water/coolent tube

[Vulnavia]

What is the best/ proper grade of aluminum tube for water lines?

Thanks,
Will

[DanW]

What is the best/ proper grade of aluminum tube for water lines?

Thanks,
Will

Do you need to put any bends in it? Weld it? Assuming you want to bead the ends....

Easier material to work with is 5052-0. It can be formed welded, beaded. Wick's or Aircraft Spruce sell it. It does dent easily.

6061-T6 is strong but harder to bend or bead, can be welded. 6061-0 is more workable but not always available in all sizes.

Available at online metals.

[Rick Kirchner]

If you are going to bend it you should see if your bender had the ability to anneal it, or you can just have them supply whatever tube meets their internal processes.

I re-did my entire system in 09, prior to that it was a mish-mash of van diemen parts - tubing welded onto elbows, etc, and I had patched probably a half-dozen pinhole leaks that occurred when the parts were less than 10 years old!

So regardless of the materials you use, get the finished parts either anodized or electroless nickel plated. 6061 in particular has alloying elements that are subject to corrosion. If you have a Van Diemen with an aluminum water neck/motor mount, those things seem to be subject to corrosion, maybe worse with an iron head vs an aluminum head. Mine was very pitted, electroless nickel stopped the degradation.

Also you have to use T0 materials before they naturally harden over time.

[john f]

Check out this place.

john f

http://www.woolfaircraft.com/

[DanW]

If you are going to bend it you should see if your bender had the ability to anneal it, or you can just have them supply whatever tube meets their internal processes.

I re-did my entire system in 09, prior to that it was a mish-mash of van diemen parts - tubing welded onto elbows, etc, and I had patched probably a half-dozen pinhole leaks that occurred when the parts were less than 10 years old!

So regardless of the materials you use, get the finished parts either anodized or electroless nickel plated. 6061 in particular has alloying elements that are subject to corrosion. If you have a Van Diemen with an aluminum water neck/motor mount, those things seem to be subject to corrosion, maybe worse with an iron head vs an aluminum head. Mine was very pitted, electroless nickel stopped the degradation.

Also you have to use T0 materials before they naturally harden over time.

Rick,

That's why I put 5052-0 as the first choice. It has the best corrosion resistance, particularly to pitting corrosion. It's used in marine applications.

Dan

[Vulnavia]

Thanks for your responses. Do you need to anneal 5052? Having bent 6061, it is a bit of an art form, and I am not an artist. It will require bending and beading the the ends. I have two tubing benders, one's a hossfeld. The other is not as nice but does have 1" tube dies. Would like to minimize hose and clamp connections.

Will

[DanW]

Thanks for your responses. Do you need to anneal 5052? Having bent 6061, it is a bit of an art form, and I am not an artist. It will require bending and beading the the ends. I have two tubing benders, one's a hossfeld. The other is not as nice but does have 1" tube dies. Would like to minimize hose and clamp connections.

Will

5052-0 is easier to work with. It is annealed after it's drawn to size. It does age harden, but is still much easier to form than 6061 alloy.

The "-0" suffix indicates the product is annealed.

"-T" with a number suffix means the material is heat treated. "-H" suffix with a number means hardening by cold working.

6061-0 age hardens approximately T-4 condition after a few weeks.

Probably more than you want to know at this link:
http://www.engineersedge.com/aluminum_tempers.htm

[R. Pare]

6061 can be easily annealed using an acetelyne torch.First coat the area you want to weld with acetelyne soot, then heat until the soot disappears. Viola - it's annealed.

[HayesCages]

I use a black Sharpie and heat until it disappears

[Rick Kirchner]

layout dye works too.

you might also try very thin-walled stainless. Not that hard to bend with tooling and it won't crack or corrode.

From a weight perspective it really doesn't matter. Art Smith made some headers out of .020 if I remember correctly.

[DanW]

layout dye works too.

you might also try very thin-walled stainless. Not that hard to bend with tooling and it won't crack or corrode.

From a weight perspective it really doesn't matter. Art Smith made some headers out of .020 if I remember correctly.

Umm, I think Art has his headers fabbed by a very skilled aerospace fabricator. They are works of art!

Dan

[Rick Kirchner]

yup - all CNC bent. The flanges are laser cut and the collectors and overall welding are spectacular.

[Vulnavia]

5052-0 it is.
Thanks for all the input.

Will