HamiltonRex

Hi, im being some aluminum round bar for exhaust hangers on my aluminum exhaust. Its 10mm (aprox 3/8"). I clamp it in the vice and use a piece of pipe a bit bigger and slide it over for leverage where i want to bend, I can't get past about 60deg without it breaking, I only tried twice on a few short pieces, since I didn't want to waste it and quickly relized I needed to find another method.

Im thinking I could heat it up, with either my oxy/actly torches, or a small propane torch (plumbing torch). Im just not sure how hot i need to get this, so that dictates what kind or torch i should use.

Or on the backside of the bend I could take my small air powered cut of wheel and make a small notch in the backside so it promotes easy bending where i need to bend it, and it should still be plenty strong, perhaps weld the backside of the bend where the 'notch' is to prevent it from opening back up?

Thanks all.

weiRtech

call me eric, i can help you out with this probably. it shouldn't be that hard. we can tack up a little bending jig. heat is good, but not too much because it will tear the aluminum.

Top Ramen

Its not a real high-stress part; I would anneal it. Also, what alloy are you using? Some bend much better than others. Maybe increase the radius of the bend as much as you can.

Best of luck with your project.

NativeSon

Clamp it in a vise with a piece or round stock, and bend it over the radius of the round stock. Bending it with a sharp corner is whats breaking it.

onefstek

Heat it up and you should be fine. Most likely you have some kind of T6 so it does not like to bend cold.

KFMRC

well the easiest way is to use the oxy-acetylene torch. make a flame using just the acetylene and wave it over the area you want to aneal. It will be come black. Then add the ox so you have a normal burning flame and heat the black away in the area you want to bend. Don't overdue it. It will bend easier after that and should eliminate the cracking. Use at least a small pc of the barstock to bend around. Don't bend it using the sharp corner of the vise jaw.
Good luck

CRMB

Yup. With the oxy, soot it. Burn it off, and bend it. Can anneal tube like this as well, only as consistent as you are patient with the torch though.