Bending Aluminum with 3D-Printed Dies
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2024
- Have you ever wanted to harness the power of the heavens and bend metal with your MIND? Yeah, me too, but I figured out a good way to bend it with a vise and some 3d printed dies. I make some mistakes, learn along the way, and end up with bent pieces of metal.
Kurt DX6 Vise (absolutely required, affiliate link BTW): amzn.to/2ZlR11T
00:00 Intro
01:30 The Design.
01:51 getting my build on
02:06 sweet bandsaw action
03:15 sanding the radius
03:57 drilling
04:39 tapping
05:15 first bends
07:40 plot twist
08:32 why break?
09:38 annealing
10:40 round 2
12:47 finished products
13:09 conclusion
Follow me on Facebook: / robertcowandiy 
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A tip for annealing aluminium, coat it with soap from a soap bar and heat it. When the soap turns black you have reached the right temperature, then let it cool.
3003 series aluminum is the one to grab for bending off the shelf. You can also cold bend 1/8" 6061 if you increase your bend radius to 2-3x what you were using and keep the angle below 50 degrees. I cold bent the entire shell of my last 3lb bot out of 2mm 6061 with 45" angles first try without any cracking :)
For future reference mate rub a normal bar of soap on the aluminium before you heat it and heat it till the soap turns brown and you have properly softened the aluminium for bending 🤙🏻
With an O/A torch setup, cover the bend area with a flame of acetylene only to cover it in soot. Light the torch as normal and burn the black back off the metal. Thats the temp needed to relax aluminum for bending.
@@LegendLength Some softly whispered sweet nothings helps too.
Similar idea but trick I learned in another forum is to mark it with a sharpie and heat until the sharpie (mostly) disappears. This works great. Taught it to teenagers who have used it a lot and they learned it really quick. Only one melted part in the process. LOL.
Sharpie is more common than having acetylene torch and easier to read color change than soap.
I love those moments where you encounter a problem you did not expect. After a little research you find information that perfectly explains the problem that leads to a solution. Knowledge is power, always be learning. Thank you for documenting the entire process, showing the failures makes the successes all the more satisfying. Really enjoy the pacing of your videos, it shows your commitment to share the adventure.
Thanks! I only make videos for what I feel isn't already out there. I try and make the video I wish I had seen before trying something out.
3D printing impresses me again!
I am suprised every time again, how strong pla is!
And then my Part melts :(
Spent 7 hours leveling the bed on my Da Vinci a while back. Prints look amazing but god that was a hell to go through
Make a solid part. 100% infill
And take Salt(small particles recommended)
TAKE A SMALL VESSEL which can Cover you part with salt around it.
Bottom layer salt
Mid layer PLA PART (covered with salt)
Tom layer Salt
Hit it up to 200 degree in oven
It will rock hard.
You can bend metals with it then
Note: Never use colourful, or Matte finish PLA for engineering applications.
You can use a heat gun to heat up the aluminium for it to more easily bend without cracking. The simple trick is to use a bar of soap to draw on the aluminium (like a crayon), heat the aluminium (opposite side of soap) until the soap just begins to turn black then remove the heat gun. The soap is a perfect medium for aluminium, I used to create aluminium ladles back at school by hammering the aluminium over a hemispherical mold with no cracks ever developing
I've done this with annealed copper and it works very well, it even worked for 3d shapes like thimbles and cones
Grain direction will have a huge impact on it's ability to bend as well. Always bend in the direction of the grain not perpendicular.
I too learned the hard way about trying to bend 6061. I had some nice finished laser cut parts with laser-etched bend lines made for drone landing gear, and they cracked in my hands. switching to 5052 worked out great in the end. It's the alloy most used for bent electronics enclosures.
Haha, I work in sheet metal and there is a surprising number of engineers who think 6061 is formable. It actually is, but you'd have to use radius so large that it becomes impractical.
3D printed dies. And it works quite well. Amazing !
Thanks for these useful tips !
Great Video Robert! Excellent application of 3D printing. I can't wait to try this.
