Quote:
Originally Posted by old greg
There's no point in using anything hardened for exhaust tubing. Between the welding and the high service temperatures it's all going to end up annealed anyway, so just start with T0 and make life easier on yourself.
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Soft aluminum is horrendous to work with, though. Gummy, clogs tools, doesn't deburr nicely. Most mandrel bends are 6061-T6.
I don't know where the '6061-T6 has bad machinability' comes from. Unless there is a major difference between the official 'T6' and the industry-common 'T-651' treatments. AFAIK T-651 is just T-6 (precipitation hardened and artificially aged) that is pulled or something, some minor cold working.
I actually had a little argument with a project planner at work a few days ago about this. Worked with some 'mystery' aluminum and it was awful.