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Hi Chris, what I meant with the pre-formed comment was just that doing any forming to a piece of sheet or rod stock makes a point where bending will happen first if load is applied later. Good analogy is the crease on a car fender. If any force is applied later it will bend at the crease. With an unbent sheet it is hard to say where bending may occur under load. Another way to think of the loading, although not the same as your wheels, is wire formed bicycle spokes. They are very small and very strong and work beautifully to support huge loads for the size of the wire. However if they are ever bent or kinked in the span between rim and hub they will bend and fail there with loads later.Hope this helps.
Chris--I use a lot of 6061 in the models I build, and it is quite stable. I have never seen it move like steel or brass during or after machining.---Brian
if it is a strip material it may be extruded with may be better if it is sheet it could be rolled i don't know but it would depend on the size. i have had sheet move just like the other materials .I usually try and take the same amount of both sides and make sure to machine both sides.some times it will move and other times it does not care in how it is held not to put any load or stress on the material the size you may use it may not be noticeable .I am following your build your making great progress. John
That construction looks VERY strong Chris, and also very realistic. Well done!In the centre-to-side flange joints, you might be able to get away with some good epoxy type glue between alum and copper and very few tiny screws.