[Noteworthy] 7075 Aluminum

chevydyl

chevydyl

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Hey guys, I just wanted to note this alloy, the majority of us are using run of the mill 6061 when it comes to our aluminum projects. It has plagued me on the mill, being gummy, I have had cutters snap off cause of excessive chip welding, from operating cnc. On another forum a user was talking about a run of parts he was making, using 7075 alu, I was intrigued by his comments about it and decided I would get a bar for my touch probe project. It's so good that I'm not sure I will ever go back to 6061, it is much harder, therfore making it less gummy, one of the comments the guy made was that your tooling lasts almost forever, I would really recommend that you guys get a sample of 7075 or 7050 and have a go at it. Sure there may be an application where 6061 wins out just because of cost, 7075 can be as much as 3 times the price, and of course if a print says use 6061 than that's what your going to buy, fyi, AR receivers are 7050.
The bar also looks nothing like 6061, it doesn't have that frosted look, it's very smooth, with a factory sheen.
 
I was looking at 7075 for a recent project. Only thing bad was the expense of it.
 
Lots of aircraft parts are made of 7075. It is strong and machines pretty well depending on the temper, but it is also a lot more expensive and it is not as corrosion resistant as 6061 except in the -0 (soft) temper, where the machinability is poor.
 
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I love machining 7075, it's costs about what 6061 does if you buy it as a drop.
 
It machines extremely well, and yes if bought as a drop it's priced very well, I understand the corrosion comment, but I've never cared about that as a reason to choose one over the other, simply not having it available locally is reason why some haven't tried it. Running a boring tool through it is...... amazing lol, no chatter, and the chips break very well, and the finish is superb.
 
How well does it weld? I weld a lot of 6061 with very good results.
 
It's not weldable, the weld may look fine but under the weld it's boo boo. It's very strong after heat treat, like said, it's popular for aircraft structural sections
 
chevydyl said:
It's not weldable, the weld may look fine but under the weld it's boo boo. It's very strong after heat treat, like said, it's popular for aircraft structural sections
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+1
If memory serves, it's like 6% zinc.
 
Bob Korves said:
Lots of aircraft parts are made of 7075. It is strong and machines pretty well depending on the temper, but it is also a lot more expensive and it is not as corrosion resistant as 6061 except in the -0 (soft) temper, where the machinability is poor.
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A friend gave me his stash of CNC culls from a plant that made aircraft and helicopter parts. I assume its 7075, the stuff is incredible to machine. Some of the parts are too thin or small to reuse, can they be melted and cast?

Greg
 
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