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Author: Subject: Alloy sheet - what grade ?
mcerd1

posted on 25/5/16 at 12:23 PM Reply With Quote
Alloy sheet - what grade ?

been searching through the old posts but I can't find the answer....


I need to make a few alloy panels to cover some of the awkward comers and around the tunnel on my dax (I'm thinking something in the 1 to 1.2mm thickness range)

nothing structural, but something that will stand being kicked / lent on as I climb in & out of the thing, but also not so hard that it'll crack every time I try and bend it.
also ideally with half decent corrosion resistance too...

my first guess would be 5083, but that's just a stab in the dark....

(I normally use 6082 T6 for everything, but that's for stuff that's 10 to 30mm thick! and I guess it could be a bit too hard form the sort of shapes I'll need to form......)

cheers
-robert





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minitici

posted on 25/5/16 at 04:01 PM Reply With Quote
1050A H14 Aluminium alloy 'half hard' sheet.
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John Bonnett

posted on 31/5/16 at 04:36 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by mcerd1
been searching through the old posts but I can't find the answer....


I need to make a few alloy panels to cover some of the awkward comers and around the tunnel on my dax (I'm thinking something in the 1 to 1.2mm thickness range)

nothing structural, but something that will stand being kicked / lent on as I climb in & out of the thing, but also not so hard that it'll crack every time I try and bend it.
also ideally with half decent corrosion resistance too...

my first guess would be 5083, but that's just a stab in the dark....

(I normally use 6082 T6 for everything, but that's for stuff that's 10 to 30mm thick! and I guess it could be a bit too hard form the sort of shapes I'll need to form......)

cheers
-robert



Hi Robert,

If you can get it NS3 is quite tough but fairly easy to form and weld. I wouldn't go thinner than 1.2mm 18 gauge. Or as suggested 1050A ,pure aluminium is another option. This is much more readily available, easy to form and weld. I used NS4 18 gauge for the floor panels on the Phoenix and the trials car but no forming was involved.

I hope this helps but do drop me a PM if i can be of any further help.

rgds


John

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bi22le

posted on 31/5/16 at 07:00 PM Reply With Quote
Most grades you can get in 1/4 hard soft hard or full hard.

So I would be looking at the chemical and corrosion properties.





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jps

posted on 9/11/16 at 04:38 PM Reply With Quote
Just adding a comment - as I found this thread when searching for information on the right alu for panelling myself...

I've just come back from a local metal supplier - I went in armed with the knowledge I had gained online about 1xxx, 2xxx, etc being different alloys and the 'hardness' being a different factor (a number H4, H14, etc designating hardness). From looking a lot online the main choices for LCB are either 1050 or 5251 - so I was expected to ask for one of those two grades...

Neither of the blokes in the office seemed to differentiate between the alloy and the hardness - telling me that 1050 was going to be 'soft and would get dented' and that a 5xxx (or NS4 as they wanted to refer to it) was the right thing to go for - "the NS4 will be 'half hard' "... Interestingly they also said 1.0 to 1.2 was a noticeable different in terms of workability...

Anyway - I trusted their judgement and have ordered some NS4/5xxx which I am assured will be half hard. £42 for a sheet with plastic on one side.

Also - although they happily talk about ordering an 8x4 sheet (2440mm x 1220) - it'll actually be 1500 x 2500 - apparently metric sheet sizes are the norm for metal sheet (unlike wood!). Not a huge difference - but worth knowing if you're trying to work out how many sheets you need!)

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mcerd1

posted on 9/11/16 at 10:42 PM Reply With Quote
1050 will be plenty hard enough for me as its only for some silly bits in the footwells and so on - mostly bits you won't ever see.
I think the 1.5mm stuff I've ended up with is 1050 A14, but that's just a guess as it was a random half sheet, but for £20 I wasn't going to argue


I have to say as an engineer who designs steel and alloy structures I often find the stock holders will try and fob me off with less than ideal grades because that's what they have in stock, but don't always appreciate the difference it could make to the design


1.2mm vs 1.0mm is a +20% increase in thickness - so yes it will be noticeable

the stuff I've seen sold as NS4 has been "EN AW 5251" (ie. its proper international standard name) to H22 (or 'quarter hard' )
I'm sure it'll be good for your car, but I believe it will be a little harder to work than 1050A H14.
(1050A H14 has a proof stress of 105MPa, but 5251 H22 is 165MPa - so harder to dent, but also harder to bend...)

Aalco give loads of info on the grades:
http://www.aalco.co.uk/literature/files/aalco-catalogue.pdf

quote:
Also - although they happily talk about ordering an 8x4 sheet (2440mm x 1220) - it'll actually be 1500 x 2500 - apparently metric sheet sizes are the norm for metal sheet (unlike wood!).

a lot of places do 2500x1250mm sheets too though
but your right the metal industry has been largely metric for more than 20 years now (except when it comes to the shape of some rolled and extruded sections of course....)





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