Small ally tank

[hotrodder]

Just out of interest what would be the correct grade of aluminium for something like this?

For a stationary engine running regular* fuels pretty much any flavour that's weldable. For a car/bike softer flavours like 1050 or 3103 will deform more than say a 6xxx series without splitting (in either case radiusing corners for buttwelds = better than outside corner joints) and strain harden a lot more slowly than many of the common 5xxx series (ease of shaping, fatigue** from vibration/fuel sloshing)
OEM automotive ally fuel stuff covered here http://european-aluminium.eu/wp-con...AM-Applications-Power-train-5-Fuel-System.pdf but the flavours they mention for tanks like 5754-O don't really exist as thin sheet for the likes of us; AFAIK 5754 is commonly only available as 5 bar treadplate in the H114 condition.
Personally i use 1050 or 3103 (both in H14 temper) and weld with 1050 or 1450 wire as 4043 is harder/more brittle so ideally only used for welding 6xxx series tube/machined fittings into the tank

* Blend enough ethanol in with the fuel and corrosion starts to become an issue, same deal with methanol fuels and ally. Especially with a little water in the mix as both are hygroscopic
** Granted more of an issue with aircraft but FWIW http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...blems/Problems.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

 

[Brad93]

For a stationary engine running regular* fuels pretty much any flavour that's weldable. For a car/bike softer flavours like 1050 or 3103 will deform more than say a 6xxx series without splitting (in either case radiusing corners for buttwelds = better than outside corner joints) and strain harden a lot more slowly than many of the common 5xxx series (ease of shaping, fatigue** from vibration/fuel sloshing)
OEM automotive ally fuel stuff covered here http://european-aluminium.eu/wp-con...AM-Applications-Power-train-5-Fuel-System.pdf but the flavours they mention for tanks like 5754-O don't really exist as thin sheet for the likes of us; AFAIK 5754 is commonly only available as 5 bar treadplate in the H114 condition.
Personally i use 1050 or 3103 (both in H14 temper) and weld with 1050 or 1450 wire as 4043 is harder/more brittle so ideally only used for welding 6xxx series tube/machined fittings into the tank

* Blend enough ethanol in with the fuel and corrosion starts to become an issue, same deal with methanol fuels and ally. Especially with a little water in the mix as both are hygroscopic
** Granted more of an issue with aircraft but FWIW http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...blems/Problems.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Thanks hotrodder that was very insightful especially the article on the aeroplane tanks, absolute madness the amount of revisions they made.

So something like 1050 for tanks holding fluids, what type of aluminium sheet should be used for something like a open fronted toolbox like this? I used a spare sheet of 2mm for this one but don't know what grade it was. I was thinking 6082 which is a structural aluminium iirc and what most of the rectangular bar stock and round bar is at home.

 

[hotrodder]

Cheers. I'd use whatever is kicking about for something like a toolbox... something like 5083 or 5251 is a chunk harder/stronger than 1050, 6082-t6 harder again so can use thinner sheet without ending up with something that'll dent if you sneeze near it