do I need to anneal Aluminum

I have to drill some holes in a sheet of Aluminum, I will use a 3inch hole saw and some cutting oil.

Do I have to anneal the aluminum to cut the holes and put a fold in it?

I have Oxy / Acetylene, How much heat? Heat it and then let it cool = annealed?

 

to drill it no

to bend a tight bend probably


use a carberizing flame and soote the aluminum black,,, then heat it until the soot is burned off, let cool slowly.. and bend.

many aluminum sheet are not pure aluminum but rather an alloy and will work harden ,, so you may have to repeat the process to do alot of bending.

bob

 

What grade is the aluminum? 7075? 6061 t-6? 2024?? 3003? some is very soft (3003) (2024) others are very brittle (6061 t6)

 

There's no need to anneal aluminum to cut holes.

Where exactly do you want to put a fold? If it's a simple fold, curve, or crease, you won't need to anneal it either.

If, however, you want to learn how to anneal, check this out:
http://www.metalshapers.org/tips/covell/annealing.htm

For heat treating, you do want to know what type of aluminum you're using.

 

When you bend it,make the inside radius as large as possible for the application.This will reduce the chances of cracking.After you cut the holes,try bending the scrap pieces first.This will give you an idea if you need to anneal the panel or not.

 

I made a guage panel out of a piece of stop sign I found at work, I bent the lip at the top on a sheetmetal brake and there were some tiny stress cracks at the bend. You can't see the cracks and it has held up well otherwise. I did'nt anneal it. Automatic trans. fluid works well when drilling or cutting aluminum.

Billy

 

Thanks guys, I got it done with out annealing it, I meet to say put a crease in the center of it not a fold.