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Welding 7075

dcamp29

Monkey
Feb 14, 2004
589
63
Colorado
Yeah- seems like we could see some high-end aluminum frames weighing and costing somewhere in between current aluminum and carbon.
 

Tantrum Cycles

Turbo Monkey
Jun 29, 2016
1,143
503
I'm still thinking of machining them out of big blocks of 7075 even though this thread is about welding.

I'm having a fantasy.
well Pole could then weld their frames together. I'm thinking alignment after heat treat would be a bitch.

I would just like to take some 7075 tubes and weld them to 7075 lugs.
 

Tantrum Cycles

Turbo Monkey
Jun 29, 2016
1,143
503
heat treat?

7075?
Well, since welding 7075 is a new topic, I will assume that it will need heat treat after welding, just like any other aluminum...7075 Billet is heat treated and aged..

They used to say 4130 didn't need heat treat after welding.....I've never put an unheatreated 4130 part on a race car, who knows.

They do mention heat treatment in the article, over twice as strong as a 6061 weld, which is roughly the case on billet tensile strength comparison as well
 
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dcamp29

Monkey
Feb 14, 2004
589
63
Colorado
i've ridden plenty of janky 4130 frames un-heat treated... only a few cracked. :)

And I will claim lower weight than carbon frames
I'm not as sure. Only because things like dropouts and linkage attachment parts still have a kind of minimum size and carbon is so much lighter in those applications. Also can only go so thin on a tube before it gets real easy to dent (and then you lose the benefit of aluminum (crash proof)).
 

Tantrum Cycles

Turbo Monkey
Jun 29, 2016
1,143
503
i've ridden plenty of janky 4130 frames un-heat treated... only a few cracked. :)



I'm not as sure. Only because things like dropouts and linkage attachment parts still have a kind of minimum size and carbon is so much lighter in those applications. Also can only go so thin on a tube before it gets real easy to dent (and then you lose the benefit of aluminum (crash proof)).
ya and I welded the steel frame on my motocross bike with a coat hanger back in the olden days....

And true, 6061...for example, I use it for rockers because the limit is how thin I can machine, not material strength.

But my current 6061 frames are almost as light as competitive carbon, with not overly thin tubes. My 180/165 mm 29er weighed 30.5 lbs with pedals. It DID have some wicked cool WeAreOne composites wheels and carbon crank. but still.
 

dcamp29

Monkey
Feb 14, 2004
589
63
Colorado
ya and I welded the steel frame on my motocross bike with a coat hanger back in the olden days....

And true, 6061...for example, I use it for rockers because the limit is how thin I can machine, not material strength.

But my current 6061 frames are almost as light as competitive carbon, with not overly thin tubes. My 180/165 mm 29er weighed 30.5 lbs with pedals. It DID have some wicked cool WeAreOne composites wheels and carbon crank. but still.


What is your frame weight?


Bikes I've had lately:
2017 Trek Remedy Carbon 4.4!!! lbs no shock (rock broke the downtube)
2018 Transition Sentinel 8.6 lbs no shock (indestructible)
2019 Scott Ransom Carbon 5.5 lbs no shock (haven't built it yet)

I'd love to have a 6 lb aluminum frame that didn't break in 1 season.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,978
9,638
AK
7075 has been weldable multiple ways, one that comes to mind is friction stir welding.
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,502
4,752
Australia
Did GT have issues with bonding when they did lugged carbon frames? That was so long ago they were probably using animal glue.
If you're talking about the STS and Lobo, they were a thermoplastic noodle pushed through aluminium inserts and cured. And yep, the aluminium used to seperate from the plastic if the frame didn't crack first.
 

Tantrum Cycles

Turbo Monkey
Jun 29, 2016
1,143
503
Inter
[QUlyOTE="PepperJester, post: 4326144, member: 8052"]I've seen some trials bikes that are already going out with 7075 frames. Well.. partially. Clean for example uses 7075 on the CNC'd bits on their frames.

https://cleantrials.com/en/cuadros/214-x1-26-frame.htmlra hdxbdha

Don't ask me how they made it work.. magic or something[/QUOTE]

Interesting. They are welding 6061 tubes to 7075 lugs.

But it’s the 7075 tubes I want
 

Lelandjt

Turbo Monkey
Apr 4, 2008
2,514
827
Breckenridge, CO/Lahaina,HI
My limited googling ability is bringing up similar tensile strength for the scandium alloyed 7000 series that Santana makes frames out of. Our engineer has told me that it's significantly stronger than 7005 and much stronger than 6061. Now that Easton's out of the game we get our tubing from an American metalurgist in Taiwan and it's supposedly better than the Easton stuff. For your next run of frames look him up, but the cost might not be that different from carbon.
 

Tantrum Cycles

Turbo Monkey
Jun 29, 2016
1,143
503
My limited googling ability is bringing up similar tensile strength for the scandium alloyed 7000 series that Santana makes frames out of. Our engineer has told me that it's significantly stronger than 7005 and much stronger than 6061. Now that Easton's out of the game we get our tubing from an American metalurgist in Taiwan and it's supposedly better than the Easton stuff. For your next run of frames look him up, but the cost might not be that different from carbon.
There are definitely stronger weldable alloys than 6061. We used a scandium 7005 for my Magic Link bikes. When that alloy first appear, I remember hearing rumors of it being brittle, but I think they tweaked the alloy and we didn’t have any problems

Lately, 6069 and/or 6062 are being touted by the Taiwan factories as the best weldable allows. Stronger tensile AND more ductile

I didn’t bother for my first batch, partly because I used an “off the shelf” top tube but mostly just to keep things simple for my first run

I think if carbon hadn’t had come along when it did, aluminum alloys and forging techniques would have resulted in frames that are stronger, lighter and less ocean fill. And I would like that
 

dan-o

Turbo Monkey
Jun 30, 2004
6,499
2,805
Now that Easton's out of the game we get our tubing from an American metalurgist in Taiwan and it's supposedly better than the Easton stuff. For your next run of frames look him up, but the cost might not be that different from carbon.
Are his intials JD?