Annealing Aluminum- Armor and metalworking basics
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- čas přidán 10. 04. 2018
- Why does my metal keep cracking??? Whether you are making your own aluminum armor, bending a bar from home depot, or just have work hardened aluminum this video will show you all you need to anneal (soften) the metal! For aluminum, once you see that heat radiating back at you with a bright orange red, only a second or two is needed, then proceed up and around the piece to get all of it to that temperature- just below 800 degrees. If you see micro bubbles STOP that is the first warning sign, if the metal gets hot enough to turn into a wet noodle often its too late but try to quench it to save the piece. But there might already be too much macro and micro damage to the grains within the piece. Feel free to leave any questions of comments below! These videos take a lot to make and I'm learning more and more how I best want to do them so any feedback helps!
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Nicely done! I learned something very valuable. I'm making a storage cradle for my sailboat out of 90 degree aluminum angle bar. Lots of corners to deal with. But now I know how to heat and anneal the aluminum and make corners by bending the angle bar, rather than cutting, drilling and bolting. This will make for a stronger, prettier joint and one that won't be so sharp and prone to jab me or catch and rip clothing. Thanks!
This was very helpful for my material science engineering class! Thank you!
Excellent demo and explanation! Thank you Sir.
very helpful video - thanks for making it!
Glad to hear! :D My only goal it to help spread what I've learned :D
Thanks. Best tutorial out there.
Thank you :D I've learned so much from CZcams but more.from trial and error in my shop. I'm picky with the tutorials I like and try to fulfill all the things I want in a video xD The big thing for me is to explain WHY not just how lol
what a rare video, i have been looking for aluminium heat related video for ages
It's hard to find the time to do videos lately but I think I'll do another soon, annealing videos are my biggest videos xD if you read some of my replies below there is some more good information but I'd there anything else you would like covered? And I'm glad to help :D
@@vanguardsmithing7501 just to be clear, i mean the heat related to aluminium video content are rare in youtube. i like your video and i would like to know more about aluminium heat related knowledge. as i know heat treating and hardening aluminium is very different and sometimes opposite than to steel. i look forward for your new videos.
Learned so much in a very short time .
Haha Glad to hear! I've learned so much from youtube so I have an idea of how I would like to learn or what I would want to hear in a video xD
@@vanguardsmithing7501 that's true . It was clear right to the pint . Awsworth keep up the good work .
Great demonstration! What if I'm bending an aluminum alloy rod , should I anneal it before I bend it? Do I need to quench it after the bend to gain some strength? I'm working with hardware store 3/8" rods. Thanks!
Quenching the rod does nothing but cool the metal after you annealed/softened the metal, after you make your bend in order to harden the metal again you need to hammer the metal against a metal surface or vice jaws to compress and work harden the area to make it hard again. You have to hammer the entire area you affected with the heat
I've seen the process whereby an oxy-acetylene torch is adjusted so it is sooty, cover the
piece with soot, and burn it off and it is then annealed. Seeing color on the aluminum is especially tricky if you are gas welding it. Thus, some use oxy-hydrogen. A set of TM technologies lenses allow you to see the puddle clearly too.
What is the final step before finishing a piece for a durable and tough shape? annealing it and letting it cool or the hardened state?
It depends on the alloy of the aluminum...If you quench pure aluminum it will anneal to "0" harness. If you do that to 6061 it will harden it. If the harness is described by "H" (H-4) etc. then you can anneal. If it has a "T" designation (T-6) etc. good luck trying to anneal like he shows. You have to bring the heat down slowly and stand there with a torch and a IR thermometer...
Can you buy Aluminum thats not hardened. Im looking to make armor and one guy who works with steel mostly, said he had issues with cracking and what not but he doesn’t heat anything. I am a scale maille armorer now and wanna move to plate but I wanna do aluminum to keep the metals the same and to save weight.
