Tooling fixture material

[MTV]

I am about to start the redesign of some QC gages for a steel department.  I measure mostly different variations of bends, cuts and forms of stainless steel tubing, from 1/2" to 3/4". The current material of all of my gages is 6061 Aluminum. Some of my gages weight about 70 lbs., and all of my gages start from a plate, that must maintain flatness of +/-0.001 through the life of the tool. Before I start removing material from the gage, I was wondering if there are other grades of aluminum I should consider, or if there is a web site that could help. I need descriptions and clasifications of aluminum grades by weigth per cubic inch, yield strength and load capacity, or some other clasification so I can find the numbers from there. I know there are some experienced toolmakers out there, please help.

 

[ege]

You can try the <A HREF="

http://www.matweb.com"

TARGET="_new">

http://www.matweb.com</A>

to find required info.