"planer" for aluminum lat bar? is that a thing?

[Stirling]

im struggling with obtaining aluminum flat bar that meets dimentional tolorance these days, soooo

Is there such a thing as a planer that i can run flat bar through quickly and efficently? just like a wood 2x4 would be planned to thickess?
im ot looking for wild precision, but if a flat bare is is 0.01" over spec, id love a tool i can slip it throuhg and get it + - 0.003" of my chosen thickness
flat Bar is extruded aluinum 0.125" thick, 4" wide
Pipedream or is there a simple solution i just dont know about?

looking at drum sanders as a possibility

 

[redlee]

Slip Roll might work, you didnt say how thick the material is.

 

[Bill D]

drum sander or horizontal mill.
Bill D.

 

[gbent]

Quantity?
For lots, an old duplex mill, if any escaped the scrappers. But then if it's lots the extruder can do a better job.

Short quantity a double discount grinder.

OK, double disc, darn autocorrect and not paying attention poster.

 

[Comatose]

I've certainly run aluminum through a wood planer before. Sounds like hell but works okay.

 

[Garwood]

Short quantity a double discount grinder.

I got one of those once. I regretted that old B&S #13 right away and sold it as a triple discount grinder!

 

[FredC]

A shop in this neighborhood had a machine for giving flat aluminum parts that ground look. I am not sure if it could wack off .01 maybe in a couple of passes? I do not even remember what the machine was called.

 

[cyanidekid]

im struggling with obtaining aluminum flat bar that meets dimentional tolorance these days, soooo

Is there such a thing as a planer that i can run flat bar through quickly and efficently? just like a wood 2x4 would be planned to thickess?
im ot looking for wild precision, but if a flat bare is is 0.01" over spec, id love a tool i can slip it throuhg and get it + - 0.003" of my chosen thickness
flat Bar is extruded aluinum 0.125" thick, 4" wide
Pipedream or is there a simple solution i just dont know about?

looking at drum sanders as a possibility

what size bar are you talking about? 4 X 4 solid or bigger it might be hard to get +-.003, but I'd think 10 thou is reject out of tolerance up to 6" at least without looking it up. sounds crazy to have to rework extruded in quantity to get that spec. where is it coming from? if you had a quantity of stock at a deep discount, that's a different matter, otherwise you are being sold substandard out of spec material. (is it sold as 5/16 and its 8mm? that still shouldn't be that far off, .0022" diff. )

 

[M.B. Naegle]

How long are your finished pieces meant to be? Are there any follow up operations like drilling holes, etc.? It's fairly common to buy oversized stock with the expectation of cutting down to the desired spec. when doing all the other cutting ops.

 

[in2glamisgirl]

Feed thru double disc grinder can do any length that will fit in the shop.
+/-.001 no problem and // near .000

 

[Stirling]

Slip Roll might work, you didnt say how thick the material is.

thanks, i edited the post

4" wiide, 0.125" thick
would it stay flat with slip roll? my current lot is 0.125" on one side, and 0.138 on the other side 4 " away... often its even but oversize
im looking at thickness planers, a abrasive drum style planer essenially.

 

[Stirling]

what size bar are you talking about? 4 X 4 solid or bigger it might be hard to get +-.003, but I'd think 10 thou is reject out of tolerance up to 6" at least without looking it up. sounds crazy to have to rework extruded in quantity to get that spec. where is it coming from? if you had a quantity of stock at a deep discount, that's a different matter, otherwise you are being sold substandard out of spec material. (is it sold as 5/16 and its 8mm? that still shouldn't be that far off, .0022" diff. )

Material is 4” wide 20 foot long 1/8 flat bar.
Measuring across the 4” width of the flat bar I’m seeing -0.003 to +0.015 on the other side.
The material reseller says they have an allowable spec of + - 0.007.
Seems awfully wide to me…..+-0.003 max is what I’ve been expecting

I use it to make a butterfly valve and the plate slips between a 0.128” slot in the mating spindle.
I buy 10-20 lengths at a time and make the rounds disks from it.

Workholding directly interferes with the possibility of running a facing pass. Hence thinking if I has a planer type tool I could just pass the bar through it. Bingo. If it grinds it will be to size, if not it’s gonna fit anyways.
Beats running a mic all along a length?

 

[redlee]

Not sure how flat it would stay in a roll, being .125 would it matter ?
If you go the sanding route get the correct paper for Alum. Carbide I believe.
Planer would probably need a Carbide head to work well. I have run some Alum. track inset in wood thru my Carbide head planer and it worked well.

 

[Stirling]

How long are your finished pieces meant to be? Are there any follow up operations like drilling holes, etc.? It's fairly common to buy oversized stock with the expectation of cutting down to the desired spec. when doing all the other cutting ops.

Parts are round disks 2-4”
I pre drill a 12” length then bolt it down to a fixture plate to cut it angled.
This blocks and chance run an endmill across the section that’s too thick

 

[Stirling]

Feed thru double disc grinder can do any length that will fit in the shop.
+/-.001 no problem and // near .000

Double disk would be the ticket. Either for the bar pre machining or the finished parts.
I’ll have to see if there are any tea sources for it locally.
But I’m betting it’s 1000+ I’m away.

Is it pretty affordable for short runs? X20 20foot bars?
Or 200-400 round disks 2-4” dia

 

[cyanidekid]

not sure how .018 side to side is even happening. you are getting sold crap.
if its disks you make why are you using extruded bar instead of sheet?
"bolted down to a fixture plate and cut it angled"? not sure what exactly you are doing here?
what kind of machine are you using?
why not fiber laser from sheet?
4" disk from 4" extruded flat bar?
so much sounds so wrong here.

 

[Stirling]

not sure how .018 side to side is even happening. you are getting sold crap.
if its disks you make why are you using extruded bar instead of sheet?
"bolted down to a fixture plate and cut it angled"? not sure what exactly you are doing here?
what kind of machine are you using?
why not fiber laser from sheet?
4" disk from 4" extruded flat bar?
so much sounds so wrong here.

3.8 max dia ish. The flat bar is bolted at an angle then milled round with a vmc. Leaving several finished parts done bolted through the holes that they will later mount to the finished assembly with. This Produces an oval with angled sides.
It’s the inner choke plate of a butterfly valve.
I use flat bar because it’s convenient to handle and prep for the angled fixture it’s finished on.
The workflow made sense with the limited tooling I have.
(I make around 500 a year at this time)

 

[cyanidekid]

3.8 max dia ish. The flat bar is bolted at an angle then milled round with a vmc. Leaving several finished parts done bolted through the holes that they will later mount to the finished assembly with. This Produces an oval with angled sides.
It’s the inner choke plate of a butterfly valve.
I use flat bar because it’s convenient to handle and prep for the angled fixture it’s finished on.
The workflow made sense with the limited tooling I have.
(I make around 500 a year at this time)

fiber laser would make 500 in 2 hours (or less if high wattage). thickness +- .0004, mounting holes, angles, all good to go. tumble finish, anodize if desired.

 

[Stirling]

I guess a multi axis head huh?
When all you have is a hammer….
I never even thought of a tilting head to cut it all… what kind of dimensional tolerances and wall smoothness can be achieved? Not that I need anything wild, just curious.

 

[macgyver]

Timesavers makes metal working belt sanders that are feed through. Coming from the wood world they look like a skinny wide belt sander used in woodworking.

I don't know what depth of cut they can take, but I have even seen some that are wet thought I think most are standard to run dry. I think I have seen them down to 6 or 8" wide on up. I'd think that even if you had to make 2-3 passes it would be a potentially cheap machine to get and go pretty fast.