Earlier quoted context omitted.
I call it legos for adults, with the price tag and everything ;)
So what would be a LEGO for adults without the price tag?
Just bar, sheet, tube and round steel. Still less than $1/lb
80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea
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Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea
#42Intriguing. But the concept is new to me, and I found the site not very n00b friendly. My initial questions are: Can I use it to build a greenhouse? And how much would that cost? I couldn't find anything comparable, and left.
Simple square aluminium tubing would be cheaper and with similar characteristics for this application. You can assemble them quite easily with a drill and bolts/nuts/washers of the appropriate size. The advantage these profiles have is that they are more precise, are more easily adjusted and allow for a wide range of connections.
Add a portable bandsaw to your collection and raw stock is probably ultimately more adaptable
Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea
#43If 80/20 is new to you, then you might also be unfamiliar with its steel channeled cousin, Unistrut. https://www.unistrut.us/ Unistrut is used extensively in the US to build support structures for electrical switchgear and process equipment. You can get grades suitable for outdoor and corrosives exposure. Unistrut is the Kleenex term, there are a number of work-alike / fit-alike systems. Then for round tube, there is…
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Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea
#44The reason I haven’t used these for a few past projects is that they can’t quite hold up under human-scale weights (1). Would be awesome to have something like this but steel! 1: https://us.misumi-ec.com/pdf/fa/2010/p2433.pdf
You’re looking for metal framing channel aka Unistrut (brand name) aka strut (trade name). 12 ga steel is going to be far stronger than extruded aluminum. It’s heavily used in commercial and industrial construction.
Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks. Still intriguing, but now for other ideas / projects. I wish the site was more transparent on their sweet spot.
The sweet spot for extrusions is usually convenient precision. If you don't need relatively high precision and accuracy, they are often overkill.
Well, it's a cool tech-y look as well.
Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea
#46If 80/20 is new to you, then you might also be unfamiliar with its steel channeled cousin, Unistrut. https://www.unistrut.us/ Unistrut is used extensively in the US to build support structures for electrical switchgear and process equipment. You can get grades suitable for outdoor and corrosives exposure. Unistrut is the Kleenex term, there are a number of work-alike / fit-alike systems. Then for round tube, there is…
For lighter duty, there is maker pipe: https://makerpipe.com/ . it's nice because the bulk of the system is electrical conduit, which I think is one of the cheapest type of beam/tube available.
Hmm, especially handy given how simple emt is to bend (hand tool available from any hardware store that sells emt)
Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea
#47Also check out Misumi. They will cut it to length, tap, drill holes, etc all just by configuring it woth part numbers. They Lso have pre made assemblies, you can get it in black anodized, and the pricing can't be beat, it's an order of magnitude less than other suppliers when you get the customizations. Also check out Vention, they'll design and build a whole machine for you using the stuff
A coworker of mine told me about Misumi last week. They're pretty amazing and the prices are surprisingly great.
Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea
#48Last I checked it was hard or expensive after shipping and duty to get this stuff. I am on Vancouver Island and would love to get some of this stuff. Made me even consider starting a business selling it.
Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea
#49There's a 80/20 DIY Azimuth/Elevation rotator design by the SatNOGS team:
https://wiki.satnogs.org/SatNOGS_Rotator_v3
If you have access to a 3D printer and want to build a Az/El rotator suitable for LEO satellites it could be a great weekend project.
(You don't have to connect it to the SatNOGS network https://network.satnogs.org of course, and you don't need to build that to participate in the project)
Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea
#50If 80/20 is new to you, then you might also be unfamiliar with its steel channeled cousin, Unistrut. https://www.unistrut.us/ Unistrut is used extensively in the US to build support structures for electrical switchgear and process equipment. You can get grades suitable for outdoor and corrosives exposure. Unistrut is the Kleenex term, there are a number of work-alike / fit-alike systems. Then for round tube, there is…
I knew about 80/20 but this is the first I've heard of unistrut. Thanks.