[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

Sorry I'm a bit late to the party on this, but one huge advantage to 5052 Al over 6061 Al is formability. 5052 is much more conducive to sheet forming than 6061 is (bending, rolling, etc). It is also easier to weld if you plan on implementing welds in your design. I'd stick with 5052 for a sheet metal design like this, but thats just me. I'm sure 6061 can be made to work as well.

-Brando

We do our bent parts all out of 5052, and our flat sheet parts (gears, sprockets) out of 6061, for this exact reason.