Aluminum Alloy and Electrical Conductivity

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

Ok, I'm looking for some Buss Bar material. I know copper would work better and be less of a headache, but Its just through the roof with pricing currently, and these bars arent going to be that long.

Im looking for a good Alloy for conducting electricity. Ive stumbled upon some Wrought Alloy 6061 that is relativily cheap, it has a Electrical Resistivity of: 3.7 – 4.0 x10-6 Ω.cm

So it looks to be pretty decent. Let me know what you guys think.

Click to read more...

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Make it thick enough with enough cross sectional area and resistivity becomes moot. People use chassis grounds remember, even the most basic buss bar will be much better than that.

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

probably going to be 3/8"-5/8" thick...and 3-4 inches wide

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

Seen it done before. Works great.

nG

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

What about Stainless? Its a little more than Aluminum but not as much as copper...

To give you a perspective...

.5" thick x 4 inches wide x 12 inches long

Aluminum= ~14.00

Stainless= ~23.00

Copper= ~51.00

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

go to a metal place, see if you cant find some scrap metal.

this might do what you are looking to do.

nice and fat.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BRASS-BAR-3-4-BY-1-3-4-BY-10-LONG-FLAT-STOCK_W0QQitemZ300085340994QQihZ020QQcategoryZ61601QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

brass works for bussbars just as well with that short of a distance.

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

looks as if I can get 2 pieces of 6061 T6 Wrought Aluminum Alloy for like 24 bucks shipped, then All I have to do is drill and tap holes for bolts.

 

[dyabolical 10+ year member]

How about something like......

http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/674/p1010089fj0.jpg

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/5194/p1010090it0.jpg

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/7742/p1010091xi3.jpg

http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/9074/p1010092eh7.jpg

Solid copper, silver plated. 3/8" thick, 2 inches wide. Several 3/8th stainless steel press nuts so you do'nt have to deal with nuts and bolts or threading the actual bus...just a bolt, fender washer, and lock washer would do.

I make these type things at work...we have everything from 1" thick x 12" wide down to 1/16" thick and 1/2" wide.

What are you looking to use the bus bar for? If it is for tapping into a battery or something like that, 3/8" is about the max you would need.....you could actually get away with 3/16"......

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

depends on the price man...These aren't huge bars, just something that I can bolt wire down too.

 

[dyabolical 10+ year member]

I will be using a few of these to hook to my batteries....hell of a lot easier then messing with terminals...

Just let me know what you want, or what you are wanting to do and i can see how i can help ya out.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

6061, depending on heat treatment ranges from 40-48% of the conductivity of copper.

Stainless is not an option at

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

^^^^Considering a decent buss bar will have more than 2x the cross sectional area of 4/0 copper wire, it should be more than sufficient as I said.

 

[Bolognablake 10+ year member]

What kind of aluminum would they have at a place like Home Depot?

 

[SPL140.2 5,000+ posts]

keep an eye out for copper bars on ebay I found some weathered ones really cheap //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

I will be using a few of these to hook to my batteries....hell of a lot easier then messing with terminals...
Just let me know what you want, or what you are wanting to do and i can see how i can help ya out.

Price please, via PM.

nG