If you buy my favorite aluminum grade 3003 it comes 70% annealed and ready to shape (that's just a guestimation rounded up percentage as it shapes well but can be annealed further) Certain grades even when annealed crack like 7005 and 2025 are terrible for bending and shaping. Or one of the 50 series. But 3003 is perfect, 6061 works but I haven't used it in years xD. If you have a good tool to cut like a throatless shear go with .060" thick. It's the perfect thickness for strength, a smooth edge, and high quality. The lowest Id go but you get a thin edge is .040" but I'd recommend padding the rim or rolling the edge. 3003 only needs annealing if you do a one stage shoulder. You can do a lot of bending and dishing without any heat though if you are doing a lot it will fight you near the end. I can't remember it ever cracking on my me unexpectedly. Let me know if any of that helps or if you need clarification :) sorry if it was too long
so once the aluminum is shaped, how to i return the hardness to the metal?
By working the metal (if aluminum it non ferrous) it gets harder the more you work it, sometimes you need to anneal it partway through for certain bends but when you are done you just need to make solid contact on a metal surface and metal hammer anywhere you want to regain or add more stiffness to
How to heat treat aluminum after gas welding?
toolman talal after gas welding you already anealed the welding area, but it's best to quench after instead of slow cooling. You can aneal the rest of the piece with this method after welding to ensure it's anealed throughout but the welding joints as said before are anealed
Will nealed aluminium be still bendy even after its cooled down ?
You actually want to cool it down before you try and bend it, what's helping you isn't it being hot but the crystaline chemistry. After you bring it to the right temp, quench it then it will be ready to work :D Copper and Brass I sometimes work a little hot, but aluminum past 850-900° acts like tissue paper and can tear strangely. And working or warm has no benefits imo, quenching also helps the annealing process a bit for non ferrous metals. If any of that needed clarification let me know xD
@@vanguardsmithing7501 OK then how we can make the aluminium hard again ?
@@vanguardsmithing7501 also will the same method work on a thicker aluminium. Thick as an aluminium rims or wheels !!
It will work with any thickness just make sure you aneal it throughout, as for re hardening, work hardening (hitting it with a hammer etc) works the best but the only other way I have heard of is to bake the metal at 500° for 12 hours+, though I haven't tried it myself yet. The easiest way is with the hammer or other kinds of work on it
@@vanguardsmithing7501 I will try hitting it with a hammer . Thank you man much appreciated.
Why would you use aluminum on armor instead of steel. Just for the look?
For costume purposes it's much lighter, takes no care or maintenance, and doesn't rust. If using for larp combat .06" thickness is all you need, for sca .1-.2" could work as well- but the main reason in either case is weight
@@vanguardsmithing7501 would you reccomend stainless steel.
@@sagebias2251 I would not as even in thin gauge it's hard to work with and you would have to work the entire material hot. If you are going for strong and period there are some carbon steel alloys you can look into, but you'd be surprised how strong 18 gauge mild steel is, aluminum is also perfect for costume design because although people think it's flimsy- at .06" thick (about twice as thick as a credit card) and after work hardening people can punch the plate and do no damage. My other problem with Staineless is it's difficult/impossible to punch holes, hard to drill, and generally ruins drill bits and other cutting tools quickly. If you are looking for modern armor- kevlar is all you need with 1/8 - 1/4" mild steel plates. The amount of metal top stop even a regular bulliet is absurd- but backing the kevlar it will disperse the blow across a larger area.
How about completing the process and regarded that aluminum piece.
Completing the process? If the piece was Annealed to more easily shape but now needs to be harder and stiffened you can planish(small strikes all around to even out the surface) or rework with some hammer strokes until it gets back to a harder state. Or if it was bracelet that you want to bend, right before you are done anneal it again so it can be safely bent around the wrist
Just heard you on Leo laport show!
I was going to be more straight forward xD but I don't think I've ever heard him get that excited on a call before, and it triggered my hype xD glad you caught the show :D I'm so thankful for his help and plugging my channel xD
Ur welcome! Was today the recording of this episode ur were on!?
greenLeaf gecko yes :D called in 5 times to a busy tone, got in, waited just 20 minutes, (was on the road till I got the heads up going live) pulled over around 12pm, so whole process about a half hour. So worth it xD you listen to the show while on hold lol so what I was doing anyway with benefits.
*I don't heat it up.* I just tell it to _Anneal before thy master!_