Annealing Help Please!?!?!?!?

[ubear7]

G'day ADZ_4,

Get a bar of common soap and soak it until it is slimy. Spread a film of soap over the section to be bent. Heat over a propane camp stove or use a propane torch until the soap film goes black. Allow to cool and you now have softened aluminum. The black will wash and polish off.

Regards, Mark.

Great advice, worked like a charm!

I actually bought a propane torch from the blue box and it would not stay lit. So I broke out my coleman single burner and it worked perfectly! Once again thanks for the great and easy advice.

[madjack]

...what I did...
first, for the exterior edges, it is hard to beat standard RV insert molding, it is already dead soft and will bend to a tight radius...screw it down, insert the trim piece and it's done...
...if using 1" AL from the box store, trim one leg down to 3/8th...I took a long stemmed barbque lighter and VERY LIGHTLY sooted the piece...note I said VERY LIGHTLY...using you torch, start heating the AL, working a 3-6" area...do not allow torch to stay at one point...as the soot starts to disappear, the flame will turn to a yellow color...as it does, the AL is then annealed...keep the torch moving and continue to anneal...it's best if you can use a jig to do the bending but you can install as you bend...screw the trim down and start bending, screwing it down every 2-4"s, use a dead blown hammer and/or a block of hardwood as needed to keep any wrinkles out...the problem you are having is the 1"(25mm)down leg is simply to wide to bend without kinking and there is just not much you can do about that short of ripping it down to around 3/8"...........
madjack

[LDK]

I made my hatch trim out of 1" angle aluminum and even with the gentle contour, it still had some ripples. I was gonna use the 1" to trim out the top and sidewall but I think now i'll try 3/4" instead.

[gww25]

Keep in mind that the annealing process is not static and after you bend/beat/hammer the segment of trim it will begin to work harden so in some instances you'll have to re-anneal it periodically as you work it a little at a time. I've found that it's sometimes helpful to anneal an entire run of trim and bend it around some formers that have relatively large radiuses
and keep repeating this process decreasing the radius in stages until you get down to the nitty-gritty small curves. if you're working with trim that's an eighth of an inch thick you can sometimes work wonders just using what's called a 'shrinking' hammer and dolly. This is tedious work but you can make nice smooth bends with a radius of 3-inches if you have to.

[dh]

Hey MJ, if you trim the leg to 3/8'' and have a 3/8'' gap for your hatch seal, your gonna be the thickness of the hatch skin too short... Or are you sayin for body trim, not hatch trim?

[madjack]

...for the edge trim...to tell the truth, for both...on the hatch, the edge is in line with the body trim and just comes about even(or a bit) with the side wall edge...the way I dealt with that, on the original AlligatorTear, that edge was covered with 3/4x3/4/1/16 "C" channel AL trim that had both legs trimmed down to 1/4"...on the GatorFlageTear, I applied 5,927+- coats of epoxy to the edge...the rest of the gap is filled with the seal...has worked pretty well so for........................
madjack

p.s. A WARNING...you can rip the edge off of the AL trim with your table saw, BUT&HOWEVER, you must be VERY CAREFUL and use featherboards from top and side and a push handle/block while wearing, preferably, a full face shield to accomplish this safely!!!!!!!!!!!mj

[dh]

Some prior experiences with AL and round saw blades:


We had a visit from the Milwakee rep, he had a metal cutting circular saw. We cut 1/8'' steel plate like it was plywood. Eager to try it, I grabbed an AL bar, cut it like butter.


We got a new Makita carbide tipped metal chop saw when they first came out. Our instructor tried cutting an AL bar on it and loaded up the teeth. Took him 45 min to clean each individual tooth out with a screwdriver.


In college a guy raised the blade all the way up on a 60's era table saw, didn''t notice the AL blade guard resting on the carbide tipped blade till he turned it on, carbide teeth and AL chunks went everywhere.