pattern. It is strong and corrosion resistant plus it s easy to machine and weld. Material bend radii and minimum bend size charts. Hillman 12 in x 24 in cold rolled steel expanded sheet metal.

Aluminum sheets and bars the most widely used aluminum 6061 is fabricated into everything from pipe fittings and containers to automotive and aerospace parts. Item 168753 model 11786. The face and head are made of aluminum bronze that is factory mutual approved so these tools inhibit sparking resist corrosion and are nonmagnetic. This series is one of the most preferable for forming applications.

The sheet metal takes the form of the design cut into the die. The flat striking face is for driving nails pins punches and chisels. Series 4xxx are the aluminum silicon alloys. The four most common aluminium grades available as sheet metal are 1100 h14 3003 h14 5052 h32 and 6061 t6.

This forming process is commonly used for manufacturing fences catwalks platforms grating etc. Use the domed end of the head for forming soft metal rounding off edges and closing rivets. Most general use aluminum alloys have elongation percentages ranging from 10 percent up to perhaps 25 percent.