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Thread: Where can I find useful Aluminum extrusions?

  1. #1

    Where can I find useful Aluminum extrusions?

    I'm considering fabbing up my own Biesemeyer clone fence for my TS (ok, I admit - because I'm cheap!), and have been researching aluminum extrusions. Found this excellent company www.tslots.com and am considering the 1.5" x 3.0" for the rail and 3.0" x 3.0" for the fence part + angle support + UHMW slides etc. Check out the SolidWorks pic below for rough concept drawing


    This stuff looks pretty cool and very configurable, but I'm longing for something better/different...for example, an extrusion with a nice flat 6" face perpendicular to another nice flat 6" face with supports to keep it rigid.

    When I look around at the Unifence design or Benchdog fences etc I see all kinds of really cool, flat, flexible (not as in bendy, but as in it has T-tracks, hold-down slots, 90deg and parallel sides etc) aluminum extrusions.

    Do you guys know where I can find stuff like that? Who makes these cool extrusions?

    Thanks in advance!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    Cedar Park, TX - Boulder Creek, CA
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    Custom extruders, to your prints. The tooling isn't too terribly expensive, but you might wind up with a hundred feet of the stuff in your garage ;-)

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2009
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    Norwalk, CA
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    We use this stuff all the time in the lean shop when i was working in the aerospace industry. we made benches, racks, carts, desk with this stuff. extremely strong but very expensive.


    http://www.boschrexroth-us.com/count.../mge/index.jsp

  4. #4
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    Jun 2003
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    Wenatchee, WA
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    How about this place:

    http://www.8020.net/

    Bonus: they sell over-runs or stuff that doesn't quite meet spec for cheap on ebay... might be able to find you a heck of a deal.

  5. #5
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    LA & SC neither one is Cali
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    Given your objective (save money) I am not sure this will work. I just don't see finding small amounts at a low enough price to make it cost effective.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    East Central Illinois
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    Fence

    You could buy a Mule cabinetmaker fence for less than the cost of buying extrusions. Link:www.mulecab.com

  7. #7
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    Monroe, MI
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    8020 sells drops and other surplus stuff on Ebay. It seems relatively reasonable there.


  8. #8
    I can see why having t-slots in the fence
    but why would you want them in the bar?
    I would consider using steel bar and fence (or at least a small fence) and then add the t-slot to the fence

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    Middle Tennessee
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    Yes 8020 has what you are looking for. Their prices on Ebay are very low for the quality of the extrusions.....

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
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    Suffolk County, Long Island NY
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    Jack,

    Some alternatives are:

    item (extrusions made in Germany)
    Paletti (Germany)
    Frameworld (USA)
    Rose+Kieger (Germany)

    *pics below show 10 series 8020; 1"x2"


    Good luck,

    Pete
    Attached Images Attached Images
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    Last edited by Peter Pedisich; 01-26-2010 at 11:28 AM.

  11. #11
    Join Date
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    West Lafayette, IN
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    Another vote for 8020. I'd be interested in how you design your locking mechanism (simple quick release cams?), as this is the crucial piece to the puzzle.

  12. #12
    mcmaster has the 8020 and I have ordered that from them in the past, small quantity. I made some photography related brackets.

  13. #13
    WOW! thanks for the overwhelming response. 8020 looks great, I just checked their ebay site - cheap!!

    re: the question about t-track on the fence vs. the rail? you're right, I don't need track on the rail, but a 1.5x3.0 section of this stuff is really stiff so once you lock down the fence it can handle a lof of load without a lot of deflection. Besides, a wide rail gives lotsa room for stick on tapes.

    For the lockdown, I have some ideas...You're right, this is one of the most critical items though...

    George, thanks for the Mulecab reference. That's a good price too, do any of you use it? Is it decent? That would for sure save me some fab time...

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Greenville, SC
    Posts
    750
    Search on Lumberjocks, there is a guy who made a fence just like what you are talking about...

  15. #15
    Thanks Ben, I checked lumberjocks out too - looks not too bad but I'm a little concerned about that fence's ability to keep it square. Plus he's using linear bearing on each end which means twice the rails to buy.

    Rather, I'm thinking about making a T-square type fence like Biesemeyer, with a 12" long linear bearing on one side made from 2 of the 6" linear bearings bolted together with a coupling plate. This wider bearing surface should make alignment more precise.

    At first, I was thinking of replicating the Biese method of ensuring square when clamping by having the adjusted UHMW pads on the far side of the clamp, but this requires the clamp to apply pressure to the outside of the rail. This could be accomplished by using a captured Al plate which rides in the T-slot on the outside of the rail. Then a block on the outside of the linear bearing with a tapped hole and finally a lever. Turn the lever, the threaded rod pushes the captured plate into the rail. This force is triangulated to the adjusted UHMW pads just like the Biese so the fence stays square once locked.

    But now I'm thinking of putting the adjusted pads and lock mechanism on the same side and using tension (instead of compression) for the locking mechanism. Then I can use all stock parts from 8020 or tslots and have less fab. Will accomplish the same thing which is to keep the fence aligned square when clamping. Because the motion of the clamp mechanism is purely tensile and linear (ala UniFence), the fence shouldn't move from the position you set while you are locking it. In addition, then I can bolt the rail directly to the saw and not bother with angle to hold the rail (ala UniFence).

    Finally, the far end of the fence will ride on a UHMW pad too (ala Biese).

    here's my BOM from ebay:
    rail: 1 of 15S: 1530x70" = $46
    fence: 1 of 15S: 3030x48" = $57
    linear bearings: 1 of 15S: 6816 = $30
    +1 of 15S: 6816 (extrusion only) = $5
    locking handle: $11
    joinging plate: $10
    fence pad: 1 of UHMW = $5
    TOTAL: approx $165 + a few carriage bolts and misc hardware and some of my time to put it together.

    Thoughts?
    Last edited by Jack DuBois; 01-26-2010 at 4:23 PM.

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