Advice on making boat ttops

admin

Im thinking of making my own boat t top. What type of anadized aluminum should I buy? I have a 2in bender. Is there anything special about bending alumnium and what type of filler and paint should i paint the welds when finished to resist corrosion? thanks?? I have a 200dx dynasty if anyone has some recommended setting that would be appreciated as well.
Reply:6061 is fairly common i believe. as far as corrosion reisistance, you don't need much, if any at all. aluminum is used in marine appliactions like that becuase it doens't corrode easily. as far as bending, i have no clue... never done it. if you want in annodized, i'd look at how much it woudl be to get bare tube, weld it, and then have it sent out to be annodized as one piece.just my 2 cents.Later,Andy
Reply:If you're going to anodize, you must use a 5356 filler. Anodizing won't stick to 4043.John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:Ahem, John, 4043 will anodize OK.  The main problem with anodizing a weldment made with 4043 filler is that the 4043 will turn black when anodized.If you are going to color anodize the entire thing and the color you want is black, no problem.  If you want a color other than black and you want it all to match and be the same color, then using 4043 filler for a weldment would be a bad choice.See http://lincolnelectric.com/knowledge...uminumwire.asp for more info about filler choices and aluminum (that page just covers the big two aluminum fillers, 4043 and 5356).
Reply:Sorry, sometimes I'm not specific.  We see the same questions over and over so now I'm prone to just blurting out the general idea'r.  Thanks for the clarification. John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:no special paint is needed for alum. -just it will oxidize from shiney to dull.anodize is good  but not realy needed  and why 2"  is this a big boat? or under 20 foot? most i have worked on are 1" sqr tube or 1"-1 1/4" round. bending is close to the same as any tube bending  but bends easery... kinks quicker
Reply:Do a search here for "Tuna tower" welding, here is one thread.http://www.weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread...ght=tuna+tower
Reply:Finding a grade of aluminum that will bend well can be tricky.  If it's too hard, it will break, and if it's too soft, it will just rip open.You can get the pipe anodized, weld it, then paint the welds.  As long as you do that, you can use 4043...but 5356 is typically reccomended.
Reply:I think you're talking about building a tubular frame for a boat canopy?  I saw someone suggested 6061 T6 aluminum.  I agree.  That's aircraft grade.  A tube will bend just fine in regular radiuses. Remember, 'tube' and 'pipe' have different ID/OD's.  Aluminum turns dull when exposed to extremes.  Unless your boat top is gonna be subjected to a lot of salt water spray, all it'll do for the most part is just turn gray and darken over the years.Just keep it clean and dry in storage and rinse any salt water away when you put it up.  It'll be good.
Reply:Originally Posted by BeezerI think you're talking about building a tubular frame for a boat canopy?  I saw someone suggested 6061 T6 aluminum.  I agree.  That's aircraft grade.  A tube will bend just fine in regular radiuses.
Reply:Originally Posted by WANNAWELDIm thinking of making my own boat t top. What type of anadized aluminum should I buy? I have a 2in bender. Is there anything special about bending alumnium and what type of filler and paint should i paint the welds when finished to resist corrosion? thanks?? I have a 200dx dynasty if anyone has some recommended setting that would be appreciated as well.
Reply:5356 is considerd "marine grade" yes 4043 will turn black. If you are in fresh water you can use 6061 but in salt water is will carode like crazy. I use 5356 tor boat tops with 4043 in my pulse MIG but I rarly anodize usualy just leave it raw and recomend the customer way every six months. If  MIG or TIG you will have a better time with cracking. Virtually all boat tops are 5356 that is why it is called marine grade. I fix these things all the time infact I got two to fix today. Any pipe or tube needs a biger radius than steel. I installed a bump rail on a private car barge the other day and we used 6061 T6 solid 1 1/4" to get a crack free 3" bend and it worked fine. I recomend you use 5356 pipe and filler then if you dont want to get it anodized wax it two times and then every 4 to 6 months. Good luck Steel Thunder Welding LLC. St. Thomas VI USAMM350PBOBCAT 3MAXSTAR 150 STH375 EXTREME PLASMA6.5 HP COMPRESORDEWALT 18, 24, AND 36 VOLTO/A TORCH SETAND SO MUCH MORE I DONT REMEMBERALL IN MY 2005 2500HD EXTENDED CAB L/B
Reply:great advice guys thanks. It will be used in salt water environments and my bender has a max capacity of 2". Great stuff thanks
Reply:Originally Posted by offrdfun735Virtually all boat tops are 5356 that is why it is called marine grade.
Reply:Originally Posted by EngloidFact- The worlds largest wakeboard tower manufacturer, whom also welds tons of OEM boat tops does NOT use 5356 pipe.
Reply:Originally Posted by WANNAWELDWhat does he use? What is the proper way of mounting it to the boat?
Reply:There are 2 distinct types of good corrosion resistant aluminum, they are: 6061 This is the least expensive and most versatile of the heat-treatable aluminum alloys. It has most of the good qualities of aluminum. It offers a range of good mechanical properties and good corrosion resistance. It can be fabricated by most of the commonly used techniques. In the annealed condition it has good workability. In the T4 condition fairly severe forming operations may be accomplished. The full T6 properties may be obtained by artificial aging it is welded by all methods and can be furnace brazed. It is available in the clad form ("Alclad") with a thin surface layer of high purity aluminum to improve both appearance and corrosion resistance. Applications: This grade is used for a wide variety of products and applications from truck bodies and frames, to screw machine parts and structural components. 6061 is used where appearance and better corrosion resistance with good strength are required.6063 This grade is commonly referred to as the architectural alloy. It was developed as an extrusion alloy with relatively high tensile properties, excellent finishing characteristics and a high degree of resistance to corrosion. This alloy is most often found in various interior and exterior architectural applications, such as windows, doors, store fronts and assorted trim items it is the alloy best suited for anodizing applications - either plain or in a variety of colors.John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com