anealing alu.sheet

[edsmith]

can alu.sheeting be anealed?I have a roll of .09 alu. that is harder than some .11 I have, I am thinking the hard stuff has too much spring back. I have a freechek ll ,the .09 is twice as hard to punch as the .11. thanks

[trevj]

Yeah.

Cheap n Dirty anneal, based on how twas done when aluminum was used for coachwork on cars.

Soot the Al. with an acet torch, heat until the soot disappears. Done. It'll be as soft as it can get.

Modern version.

Draw a line with a Sharpie marker, where you want the sheet soft. Heat with any handy heat source (I suggest a propane torch) along the line until the marking vanishes. Good to go!

Works great for bending sharp corners on found or salvaged harder than needed sheet metal (like if you wanted to make a box out of the 6061-T6 that you happened to have) too. Mark out the bend lines. heat until they vanish, then put it in the bending brake.

Cheers
Trev

[Patrick L]

I annealed some aluminum flashing that was a bit too brittle for gascheck making. It would cut into discs just fine, but when I tried to form the cup the bottom would snap off and the sides would from a donut shaped collar around the forming punch.

I layed out my precut strips on the steel table of my table saw, and then played a propane torch over them. Its hard to describe, but they just sort of change their surface appearance, and you know its done. Believe me you'll know if you overheat them because they just sort of disintegrate!

Once I annealed them, the discs punched with a lot less "snap," and the cups formed beautifully.

[edsmith]

Thanks,guys. I will break out the propane torch as soon as I can get out into my shop,snowed in.I live in tropical maine.

[john from md]

I buy .011 "Beware of Dog" signs at Home Depot for $1.47 each. I sliced them into strips and then put them into the oven at 500* for an hour.

If you anneal before cutting, you wind up with rough edges. (might be due to my paper cutter though)

If you do this, do it when you wife is not home and turn on the kitchen fan as the cooking paint stinks.

John

[Charlie Sometimes]

If you can use a toaster oven to heat treat boolits, then you could use it for annealing too.
I've got some brass sheet stock that is just a bit too hard for GC making.
I was thinking of placing it in Broil mode for a short time with a test sample to see how fast it would work.
I put some boolits in for a test and they slumped really fast!
I just need to air cool, and remember not to quench!

[HamGunner]

For my .311 bullets I use leftover painted flashing that mics .0165 after I have burned the paint off. By heating the unpainted side with a propane torch till the paint falls off, I have found no problems with the hardness while forming the checks.

[alamogunr]

If you can use a toaster oven to heat treat boolits, then you could use it for annealing too.
I've got some brass sheet stock that is just a bit too hard for GC making.
I was thinking of placing it in Broil mode for a short time with a test sample to see how fast it would work.
I put some boolits in for a test and they slumped really fast!
I just need to air cool, and remember not to quench!

+1. I used a toaster oven to anneal some .04 sheet aluminum. I just set it on the highest temperature and left it for about an hour. Let it cool down in the oven. The thicker stuff might take a little longer.
John
W.TN

[edsmith]

tried the toaster oven to anneal some .09 alu. TIP- make sure it don't have some kind of coating on it,I stuck some in the toaster oven,looked like a smoke grenade,it turned deep purple.the plus side,it did anneal .it must have a plastic coating on it.being the einstine that I am,I did it in the house.whoops. .

[JeffinNZ]

Isn't annealing going to promote oxidation?

[alamogunr]

Isn't annealing going to promote oxidation?

I never thought about it. I have some of the .04 alum sheet that I annealed a couple of years ago that looks the same as un-annealed sheets. If I remember correctly, these alum. sheets were specified as "half hard". The only difference I can tell is that the annealed sheet bends easily and the un-annealed does not and makes a noise if you try to bend it past yield point. I don't know how to describe the noise so don't ask for a clarification.

John
W.TN

[edsmith]

I tried the sharpie marker trick,it worked great.

[HamGunner]

I would think that if oxidation would ever be a problem, such as long term storage, etc. The aluminum sheets could be rubbed down with a little bullet lube before cutting or forming into checks.

[JKH]

Annealed aluminum is the best material for checks, I tried all kinds of material till I found .008" newspaper lith plates that are annealed, that material works fantastically well.

I have also experienced punched through checks with hard material, pop can material will often crack and springs back to much without gripping the boolit adequately, very frustrating results!

The lith plates I have could be a bit thicker for some applications, (i.e. molds with undersized check shanks, etc.) so I also have considered home annealng, there are some great suggestions here, particularly the toaster oven as that would allow for the most uniform/consistent results (as long as a well regimented procedure is established, so many minutes warm up, so many minutes cook time, even cool down time and ambient temp.). There are a lot of great types of material that all have the potential to make good checks using this method.

There are so many good minds on this site, keep posting these great ideas!

Jeff

[JIMinPHX]

You can buy temperature crayons at most welding supply places too. They come in different temperature ratings. One might be a 325 degree crayon, another may be a 450. You buy the particular one for the temperature that you want to check, mark your material with it & heat until the mark melts. They're pretty accurate.

[testhop]

a very long time ago i work in an aluminum mill and my job was as a annealer.
to make anneal aluninum we would heat the medal to 750 or 800 degrees .
so heres a idea how about putting it in a selfcleaning ovenand do2 jobs at the same time.
i am not postive this will work but i belive it will.

[PatMarlin]

Here's "One Hole" Ben's info on AL source:

Amerimax Aluminum .014 thickness from Ace Hardware.

I think this thread will tell them everything they need to know :

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=770569