It's a great trick to have in your back pocket. This was actually the easier part to make and was more appropriate for the situation.
thanks for sharing the learnings. and showing how to anneal the 6061
Yet another clever use of 3D printing. Great job!
Fantastic video, very inspiring to watch
Good job the second time. We always are learning one of two things...what you should do and what not to do. They are equally valuable. Multi-body works much easier than an assembly in this type project in SW.
Good video. Learned some things! Thanks
5052 is another good alloy that's fairly bend tolerant. A bit less ductile than 3003 but in your application that probably doesn't matter. That said, you solved the problem with on hand tools and materials. I like the Kurt mini press brake. Got to love innovation.
We have good success with 5052-H32 for bent applications. Give it a shot if you can! Great video, cheers
era disso que eu precisava! obrigado por postar
de nada, obrigado por assistir
Great video-fyi sheet/plate aluminum has a grain, similar to wood. It is stronger if you bend across the grain. The grain is parallel to the way it comes out of the processing mill. Often you can see lines on the surface that help identify which direction the grain is going.
Always very well produced... You deserve a much bigger audience.
Thank you! I'm a bit bummed with the slow growth. I am really trying to hit the magic 100K subscriber mark. But at this rate, it will be another 12 years :-/
@@RobertCowanDIY Hang in there. My guess is that you are building a really loyal group of followers. I'm afraid a lot of it will be about find that "catchy" title or creating a surprising viral video.
There are tables out there that give the minimum bend radius for aluminum. I think most were around 2-3x material thickness for a 90 degree bend.
very nice work! I have to try the same, wonder if it will work well with a big old hand vise?
Amazing!
Perfect, I've got to bend about 40 similar pieces of aluminum and didn't think about just 3d printing a die. Could also just laser cut and stack the material, might do that instead. I think the acrylic would be just as strong? Guess Ill find out.
You can make the dies out of HDF or wood just as well. Prolly wood is your best option here, cheap and easy to make.
Looks custom, nice, thanks for your out of box thinking
You are like a super chill Adam savage
I learned it from a machine shop, I had tried to commission a piece to be made and I asked for it to be 6061, and they told me they have to substitute 5052, because the angles I wanted out of 6061 were not going to happen. With that knowledge in hand, I did my own research, ordered some 5052, cut out the shape on my small CNC, and use a vise break (a steel one, didn't think of printing one out) and it worked, and I still heated up the aluminum to make sure it didn't snap on me, but yea, big difference. 6061 is a bear to bend.
5052-H32 is ideal for sheet metal work with sharp bends. Even 180-degree bends to hem an edge are possible without cracking the aluminum. No further annealing is required. The "H32" temper is what would be called "1/4 hard", so it can be bent rather easily.
McMaster-Carr www.mcmaster.com/aluminum-sheets/easy-to-weld-5052-aluminum-sheets-and-bars/ is a good source to get such material quickly. They don't have the cheapest prices for larger quantities, but they have a wide variety in stock and delivery is quick. One warehouse is in southern California. I can order parts by 5:00-6:00 PM and have them delivered 40 miles north of Seattle, WA by about 10:00-11:00 AM the next morning with standard delivery. Being a mechanical engineer, I use them a lot because they help to keep urgent projects on schedule.
Ed Schultheis
www.schultek.com/
I can't believe you lined them up without all the big holes one the same side
Time to redo the whole video.
Hey, should i check my eyesight? In the final shot 14:03 when the mounted fans are shown, the two connectors on the left seem to have a breakage in the lower bend. Or is that an illusion caused by a reflection?
Ha, no. I didn't redo ALL the brackets, some of the original ones had some cracking. I only redid a portion of them. So you're seeing things right! Some of the first batch had some cracking, but are still structurally OK (for this puprose).
@@RobertCowanDIY So 8 months on how did those cracked brackets hold up? I'd have thought the vibrations from the compressor would cause them to propagate and snap, although the fan would probably still be secure enough with two good brackets.
@@shuflie I hadn't give it any thought. Went out and checked and it's fine. So it should hold up just fine in the long run. I think the others hold it in place firmly enough so there's no added stress.
grain is probably in the wrong orientation and caused your cracking. Aluminum has a grain like wood during its manufacturing process. Great project and have never thought about making dies on my 3D printer!
