Look for 3/16" flexible aluminium rod

[hunterde]

I'm trying to find 3/16" flexible aluminum rod. I customer brought in a item which he is know have manufactured overseas. One part of it is a 3/16" flexible aluminum rod about about 6 feet long that can be bent and re-bent in to many shapes by hand. Does anyone know what type of aluminum this rod could be made of and where I may be able to purchase it?
New the the forum, this is my first post. Thank you for reading.

[KMoffett]

To my knowledge, aluminum work-hardens when bent. Repeated bending could be a problem. 1100 alloy aluminum wire might work in a limited way.

Ken

[awerby]

Like Ken points out, you can't keep bending and re-bending aluminum forever and expect it not to break. But if you only need to do a little of that, I suppose it could work for a while. You'd have better luck with wire than with rod. You can get aluminum wire about that thick from electrical supply houses - it's used for grounding.

If you really have to keep bending this for a long time, you might think about lead wire (like solder), which is more forgiving in this regard.

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

[txcncman]

More likely it is not aluminum, but some type of lead/tin/bismuth alloy. Maybe includes some aluminum.

[hunterde]

Thank you Ken and Andrew,
No, I do not think that they need to keep re-bending the rod once they achieve the correct shape but I do know it takes a few tries to get there. I think that aluminum wire my be a great idea I didn't realize that it was available in larger sizes. Great forum and thank you.

[hunterde]

txcncman,
I will check into the alloys you listed because I have bent the rod in about 25 different shapes and no brakes. I'll let you know.
Thank you