jc wrote:
Kevin Berlyn wrote:


6061,6063,2004,6060 ..ARGHHHH!

Question if I may.......
On the plans of the Homebuilt I am building it calls for a Boom.. The
material requested is 6063-T3 (Which I cannot find anywhere)
After much discussion the designer noted that if you cannot get 6063-T3
you can use 6061-T6.. Great .. Until I found out I cannot get the length
required in Australia...
After discussing with an Aluminium supplier here they have suggested that
I can use 6060-T5 as a replacement for the 6063-T3 as the length I require
is available in this grade.

Although he would know more than me about aluminium I still feel
uncomfortable with his advice and my lack of knowledge......
Can anyone advise?.. If 6060-T5 is NOT suitable can you suggest a million
other alternatives I can choose from.....




Suggest you refer to the designer, suppliers may not know. I am in Oz (now a
3rd world country) and have a degree in metallurgy and would point to the
LEGAL bit after the signature.

I'm with jc on that. I was talking to a metallurgist at a steel company
yesterday. I'm trying to locate a couple 3" disks of 6150, 1/2" thick.

He was suggesting alternatives that would heat treat to a 42 Rockwell
hardness, suggesting several steel. S7 tool steel, for instance. Then
I asked him if it was a spring steel as this was for a landing gear.
The story changed completely, and he eliminated most of the suggestions
he had made. The point is, the metal salesman doesn't know what the
designer was after, and metal has a long list of properties other than
'strength'.

I'm still looking, but I'll not be using anything for my gear legs that
isn't approved by John Dyke.

--
This is by far the hardest lesson about freedom. It goes against
instinct, and morality, to just sit back and watch people make
mistakes. We want to help them, which means control them and their
decisions, but in doing so we actually hurt them (and ourselves)."