Aluminium tube

[Norman HolifieldParticipant @normanholifield28699]

Hi.

Does anyone know of a good supplier for 5/8 x 18swg 6063 and or 6082 tube. I have used several suppliers and have usually received poor quality out of tolerance material. I would prefer cold drawn over extruded. I understand the wall thickness for extruded tube is + or – 10%. 18swg is 1.22mm I have had tube with the wall on one side as thin as 0.9 and the other side at approx 1.54, rubbish from http://www.aliminiumwarehouse

[Norman HolifieldParticipant @normanholifield28699]

Ally tube supplier?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Norman,

Have a look at my post, yesterday, on the "What did you do …" thread.

… pretty close.

MichaelG.

[JonParticipant @jon]

Know exactly what you mean and faced same problems for 20 odd years needing precise accuracy as an end product.

Its more down to batch produced since since had same tubing from same supplier over time. Bores will be different as will be o/d. Up to twenty one years ago used to buy BS1474:HE30TFT66082? by the tonne, tolerance for an extrusion was +/- 0.1mm, more often than not on the undersize since less material for same cost of product. Theres not many extrusion mills knocking around though could be imported.

I don't buy much 5/8" o/d usually larger thick wall to bore out and turn o/d. Some of it well over 30% runout.

Finding reasonably concentric bore to o/d you will have to visit places or take a punt. The only advice I can give is buy or try as many different suppliers, some maybe better than others. Last year dropped on some critical 15mm bore bore that had to slide over cock on 15mm dia with minimal tolerance bonded, 5/8" no good too much clearance. Got it offf ebay last year but 18 o/d x 1.5mm. First bought a short length then bought the rest at longer lengths.

Other than that dependant upon lengths, turn o/d concentric to bore.

[Bob Brown 1Participant @bobbrown1]

I just checked some tube I had from aluminium warehouse and it is 2.5" diameter couple of wall thickness 1/8" and 1/4" both are within 2 or 3 thou of the nominal diameter.

If it had been a long way out it would have been sent back.

Bob

[Norman HolifieldParticipant @normanholifield28699]

Hi jon

I use the tube to make musical instruments, good quality tin whistles. I have played for a long time and I am a CNC programmer and machinist. I decided to have a go at making whistles about a year ago and measured up some I had in my collection as a starting point and found 5/8 18swg was used.

I bought the first batch of tube on ebay, company called Droitwich Aluminium. All was fine I made tooling ect then the trouble started when I received the second batch and found it was not the same. Since then I have tried number of different suppliers but its all variable so I am considering going down the same route as you suggested and turning the outside to suite, but I am not used to buying tubing so I wanted to know what there was out there.

Feel free to have a look at what I make on http://www.holifield-whistles.com. I do need to sort out my tubing issues as I plan to expand my range of whistles to include different keys which will need tubing of different diameters.

[Norman HolifieldParticipant @normanholifield28699]

Hi Bob.

I have found the larger diameters do tend to be better. If my memory serves I think stuff above 18mm dia has a tolerance on the wall of + or – 8%.

My 5/8s should be + or – 10%. I find when I put the verniers across it, it was out.

I have recently used Aalco for the last batch, it to was out but to Aalco's credit they were very good at sorting it out and trying to find me tube from a different batch that was to spec. Yet to go and collect it but I will take the verniers along this time.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Hello Norman,

I'd love to read an article on making tin whistles. I have several, though I can't really do them justice). I would really like to make a very big one I have long fingers

I couldn't put it in MEW but I know Diane occasionally covers musical subjects in ME.

Neil

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Norman,

The material that I mentioned is much better than you seem to be finding.

MichaelG.

[Norman HolifieldParticipant @normanholifield28699]

Hi Michiel.
what garden centre are you finding this tube. Perhaps I can find out where they get it from.
I am in Bicester North Oxon.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Norman,

Here is a direct quote of my post on the "What did you do today (2015)" thread:

I can't possibly compete with pgk's haul, but I was pleased to find some useful Aluminium tube … at the Garden Centre. mainframe is a modular framing system for fruit cages, etc. The tubes are 16mm diameter, but have a generous 1.6mm wall thickness, and are available in 2, 4, 6, and 8 foot lengths [their mix of units not mine] at <£1 per foot. Seems very good value [except, of course, we also came back with a load of shrubs] MichaelG. . Edit: here is the direct link to mainframe. Edited By Michael Gilligan on 27/03/2015 14:07:57

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 29/03/2015 22:01:36

.

Apologies … That seems to have messed up the page layout 

Could a Moderator fix it please.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 29/03/2015 22:03:52

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Norman,

I forgot to answer your specific question …

Wyevale Garden Centre, Otterspool Road, Marple [Stockport]

… But, as you will have seen, the manufacturer [?] does deal direct.

Note: I haven't tried machining it yet, but the quality of the sawcuts suggests th material is good.

MichaelG.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

If the tube is made by a leading manufacturer such as Alcan or similar, it will be accurate, don't know about other makes, but even the American brands will probably be made outside America(USA/ Canada)

Ian S C

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

To the OP:

All extruded tube in the UK will be made to BS EN 755, The dimensions to BS EN 755 Part 9. The tolerances on the form are dependant on the alloy being extruded. 6063 is easier to extrude and is in 'Alloy Group 1', while 6082 is in Alloy Group 2. For 6063, the tolerance on the wall thickness allowed by the standard will be +/- 0.2mm for the size tube you want, giving a minimum wall thickness of 1.01mm. With 6082 the tolerance is wider, at +/- 0.3mm, meaning that 0.9mm is within tolerance if you don't measure the last 0.01mm.

Now, it's in tolerance, but may not be acceptable… I've had this a lot at work, putting machinings into extrusions & often needing to have a thicker wall than I need so it can be machined to a known size – at the sizes I work with, the thickness can be +/- 0.6mm, which makes a heck of a difference.

Regards,

Richard.

[Norman HolifieldParticipant @normanholifield28699]

Hi Richard.

That seems to have cleared things up, I'm guessing you are in the position to extrude tube at your work. So is there a manufacturing process to make more accurate tubing, I have heard of cold drawn?

It is also interesting if you go onto Aalco's website there is a pdf you can download and in there they give a tolerance of + or – 10% on wall thickness for tube up to I think it was 18mm dia.

Norman H.

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

No, we don't extrude ourselves, but have a fair few extrusions made by specialists like 'SAPA'.

The Aalco website is slightly confusing in that it gives general information. Unfortunately the extruders extrude to specific standards rather than to the general info, hiding behind the figleaf of the standards. The standards do give them a lot of leeway. When it comes to hollow products, they also make the mandrel up the middle to form the hollow as large as possible. This way as it wears the wall thickness starts at one limit and slowly wears, and as the mandrel gets smaller, the thickness goes up. Starting at minimum thickness means that they get more extrusion for the weight of aluminium and the mandral lasts as long as they can manage.

Cold drawn tubing is more accurate, but I've never heard of cold drawn aluminium, just brass/steel/stainless.

Regards,

Richard

[Norman HolifieldParticipant @normanholifield28699]

Richard.

Thanks very much for the info I can now go forward with that knowledge and alter the way I make my whistles taking that into account. I was getting rather frustrated with the tube being to me all over the place but thanks to you I have a much better handle on it going forward.

Many thanks

Norm Holifield.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 29/03/2015 22:00:51:

… here is the direct link to mainframe

.

^^^ one last attempt at helping ^^^

Now I will

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