How warm to heat the metal

krcevs · September 21, 2015, 01:23:36 PM

Hey all,
I am replacing a sheet of aluminum on my Buffalo and also covering over some of the window openings. I'm not sure how warm the material needs to be before I rivet it in place. I was thinking just warmth from the sun and not to hot to touch. Any ideas?

Ken

luvrbus · September 21, 2015, 01:26:00 PM

It needs to be around 130 to 140 degrees for a good job

krcevs · September 21, 2015, 04:28:07 PM

I just got back from Home Depot with a propane burner and a laser thermometer. Thanks for the information luvrbus.

Hot....... hot.... HOT!!

Ken

Charles in SC · September 21, 2015, 05:47:01 PM

If you get to do the job before cold weather I would use the sun. It will be hard to get it heated evenly with a heater if it is very large.

flynbanjo · September 22, 2015, 06:13:53 PM

We heated our to 200 degrees.

skihor · September 22, 2015, 06:33:55 PM

lay it on the ground, cover with something black, landscape fabric, tar paper,

and let the sun do it for you.

chessie4905 · September 23, 2015, 03:39:49 AM

Being aluminum,it will significantly cooll till you have it in place.

Jeremy · September 23, 2015, 05:23:54 AM

Here's a couple of space heaters being used:

Jeremy

dvrasor · September 25, 2015, 12:05:39 PM

I used 5052 alloy .080 thick installed at ambient
air temp during hot and cold weather and never
got a distortion.

Dave Rasor 4104-2375

krcevs · September 26, 2015, 10:32:41 AM

Quote from: dvrasor on September 25, 2015, 12:05:39 PM
I used 5052 alloy .080 thick installed at ambient
air temp during hot and cold weather and never
got a distortion.

Dave Rasor 4104-2375

That's interesting Dave. I am using the same thing. I have it setting in place with a few bolts and it has not seemed to expand much at all. I also need to install 16 ga steel panels over four of the window openings. Figured I would remove the rivets and tuck it in over the existing steel.
I have a large propane weed burner for a heat source that I think will work well if I need it.

Ken

Ken

luvrbus · September 26, 2015, 11:25:00 AM

Have you ever read of thermal expansion on aluminum vs other materials ?

Iceni John · September 26, 2015, 05:16:03 PM

I blocked over two windows on each side, about 5-1/2 feet total length each side, using 0.080" 6061 that I attached with 3M 5200 adhesive. So far no sign of it bowing or distorting when hot, but it's less than 6 feet long. One reason I stuck it on instead of riveting is because the adhesive is slightly flexible, maybe sufficient to allow the aluminum to expand and contract without stress? If I were doing longer pieces than this my technique probably wouldn't work, but for shorter lengths it seems to be OK.

Didn't someone here say that an Eagle bus grows an inch or so when it gets hot in the sun? That sounds plausible. When Concorde would land after a Transatlantic flight it would have stretched several inches from the heat of flying faster than a rifle bullet for several hours, and it was said that there was a gap next to the flight engineer's console that was noticeably wider after a flight than before takeoff. How about a project to measure the growth rates of different construction buses in the heat, comparing an all-aluminum GM with a steel-frame bus like a MCI - maybe this could be a contender for the next Ig-Nobel Prize for misguided scientific endeavor? Enquiring minds need to know.

John

luvrbus · September 26, 2015, 06:05:33 PM

Eagles are skinned with metal from the belt line up only the siding is aluminum with rivets every 2 inches apart to keep the siding from growing 6000 of those puppies BTDT,GM's have a ton of rivets also.

Your right John aluminum is fine for short runs but its tough to make look good on a 40x 4ft run