This video is recomanded to me
great deal dude
Quick note for 3d printing, you should be using more wall thickness instead of 100% infill. Both work but thicker walls will let you save material in some cases. And here's where I got this from: ruclips.net/video/AmEaNAwFSfI/видео.html
You could try ABS then annealing the parts on a oven and then use them
I've spent some time doing press work in an industrial setting, and my guess is that the cause of your cracking is the grade of aluminium you're using. I'm not sure if the grades transfer across the pond, but here in the UK the best aluminium grade for pressing I've found is 1050.
5052 is pretty common for bending, as you can heat treat it. 6061 works, but it can't be in the common T6 temper when bent. Alloy and temper both play a role, but the temper is usually what "catches" people.
Looks OE :D very nice!
Great video! What are you using to turn the fans on and off? Separate switch or wired into the pressure switch on the compressor?
I just have everything plugged into a power strip, and that's controlled by a solid state relay in the Avid controller. So when I turn on the fogbuster, it opens a solenoid for that as well as turns on the fans.
I wonder if waxing it or oiling the dies would get rid of any marring.
Hi I am into 3d printing but have spent my life behind a computer and don't know much about metal shop tools or w/e you call them lol. I want to buy stuff like what you have, like drill press, the sander you used, etc. but how do you know which ones grind metal? Are there discs and drill bits that you can buy that work on metal and wood? Or do you have to change them out all the time depending on what you're working on?
Nice transition @ 9:24 ! Reminds me of TOT
Ha, thanks! I had been binge watching a lot of ToT lately, probably right before I made this video. The guy is a legend, I just can't put that much effort and consideration into each video.
Will you share a link to your brake design for download? Thank you!
Could have used PETG. I don't even bother with PLA anymore. Most of my prints are functional and PLA is garbage for functional parts. I use PETG for just about everything. I am very happy with it.
Use Petg, and if you need even stronger parts look for nylon.
That is a tremendous amount of psi for PLA to withstand.
Who is the filament from?
It's nothing too special. The key is 100% in-fill. Here's the filament shown in the video: shop.prusa3d.com/en/filament/115-pla-extrafill-melon-yellow-750g.html
Will I sure glad you didn’t get bent out of shape with the first batch. Great video 👏
5052 Al is a good choice
Solid 5/7.
Try rubbing soap on to the Aluminium (English Spelling) then heat the Aluminium until the soap turns Black then allow to cool, I believe that is the correct Temp to anneal Aluminium, not sure if it applies to all grades.
The correct spelling.
Yes, but it was an aluminium alloy.
@@michaels3003 so what
That aluminum tears like if you dont heat it up real hot. The thinner it is obviously its easier.
Hey are you ever going to make a revised version of Kamikaze
Probably not. Anxiety Attack was technically the next iteration.
I think "stress riser" is an overused term.
Do you know how to re-tempering them ?
Generally hardening aluminium means heating it to almost melting temperature, and quenching it. A lot like steel, but with a much smaller window of critical temperature. Obviously each alloy will has slightly differing specs, and behavior.
Polycarbonate will stand up to 110C, abs 80C how hot these cylinders come?
With the fans, they're barely warm. I had an air leak and it ran overnight without the fans, and that got really hot.
Did you retemper them after bending?
Not for this application.
Hi Robert, I know this is a long shot because of the kind of work that you do but have you seen RUclips channel: team panics latest video?
Ben is currently setting the challenge of making a bot from very little/the least money available.
Like I said I know this isn't something that I would usually assosiate with your builds but I thought I would draw your attention too it in the hope that perhaps maybe you might undertake the challenge for possibly a very low cost build contest.
If not, oh well... I'm sure there's plenty more bots on the way I just assumed it would be a very good challenge for someone who is used to the precision and professional builds that you usually produce.
Dave.
