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80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea

8020.net

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Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea

#2
I've been looking at aluminium extrusion videos on youtube for the past half-hour trying to work out how the dies have a circular void in the middle.

Turns out it's a second die (called a mandrel) that locks into the main die (called a cap), and the hot pressurised aluminium flows around the mandrel then forms back into one piece as it goes through the cap.

Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea

#6
post #2

I've been looking at aluminium extrusion videos on youtube for the past half-hour trying to work out how the dies have a circular void in the middle. Turns out it's a second die (called a mandrel) that locks into the main die (called a cap), and the hot pressurised aluminium flows around the mandrel then forms back into one piece as it goes through the cap.

It's the same as pasta, but with different temperatures and tolerances!

Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea

#7
One of my startups used 80/20 successfully for the mechanical structure of our networked factory stations (along with industrial PC and sensors).

Designed, tested, refined&tuned, and built in Cambridge (USA). Then broken down simply, to fit in a few pieces in boxes for flight, and reassembled at the factory in Asia.

Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea

#8

Great to have another T-slot build system. Seems slightly pricier than Makerbeam but a lot more profile sizes and options in general. I wish there were more kits in their catalog.

80/20 has been around since the late 80s, and are kinda the “classic” brand-name in aluminum extrusions. Popular for trade shows and the like. They tend to be on the more expensive side compared to Misumi or other brands, but you can sometimes find them cheap used on Craigslist.

Re: 80/20 Aluminum T-slot Building Systems – Build your Idea

#10
post #4

The 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

I've used all kinds of 8020 frames for things much larger and heavier than humans. You just have to use larger cross-section members: https://www.facebook.com/229125947114533/photos/pb.100063454...
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