pictsidhe
Well-Known Member
Sadly, a lot of you won't get the pun in the title, but read on anyway!
I am pondering options for metal! undercarriage on my Plastic Fantastic and was googling for 6061 tube and I got a hit for T8 temper. I've never heard of that before so followed the link. It was to Dxengineering.com They sell ham radio stuff. They also have 6063 T832. The DXE tubing is drawn.
T8 temper is solution heat treated, cold worked 21%, then aged at 320F for 18 hours.
Delivery not included in above prices. I failed to find a price for 6063 outside Home Depot and I've been failing to find anyone selling 7075 tubing online
The DXE tubing looks awfully tempting to me for financially constrained projects as they tend to be on HBA... 6063T832 is almost as strong as 6061 T6 and very cheap, their 6061 price is very good, too. T8 0.120 is cheaper than ACS 0.065. I don't know what the fatigue and creep properties are like. The 6063 is 0.058 wall, 6061 is only in bigger sizes in 0.120 wall
If you read the blurb on their site, you'll find this:
NOTE: DX Engineering aluminum tubing is manufactured to very close tolerances. This provides the greatest amount of surface contact between nesting tubes for mechanical and electrical stability. Due to the close tolerance, any burrs, dirt, grit or other foreign material may cause binding that prevents tubes from nesting. Please refer to the instruction sheet included with your tubing for additional details.
So, it's cheap, it's strong, it even nests! What's the catch?
The catch is that they only list multi packs of 12' long tubes on their website. Maybe they'll sell small numbers of 12' tube, maybe they won't. The bulk packs seem to range from $355 to around $800. You got a lot of tubing for that money, 14 x 6061 1 1/12 0.120 or 36 6063 0.058 are both a bit over $600.
I am pondering options for metal! undercarriage on my Plastic Fantastic and was googling for 6061 tube and I got a hit for T8 temper. I've never heard of that before so followed the link. It was to Dxengineering.com They sell ham radio stuff. They also have 6063 T832. The DXE tubing is drawn.
T8 temper is solution heat treated, cold worked 21%, then aged at 320F for 18 hours.
| Alloy | Yield | Ultimate | Size | Price/6Ft |
| 6061T6 | 40ksi | 45ksi | 1.50x0.065 | 35.94 ACS |
| 6061 T8 | 40ksi | 45ksi | 1.50x0.120 | 25.85 DXE |
| 6063T6 | 31ksi | 35ksi | ||
| 6063T832 | 39ksi | 42ksi | 1.50x0.058 | 9.50 DXE |
| 2024T3 | 50ksi | 70ksi | 1.50x0.049 | 72.00 ACS |
| 7075 | 73ksi | 83ksi | ? | ? |
Delivery not included in above prices. I failed to find a price for 6063 outside Home Depot and I've been failing to find anyone selling 7075 tubing online
The DXE tubing looks awfully tempting to me for financially constrained projects as they tend to be on HBA... 6063T832 is almost as strong as 6061 T6 and very cheap, their 6061 price is very good, too. T8 0.120 is cheaper than ACS 0.065. I don't know what the fatigue and creep properties are like. The 6063 is 0.058 wall, 6061 is only in bigger sizes in 0.120 wall
If you read the blurb on their site, you'll find this:
NOTE: DX Engineering aluminum tubing is manufactured to very close tolerances. This provides the greatest amount of surface contact between nesting tubes for mechanical and electrical stability. Due to the close tolerance, any burrs, dirt, grit or other foreign material may cause binding that prevents tubes from nesting. Please refer to the instruction sheet included with your tubing for additional details.
So, it's cheap, it's strong, it even nests! What's the catch?
The catch is that they only list multi packs of 12' long tubes on their website. Maybe they'll sell small numbers of 12' tube, maybe they won't. The bulk packs seem to range from $355 to around $800. You got a lot of tubing for that money, 14 x 6061 1 1/12 0.120 or 36 6063 0.058 are both a bit over $600.
