Good aluminum for flashlights and/or parts?

[Demon27]

Someone gave me some 7/8" aluminum bar and I'm wondering if it would be good to make parts or flashlight bodies out of. From what I can tell it's 6061-T651.
http://i977.photobucket.com/albums/ae251/johnpoyhonen/IMG_20101022_130311.jpg

 

[mototraxtech]

seem like a small flashlight but is the same stuff I use for most of my projects. Light, Rigid, and Cheap!

Also cuts easy but leaves VERY long chips(Some never end)

 

[precisionworks]

6061 is the most commonly used alloy for lights & many other items. Machinability sucks, it's gummy, chips sometimes refuse to break, and surface finish varies from awesome to awful :mecry:

7075 is much nicer in every way. Nearly twice the strength of 6061, lots easier to machine, and commonly available.

Alcoa rates machinability of 7075 as B, and 6061 as C.

http://www.alcoa.com/gcfp/catalog/pdf/alcoa_alloy_6061.pdf

http://www.alcoa.com/gcfp/catalog/pdf/alcoa_alloy_7075.pdf

 

[PhotonFanatic]

6061 is the most commonly used alloy for lights & many other items. Machinability sucks, it's gummy, chips sometimes refuse to break, and surface finish varies from awesome to awful :mecry:
f

Yeah, but the awful surface finishes can be improved. :devil:

 

[saltytri]

Sweet, Fred!!

 

[mototraxtech]

While it would be nice to make parts out of 7075 that stuff is very expensive. I have thought of using it for the reasons mentioned but on my projects it would add hundreds of dollars to EACH projects!

 

[saltytri]

At speedymetals.com, 1" 1' long 7075 round is 5 bucks more than 6061. That's inconsequential for a flashlight, IMHO.

 

[mototraxtech]

yes but hole much is a 1" piece of 6061. My findings is that it is generally twice as much cost for the 7075 and you lose weld ability. With that being said I would using it or ti if making a flash light. The things I make have ALOT of aluminum and would make the price go up alot.

On a side note I have heard 7075 actually makes chips as opposed to 30ft long strings that like to get caught up in the chuck.

 

[saltytri]

yes but hole much is a 1" piece of 6061.

about $4.50

 

[precisionworks]

Fred, the worst stuff you make looks better than the best stuff I hack out :thumbsup:

 

[wquiles]

Fred, the worst stuff you make looks better than the best stuff I hack out :thumbsup:

+1

same here - Fred is either a true machining kung-fu master, or has a small army of elves that do magic on Al, steel, and Ti :devil:

 

[Mick]

Speedy Metals 7075 S*** for aluminum streaks horribly when anodized due to poorly homogenized alloying. The crap comes from Russia. It took me four weeks to pry the country of origin out of Speedy Metals.
See for yourself: :thumbsdow

 

[mototraxtech]

hmmm interesting. I better make sure I get a country of origin when buying my aluminum. I have used onlinemetals, speedy, and an ebay dealer. The ebay guy was buy far the cheapest but I should ask were it comes from.

 

[PhotonFanatic]

Speedy Metals 7075 S*** for aluminum streaks horribly when anodized due to poorly homogenized alloying. The crap comes from Russia. It took me four weeks to pry the country of origin out of Speedy Metals.
See for yourself: :thumbsdow

Wow, Mick, that's a shame--the housing looks great otherwise. If you are going to do a bunch of those, you might consider a PVD coating instead of anodizing. The job lot charge is usually around $200 to $250, although you might find someone to do it for less.

Thanks for the heads-up on Speedy Metals, although in general I've had good dealings with them, for small quantities. Although I now prefer to buy from larger distributors that specialize in specific metals. They do have the certs and deliver them with the goods. Surprisingly, while the quantities are larger, their prices are very competitive.

BTW, my first reaction when I saw your photo was, "Wow, that looks like some exotic wood!" :devil:

 

[precisionworks]

I now prefer to buy from larger distributors that specialize in specific metals.

+1

When the customer is paying for the product, I always try to spec Alcoa or a similar manufacturer. No surprises there.

They do have the certs and deliver them with the goods

Certs can be misleading, as some distributors sell Taiwanese junk with material certs. I bought six feet of DOM tubing for a job, had the cert faxed over before placing the order. Concentricity & ovality were acceptable on the cert & the order was placed.

Material arrived a few days later & the Mitutoyo Uni-Mike Series 117 was used to verify dimensions:

What a disaster ... the tubing was ordered to be near net size, meaning not a lot had to be bored or reamed from the inside, and there wasn't a great deal of excess on the OD. The tube was so out of round that I paid to ship it back, got a partial refund, and went to another supplier who handled USA made DOM. Still have that junk if someone wants it :devil:

Watch your supplier closely & never trust a material cert until the dimensions are verified.

 

[Mick]

Yes Fred, I suppose I could call it artistic and double my price. Have any of you used 6020 alloy. It has much better specs than 6061, is rated higher for machinability and anodizes great; just hard to find. McMaster has it for 3 arms, 2 legs and all your kids. I emailed Alcoa and got this back:

Thanks for your inquiry. In your area, you may wish to try the following Alcoa recognized distributors:

EMJ Metals
Copper & Brass Sales
Castle Metals
Ryerson

Have any of you used any of these distributors? I don't need a truck load, only 20 feet or so. I'll have to check out PVD; how tough is it? Caving lights get a lot of abuse!

 

[mototraxtech]

I am kinda limited to my knowledge to only online metal dealers. The only close dealer is about 30 miles away and has a decent selection of steel but very little aluminum. When I try to order it some special sizes they generally cant get it.

 

[archer6817j]

If you live in even a "modest" sized city (ie one that has a machine shop) there should be plenty of local places to buy both new stock and cutoffs. Heck you might find some machine shop owner/manager that would trade you all the scrap you can carry for a nice custom light Seems like kind of a waste to pay for shipping on something you can get down the street.

**oops just saw your last post after I sent mine. It would still be worth tracking down local machine shops even if they are 30 miles a way. Then you can rummage their trash once a month.