mast section aluminum paint anodize weld

You can always go carbon fiber.

 

Use aluthane (tm) - an aluminum filled moisture cured urethane. Google aluthane---

will look like a new galvanized aluminum - if you want a different color - enamel over the aluthne .

These MCU coatings are the primer and sealer - and stick like the dickens. Aluthane is used a lot on aluminum boats, boat lifts, bridges and as a primer on wood an metal under enamel or latex.

Paul Oman - MS. MBA
A.K.A. “Professor E. Poxy”
www.epoxyfacts.com
epoxies since 1994
Member: NACE (National Assoc. of Corrosion Engineers) -- SSPC (Soc. of Protective Coatings)

 

Charly; Extruders like Indalex sell mostly to distributors and to certain large volume customers like I once was. I bought tons of special extrusion from Indalex several years ago.

You can find distributors all over the place. One of them is East Coast Metals who have warehouses scattered throught out the east. You might find one in Savannah or Jacksonville. They think of themselves as wholesalers but they will gladly accept your money. Most of them have a minimum order rule of $200. No problem there.

If you are going to use a fair amount of aluminum then they will like you. If you will be building handrails, pulpits, bimini frames, etc, you can get small tubing that is factory anodized, right of the shelf.

If you are into more than casual aluminum component construction, try to get a copy of the Alcoa Handbook. It contains every concievable bit of information that you will find useful. Has all manner of engineering data such as moment tables, welding data, corrosion factors, and so on.

 

Thanks guys, great info.

Also, I checked in with Dwyer, and the emailed back that their factory had closed... so they are out.

 

Moments of inertia for stock tubing?

Well guys a lot has transpired since I started this thread a year ago. I wound up making a plywood bow tube, so I dodged a lot of issues there. But now, its the Compression tubes. I need two about nine feet long.

it seems the simplest thing to do would be to order up some aluminum tube stock and stick some flat bar into the ends for the ears. I was on the phone with online metals, nad they say they only can sell it by dimension, ie dia and wall thickness. All I have is moments of inertia, from the plans. (4x6). is there a simple rule of thumb for figuring out what I need?

Thanks