Evening All,

Now i have the lathe in the garage i would like your advice on aluminium purchasing, initially planning to make a few spacers and washers for a few things but i am unsure on what grade aluminium i need to purchase. hopefully a little later i will move onto pulleys.

Where can i buy the aluminium needed and what grade do i need?

ATB

PintoBoy

Don't know the answer but (and don't take this the wrong way) the term is, "turning" not lathing.

For the odd bit's and pieces I need, I just go around to the local machine shop and ask to raid there leftovers bin.

If in doubt general purpose alloy 6082 T6 (used to be called HE30) machines very nicely and is weldable too

most metal stockholders will have some or you can buy it online here

http://www.aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk/

hope this helps

Tilly

You will find most billet aluminium bar stock will be ok. think 6082 is common for round bar,I used to buy most of mine from a guy at the local monthly auto jumble who sold offcuts, iv'e had 8" round blanks from him in the past.
Scrapyards can produce some good finds, but you have to be patient and persistent.

Al.






Originally posted by omega0684
Evening All,

Now i have the lathe in the garage i would like your advice on aluminium purchasing, initially planning to make a few spacers and washers for a few things but i am unsure on what grade aluminium i need to purchase. hopefully a little later i will move onto pulleys.

Where can i buy the aluminium needed and what grade do i need?

ATB

PintoBoy

quote:

---

Originally posted by adithorp
Don't know the answer but (and don't take this the wrong way) the term is, "turning" not lathing.

---

I've got a box that I stick any offcuts in. Just keep your eyes open and you will come across loads of bits that can be recycled as new alloys, brass, copper and even steel these days costs a fortune.

I got the alloy for these rear wheel spacers 150mm x 55mm from http://www.aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk/ at a cost of £42 delivered and very fast delivery.


Description

Some here that might do for practising on if he has any left.

I get bits occasionally from Ebay


http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Ringwood-Metal-Fabrication?_trksid=p2047675.l 2563

probably no the cheapest source but convenient.

Even DIY anodized it.


Slave

Apart from big stuff I buy most of my aluminium as offcuts from ebay. I prefer using 7075T6 as it is tough stuff (a technical term!) and machines really well. There is usually loads of stuff on ebay because modern CNC machines all use bar feeders and they cannot feed the last 4 inches or so. "Bar ends" is a useful search term.

Once you find a depth of cut/speed/feed that suits a given tool/material my suggestion is to write it down somewhere. After a while you will have a record of what works for your lathe.

I mostly use 6082 T6 aswell (design massive structures with it at work too)
the T6 heat treatment gives it some good strength - close to mild steel! (although all alloy is only 1/3 the stiffness)
and it good for anodising too

also consider 6063 for lower strength stuff



When I can't find a cheap offcut I've used these guys a few time now and always found them really helpful: http://www.nogginend.com/product/Aluminium-6082-Bundles (they are often at stoneleigh)
they stock a good range of materials and grades - I've made loads of replacement bushes from alloy, steel, stainless, brass, lead bronze and Graphite Filled PTFE and those guys stock all of them and sell them in short lenghts

[Edited on 23/5/2013 by mcerd1]

[Edited on 23/5/2013 by mcerd1]