Bending aluminum extrusion, Help!

[Airspeed]

I bought some 1X1X 1/16th aluminum to do some trim and have searched high and low for info on annealing it. I saw some info here but my dense brain cant seem to find it again.
any advise would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!! Aaron

[rbeemer]

try this thread

http://tnttt.com/viewto ... =annealing

[Keith B]

Before I painted I was going to go aluminum and practiced what you wanna do and YES, it can be done. I put a lit candle under the area I wanted to bend and put a nice even, light coat of soot on the piece (this is your heat indicator)... After that, I heated the area w/ MAPP-Gas until the soot went away and the flame from the gas turned a slight orangish color -if you see blistering stop.. because next is MELTDOWN...anyway, whala....it bent...but, you need to go slow and massage it with a soft dead-blow (as to not mar your finish). My practice piece was only a slight bend, like 24" but it did it... I found the 1/8" to bend easier than the 1/16"...well, not bend easier, but not get as many wrinkles to work out. Get a little piece of scrap...heat it till it melts and watch it... this will give you an idea of what it looks like just before it melts and that's what you DO NOT WANT TO SEE AGAIN....the stuff is cheap, so practice, you'll be happier with your end results if you do....oh and FYI... DON'T GRAB IT WITH YOUR HAND...it stays hot for quite a little while... I know that sounds silly to have to say...but.... Good luck and have fun

[Miriam C.]

This is the URL to Madjacks WWW and he has great pictures to go with it.
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/marlene7136 ... 2329688749

Best info on here.

[Airspeed]

Thanks Guys! I went down to the basement shop and annealed away.
I cant believe how easy it was! I was so intimidated by this process for so long and put it off until today. I wish I would have known how simple
it was to do,I would have made my corners even smaller. I was able to get the aluminum to smoothly bend around 4 and 6" radius on my door and wall, not a wrinkle dip,mar,nothin! It looks like a factory did it!
I would say to anyone afraid of trying it to go ahead and not worry cause it is easy!
Now I'm looking for more places on my camper to trim with aluminum! The only problem I had was when I smashed the skin on the palm of my hand between the hammer and the plywood I was tapping on
and got a nasty blood blister!
Thanks again for the links and advice!! Aaron

[rbeemer]

You expect us to believe you without showing us pictures

HAH

[Airspeed]

I am waiting for my blood blister to stop throbing so I can hold the camera.
I'll take some pics in a few minutes, No Faith in me? gosh I wouldnt lie.
Thanks, Aaron (master annealer)

[toypusher]

You expect us to believe you without showing us pictures

HAH

WE WANT PICTURES! WE WANT PICTURES! WE WANT PICTURES!

[rbeemer]

We want pictures of the hand too...no skimpin' on the pics ya know how auntie gets

[Airspeed]

Here is the trim! I aint takin the band aid off! I just put it on after my wife kissed my booboo,If I take off the bandaid I will start crying again!
Aaron

[Airspeed]

another

[steve wolverton]

[Airspeed]

I love aluminum! I want to learn more and am going to try my MIG to weld aluminum as soon as I get some argon,I want to try and weld the joints in the trim and make them look like one piece.

Thanks! Aaron

[toypusher]

Aaron,

Very nice work! Thanks for posting the pictures!!

[Miriam C.]

I always get the credit huh. Your aluminum looks great. Glad you only had one boo boo. Ya know if you take the bandaid off you get another kiss, right!