Best way to anneal aluminium?

[snowcat]

anneal is a tad of a black art surely these days, was going down the procedure for Carbon steals, and looking at the box in said AWS book, hitting the correct temperature to Carbon % looks, well Fun........

 

[snowcat]

Yep thats the ones Snowie, not used to them being referred to as crayons tho!
Cheers......

More Chalk Id say

 

[Monrovian]

Only time I ever had cause to anneal al/al was when folding marine grade al/al, 7000 series I think? Folding with the grain it did cause cracks, annealing sorted this out. What grade are you folding and thickness, also perhaps you do not have the appropriate size Vee and blade?

Lots of little pressings and folds etc for and race car parts i make on the side such as oil tanks, header tanks and brackets. It definitely makes it easier to work with but i wanted to get more accurate info. Most of the material is standard spec but a mountain bike frame i made was all pressed out into a monocoque and this was 6061 and a bitch to bend. Annealing made it very workeable and the pressings in the side were easier to produce.

I want to have a go at an alu custom bike tank on an english wheel so it may be easier to work soft. I guess it will work harden as i roll and beat it so may need to anneal a few times.

 

[rtbcomp]

........ I guess it will work harden as i roll and beat it so may need to anneal a few times.

Yes, the Landrover workshop manual mentions this. (Their bodies are made from an aluminium alloy called Birmabright)

 

[Sam]

I've heard of the soap thing too. It's quite common so it will probably be accurate enough.

Soap is the answer or a match stick on the upper side when it starts to brown in colour which is also the same with the soap.That was a blast from the past.