Bending aluminum?

Make one. This guy did.

http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=299233

I always thought those were galvanized steel, not aluminum. So I thought.

akamcfly wrote: I'm not as dumb as I look,

I am

Zomby woof wrote:

akamcfly wrote: I'm not as dumb as I look,

I am

I've learned some E36 M3 from reading your posts, so is ok.

Ranger50 wrote: Make one. This guy did. http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=299233

awesome i'm doing that for the heavy stuff. i tried to bend street sign - i mean some aluminum plate - in my clarke brand brake which is similar to the HF one, and didn't get very far.

Woody wrote:

Knurled wrote: What grade aluminum?

It is approximately the same grade as one would use when making a sign with the speed limit posted on it.

IIRC, road signs are T6 (a good friend of mine who used to boost signs told me so )

Street signs are pretty brittle. I used one to make some pieces for my old Land Rover that required 90 degree bends. More often than not, the bend would break.

If you pay postage, I'll bend it on my brake. Call that Plan Z. Probably quicker/easier/cheaper to used a vise.

you might get 30 deg out of a street sign. they WILL BREAK if you go 90 deg.

take it to any local steel welder/fabricator shop, it will take them about 30 seconds from the time it leaves your hand. should be free, might be $20 tops.

Try bending one of the pieces you cut out to see how it likes bending.

You might be able to heat it with a mapp gas torch and bend it while it is warm, soft and pliable. I've never done that with sheet, but I have done it with 1/4" metal rod. That was steel, though.....aluminum will be a lot trickier since it doesn't change color as you heat it.

(As was alluded to above, the line between hot enough and too hot can be me hard to find in aluminum; not having a color change makes it a pain.)

I'll be watching this closely, since I fragged an aluminum brake lever on my bike today and it might be nice to know how long I can use it before it's liable to snap off completely, or whether the replacement will be here before that happens.

also, if it does break and you decide to refabricate it out of another speed limit sign, get one with a higher speed limit. using a sign from a 25mph zone on a fast car seems a bit like getting an old Ferrari that's missing the filler cap, and replacing it with the appropriate unit from a Yugo. it will still fit, it just seems a bit off

I have bent all kinds of street sign Aluminum.

I just clamped it b/t some heavy angle and my steel workbench and slowly bent with hammer..

I have never had a piece do anything weird.

Building a brake for this kind of work wouldn't be hard though.. a couple heavy duty hinges and some angle would get it done.