Currently fabricating a clone as a project and have come into a bit of an issue. I’ve the means to produce each part on the frame but not the skill to weld them together (They’d have to be sent off for welding).
I was just wondering is the frame manufactured from heat treated aluminium then welded?
Or
Welded then heat treated.
Thanks!
7005 bicycle frames have to be heat treated and aged after welding and 6061 frames have to be full solution heat treated and aged, if that helps. I have also heard that 6061 moves like crazy when heat treating so the frames have to be fixtured so they don’t move. Maybe use a thicker wall tube and forgo heat treatment?
Or glue together carbon tubing and wrap the joints with the same thickness of cloth as the tubes and vacuum bag. I made a frameset this way and the joints were stronger than the tubes.
Come to think of it this would work with aluminum tubing too, just sand and clean the aluminum right before gluing the cloth on, you could even use fiberglass as carbon wouldn’t make that much of a difference.
For something like this you certainly need to heat treat the 6061-T6 aluminum after welding, as the strength will be reduced by about half in the welded areas
That is what I would do.
Add that to your skill set😁
Is that safe? Went with the open design specifically to do no guessing haha