ORIGINAL: marzo91
I just tried to make a set out of 3/16" 60-61. Ordered it, cut it out, cleaned it all up, and when I bent it in the brake, the bends had cracks on the outside radius. It went into the scrap pile.
6061-T6 is an alloy that is specifically supposed to be easy to weld. It is not particularly strong. You probably tried to bend it too sharply.
I know there is a spec for each type of aluminum for bending. For example I know that 2025 can be bent no sharoer that 2x its thickness, or in other words any bend's radius must be at least 2 times the thickness of the metal. I do not know the spec for 6061 but it should be easy to determine.
TF