Quote:
Originally Posted by Cothron Theiss
From my experience, teaching students to bend and/or weld .125" and especially .25" 6061 is pretty difficult. If your design requires tighter bends and welding at some point, I would stick to 5052. 5052 is a great alloy to teach students to weld on, and if you outsource your welding, some shops will charge less for the easier allows to weld due to the different costs of filler materials. (This is probably a case-by-case thing, so it's just better to ask.)
If your frames won't include many complex bends or require minute and difficult welds, 6061 is an amazing alloy.
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Bending .125 or .250 sheet with a tight bend radius is a bad fabrication detail; the effects of which will be more apparent with higher strength 6061.
There really isn't any appreciably difference in the cost of ER4043 or ER5356 filler for 5052 and 6061 respectfully. Good welding takes considerable practice however; and does not appear to be a common skill with most high school students. The over focus on performing well on standardized tests has eliminated most shop class options in the middle and high schools.
We avoid welding aluminum if possible. We fully CAD, water-jet the aluminum sheet, bend, and rivet. You can replace a riveted assembly; you can't take apart a welded assembly. Pneumatic riveting through a series of water-jetted holes is also significantly faster than setting up for a single weld.
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