Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
You might consider 1/16th inch wall steel tubing as an alternative to solid aluminum. ....
I have heard that thin wall steel tubing can be bent to smaller radii without too much risk of buckling if you first fill the section to be bent with Bismuth Alloy -- the alloy will melt at a fairly low temperature (maybe 120 to 180 deg F?) and after you form the bend you can melt the alloy out again using hot water.
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I think Richard is right on with the steel tubing recommendation, since as the previous poster mentioned, the 6061 is going to fracture on the bottom side due to too much elongation.
You should use "chrome-moly" steel tubing, which is typically 4130 alloy. Pretty readily available stuff from many sources. Instead of using bismuth, you could also fill it with sand or small ball bearings - the only caveat with these "loose" materials as opposed to the bismuth is that you need to plug the ends of the tube before bending to make sure the loose material is constrained.
hth,
Ken