Bending Aluminum Sheet

[Horseplay]

Anybody have experience bending and forming aluminum sheet? I have in mind a design for a lower dash extension that will likely be very difficult (if not impossible) to form out of a heavy enough gauge of steel given the tools I have in my garage. Pretty sure I can do it with something along the lines of a .090" thick aluminum. Thinking of using 3003 alloy. Will this take a 90 degree bend with a fairly sharp radius? Can I pull it off with a cheap bench top bender? I don't mind having to "fine tune" it with a hammer. I want this bend to produce a lip through which I can affix it to the lower edge of the existing steel dash.

From there I will be forming into it some curvature and such using an English wheel, planishing hammer and a shrinker and stretcher tool. Will the 3003 alloy have enough yield for this type of thing? The old interweb tells me it should but I'm hoping somebody here might have personal insight.

Really want to go this way as opposed to making a mess with fiberglass and resin.

 

[swpruett]

Terry,

3003 is the common alloy used for forming aluminum bodies along with countless other, complex metal structures. It is very easily annealed if you want something very buttery to form deep curves into and in it’s sheet state, it bends, shears, punches and welds very cleanly. .090 is pretty thick and can be a bit of a handful to form in that sense so you might consider one or two gauges thinner but I wouldn’t drop below about 16 gauge for anything that will require any stiffness.

3003 also has the rather “friendly” characteristic of being able to be re-annealed once it gets work hardened. Annealing/re-annealing is as simple as using a “rich” acetylene flame to coat the entire surface with carbon soot and then dialing the rosebud up to a neutral flame and heating the panel evenly until the soot JUST burns off. Perfectly annealed every time.

Hope this helps!

 

[Horseplay]

Now that is a very helpful response. Thanks, Sven. Good to see you are still lurking about. How is the Boss coming along?

I was worried about going too thin as it is the lower dash and knees could bump into it from time to time. I think I'll get the .090" and then something thinner as well and play around a bit.

 

[swpruett]

Glad to help Terry!
The Boss project is coming along nicely and should be in paint by the end of June. LONG time coming!

Considering where you want to work with the material, .090 3003 is probably best. It is amazingly soft when annealed and wont tolerate too much rough handling before it shows damage. Original Cobras were formed in 3003 and could be dented with very firm thumb pressure if desired. You should be good with .090” unless you kick like a mule! LOL! You might gather a few sample panels of varying thicknesses and have a go at them with the tools you intend to use and see what suits the job. It really is very friendly material and wheels out to an almost polished state in an English Wheel. One of my favorite metals to work for “crafty” bits on bikes or cars. Keep us posted!

 

[kb3]

I second the comment about annealing. Without doing that it will most likely crack when trying to make a tight bend.