clvnng 84 Report post Posted March 7, 2016 (edited) Hey Guys, i just wrote a small article on my website blog and thought I share it with you guys too. We've been confused with the naming convention of 8020 and I thought i'd share it with you guys. But more importantly where to get it for cheap in north america. Aluminum Extrusion has become the gold standard for sim racing rigs for its versatility and stiffness. Although it's not the prettiest material its functionality out weighs how it looks. Hardware is constantly being upgraded and its nice to have a rig that can keep up without significant modifications. Depending on where you are in the world there are many sizes of aluminum extrusions. Nobody really explains this but its not very intuitive until you've done quiet a bit of research on how to build a rig with aluminum extrusion. The series number signifies the dimensions but it doesn't give you the unit or the decimal place. Here I will attempt to clarify this by using common sizes used for racing rigs. 15 Series (1.5X1.5in Square) is a common size in North America since it is in imperial. Like all other aluminum extrusion it also comes in multiples of 1.5in sizes, like 1.5x3.0in and 1.5x4.5in. Here is where things get a bit confusing. The rest of the world does not really use 15 (or 1.5in) Series because it is a imperial size, they rather use metric. The rest of the world uses 40 series. NO, 40 series does not mean 4.0X4.0in, it actually mean 40x40mm. Another common size for racing rigs is 25 series which is 25x25mm. Not only does the "series number" not use the same units but it also doesn't signify the decimal place. So next time when someone gives you a series number stop and think about what the size actually is. So here it is in summary. North America: 15 Series, 1.5x1.5in, 1.5x3.0in, 1.5x4.5in etc. 10 Series, 1.0x1.0in, 1.0x2.0in, 1.0x3.0in etc. Rest of the World 40 Series, 40x40mm, 40x80mm, 40x120mm etc. 25 Series, 25x25mm, 25x50mm, 25x75mm etc. 20 Series, 20x20mm, 20x40mm, 20x60mm etc. I hope that helps. This actually confused us a lot during the design process. We try to make variations of racing rigs using different aluminum extrusion series to appeal to everyone in the world. Now for the fun part. How to get this stuff for cheap. In North America this stuff can be quiet expensive. I don't know why if its because of competition or aluminum is really expensive to ship to here. We North Americans really only have 2 dealers here, Faztek and 8020 Inc. and this stuff is expensive to ship so its not economical to get it shipped from Asia. Europeans on the other hand have Motedis, which is super cheap, and Australians have AME System. For Americans aluminum extrusion can be very cheap if you have access to ebay.com. http://stores.ebay.com/8020-Inc-Garage-Sale They sell lots of cutoffs at a very affordable price as long as you're willing to cut it to the right length yourself using and aluminum blade. The catch is the the aluminum corner angles. That you have buy at nearly full price even on ebay. A good rule of thumb is for every $1 spent on aluminum extrusion, $1 will be spent on corner brakets, nuts and bolts. There are so many times I see on forums and people say they can get something built for $300 of aluminum extrusion, aluminum extrusion rig dealers are totally ripping people off and they totally disregard the cost of corner brackets. Surprisingly corner brackets are super expensive and sometimes I think their model is like Gillette, buy the razer handle for cheap but the real money is made with the razer replacements. Check out our "standard hardware" section, these parts are sourced from Asian suppliers. You will find our prices are roughly half the price of 8020. If you can do me a favor. Never buy nuts and bolts from aluminum extrusion dealers. The quotes I've gotten are completely insane, easily x3 the price. If you want to spend that kind of money, go to your local nut and bolt store and buy stainless steel bolts. For us Canadians, getting aluminum extrusion is quiet expensive if you're not willing to cross the border. Fortunately there are services at the border that can bring it over, but do the math to find out if you're actually saving money. I won't go into this in too much detail but if you're in the Toronto area look for Chit Chat Express, if you're in Alberta look for DYK Post and if you're in the Vancouver area look for Books to Border. These companies are willing to bring stuff over the border for you if you're willing to ship to their US destination and your willing to pay a small fee. This is one of the reasons why OSR doesn't want to supply you aluminum extrusion. It varies so much from country to country and if you're willing to put in some work you can get it for fairly cheap without having us to double handle it and charge for shipping it to us and then to you. Our value is added in coming up with better designs, not in handling aluminum extrusion! I hope this article clarifies some things about aluminum extrusion and takes down some barriers for building with aluminum extrusion. I hope you see your builds! Edited March 7, 2016 by clvnng 4 Bushchook, Tsfc, R3dF0x and 1 other reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lorimer 4 Report post Posted March 8, 2016 Very informative and educating post, thanks a lot. A small contribution from me is that not only size matters here but shape as well . I mean that shape of the profile differs between vendors which is something critical in terms of using accessories and gussets and corner brackets and all that kind of stuff. Many of these these parts are not compatible from one company to the other. Also the width of the slot is different, for most of the vendors it is 8mm but for some others it is 10mm which also affects the use of the various accessories. If I may also add some vendors for Europe http://www.boschrexroth.com/corporate/en/index.jsp http://www.item24.com/en http://www.maytec.de http://www.minitec.de/ http://www.smt-montagetechnik.de/produkte.htm http://www.misumi-europe.com http://aluminium-profile.co.uk/ 3 SteveS, clvnng and Tsfc reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SteveS 1,391 Report post Posted March 8, 2016 (edited) Really great info Lorimer I really like using 25 series, but it is one of those were size really matters when it comes to buying cheap accessories because the slot size fits M6 or 1/4" bolts and the T-nuts are 10mm. There is nothing worse than buying 500 cheap T-Nuts from China, only to find your nuts are too big to go into the nice polished slot . Every good extrusion retailer of provides detailed section drawings, so double check you slot widths before ordering... Motedis in France is very popular http://www.motedis.com/shop/ Minsumi in the USA is a good alternative to 8020.com http://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/result/?Keyword=Extrusion eBay off cuts http://stores.ebay.com/8020-Inc-Garage-Sale McMaster in the USA is another great supplier. http://www.mcmaster.com/#80-20-compatible-t-slotted-framing/=11g5rsy If you are looking for small section extrusion for accessories, then OpenBuilds.com offers some great extrusion and gussets. http://openbuildspartstore.com/v-slot/ http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_4?url=search-alias%3Dindustrial&field-keywords=8020+aluminum+extrusion&sprefix=8020+aluminum+extrusion%2Cindustrial%2C159 Extrusion Profile Section is important The other thing about size matters, is the section of extrusion often it comes in light weight VS standard weight, so what looks like a really good deal sometimes can be a very thin wall section extrusion. This does not need to be a bad thing, but you need to consider where it is being used and how much stress it's under. In sim rigs we don't really put much stress on monitor arms, shifters mount, wheel mounts, but seat mounting frames often take the most stress. If you sim rig is suspended on casters then profile size is very important! Edited March 8, 2016 by SteveS 3 Stuzly, clvnng and Tsfc reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SteveS 1,391 Report post Posted March 8, 2016 (edited) Another thought of the day... Standard hardware Vs custom hardware. Custom may not be more expensive and looks better because 8020.net has such a high mark up. OpenSimRigs custom plates are competitively priced even though we are making small very quantities at the moment. For example lets look at two ways to design a complex wheel assembly cross brace The first example below shows 6 standard pivot joints costing $124.50 in 15 series from 8020.net. Now compare that with 2 stainless steel custom plates costing $80 & 4 pivots no arms $8.13 total $113.50. That is a cost saving of $11.00 by using custom hardware, and in my opinion the design looks nicer and will be much stronger and more rigid. Custom plate materials. Aluminium is the up industry standard available typically 1/8" thick. But you can consider brushed stainless steel in 14 gauge thickness, because it's stiffer, it laser cute to perfection, the edge is polished after cutting and looks really awesome. We have all seen how brushed stainless is used in high end kitchen appliances. 14 gauge is about 4 or 5 times thicker! Custom parts can also be cut from mild steel to save a little and if you want to apply some colour to you rig. Mild steel parts can be easily sprayed at home or taken to local a powder coating specialist. Edited March 8, 2016 by SteveS 2 clvnng and Tsfc reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SteveS 1,391 Report post Posted March 11, 2016 Thought of the day... i wrote a tutorial about tapping 8020 yourself as a way to save money... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeffesonm 0 Report post Posted January 24, 2019 Quick question about hardware/extrusion compatibility... I have some 25 series extrusion and need to get some t slot nuts. I see lots advertised for sale matching the 20 series. Does anyone know if these will work with the 25 series? Based on the dimensional drawings I've seen I'm guessing so, but maybe with a little slop? Anyone have real world experience? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hamsplants 0 Report post Posted May 1, 2020 Does anyone have a parts list for a rig? I'd love to see how the cost compares to a sim-lab etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
