JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

I have a fairly heavy .60 to .90 size aluminum landing gear that I would like to totally reshape and use for a cradle to mount a weed eater engine in a radio control boat. Can the existing bends be removed from the gear cold without fracturing the aluminum, or should it be heated before removing the bends. Likewise for the new bends--should the aluminum be heated or can it be bent successfully cold?

Villa

I was hoping someone else would offer a suggestion. I would not try to straighten it cold. Aluminum work hardens and then cracks easily. Heating it to normalize it and maybe anneal it is probably needed but I believe the proceedure is very technical. I have read many garbage opinions on this site so I would not believe anything unless I could check it in a technical reference. For your boat project, could you use the soft 1/8 inch thick aluminum flat sold at places like Lowe's home supply store? It bends very well but is not very strong when used on 40 size and larger landing gear.

Dsegal

See Joe Wagner's article at http://www.eskimo.com/~smallnet/JoeA...lLandGear.html