I follow his channel. I follow EVERY combat robot channel out there and usually watch all the videos. I would totally take on the challenge, but I have many other projects right now and I'm taking a bit of a break from combat robots. If I ever find myself wanting a challenge and to try something different, I think a budget bot would be at the top of the list.
Yep. Testing, testing, testing. The empirical approach has much to commend it - in the workshop, in the laboratory, in Life, but especially in the kitchen. Whoops...
did you give up on the stratasys project?
Its probably just an obsecene amount of work.
I have a final video where I talk about why I abandoned the project. Every little detail about the machine is a huge road block. The heater cartridge was 90V, the nozzles are proprietary, there are thermal switches everywhere, etc. It was really fun to mess with, but getting a machine that can print on the level of a Prusa was going to cost me several months of time.
There is no shame in failing, only in failing to try.
"If you don't figure out the wrong way to do something you won't know the best way to do it."
inner bend radius should equal material thickness, to avoid cracking
That's actually what I had. It's 1/8", and the fillet on the dies was 1/8" radius.
Video title is bait, nobody actually died
What kind of plastic did you use?
Just plain old PLA.
Heya, why do you keep you wedding ring on why using a belt sander/ band saw. Isn't that very dangerous?
For a belt sander, I don't see how that could be dangerous. Someone can surely correct me, but there's nothing to 'catch' when using a belt sander. For the bandsaw, same kinda thing, if it caught my finger, it would cut the finger, the ring would be less of a concern. Typically, you don't want rings if something is going to suck your finger in, like a lathe or milling machine.
@@RobertCowanDIY from what I was told, the ring can catch in the abrasive and because you aren't expecting it it can pull your finger into the base on the sander, same with the band saw. Just what i was taught, apologies if that's wrong.
6061? It does not like to bend. 5052 bends well. == Yup Nice job though!
You might want to revisit the design with different fans or an alternative placement of the fans, as the air is mostly bypassing the cylinders.
How so? The top of the cylinders is where the air is blowing, and the little ridges on the top are the hottest part of the compressor. After running for 30 minutes, it's just a few degrees above ambient. Without the fans, it would be too hot to touch and the seals started breaking down. I did a lot of testing for the fan locations, and this was the optimal placement to cool everything down. I tried them on the sides, in front/back, etc.
boi ever heard of age hardening !!!
edit: oh, their pre heat treated, i get it now.
5:28 Weird flex but ok
If that's 6061 it doesn't bend. But as I just heard you realized that after googling. Lol. Yes need to anneal. If you plan on bending aluminum 5000 series is where you should go.
OCD me... Not centered punch! But ignore this.
Haha, right? Normally I would, but this is a REALLY simple little part and it doesn't matter much.
you are pretty much forming / bottoming the part should be air bending. a lot less pressure to bend no need for 100% infill.
Grain direction
Nice beard.
I can't believe I wasn't subscribed, forgive me
Hey! Long time no talk. How have you been?
@@RobertCowanDIY Awesome. Just bought a house with a significant upgrade in shop space! Working on getting it set up for projects again. Great videos, man.
@@SignalDitch Yeah, I've been seeing the pictures on facebook. Looks like a nice shop space, good luck with it!
The cracking has to do with the way they are manufactured. The material is rolled so there is a direction of lines on the material. Always bend perpendicular to these lines. If the radius is to small it affects it as well - there are tables for the minimum bend radius
пластик раздвигается, дополнительно растягивая при этом место сгиба.
Hehe doodie cycle
Steel bend way easier
The one big error is you are using extruded aluminum and not sheet aluminum. Look at the grain structure where is fracture. Now that you annealed the aluminum and lost the strength of the material and the bend. Now you need to hardened it. For what you used them for is fine but, not if you are using pieces for structural loads. Bad and incomplete info here.
Correct, that's the cheap stuff from Home Depot. I was just trying to demonstrate that a 3d printed die could be used to form aluminum, which is still true. But you're right, it will need to be hardened afterwards, if the application warrants it.
Comment before watching the whole video, but if the edges were rounded you wouldn't have quite the stress points for cracks to form.
a caliper is not a scribing tool
But yet it can be used as one and most machinists use it this way, interesting.