/building · 2023
Aluminum Extrusion projects
aluminum extrusions · robotics · fabrication
Building large structures out of T-slot aluminum extrusion, where most of the project turns out to be moving metal from one place to another.
T-slot aluminum extrusions are like Lego Technic for adults. There are a range of sizes and profiles with a slot down every face, so brackets and nuts can be slide into the slots to attach pieces without welding. This makes it easy to build structures with only a cut list and basic power tools. It's also possible to plan adjustability and maintenance into a design - some of the most elegant extrusion builds I've seen had strategic access holes and removable panels so the whole thing could be taken apart and reassembled within an hour.
The part I did not anticipate is that a project at this scale is mostly logistics. Profiles come in lengths that do not fit in a normal vehicle, they are heavy in aggregate, and they arrive as a pile that has to be sorted before any of it can be assembled. I drove a flatbed truck for the first time in my life for this, which is a genuinely different skill from driving a van and worth about half a day of learning before you attempt anything with a corner in it.
Frames get assembled flat on the floor and stood up afterwards, because a large rectangle is easy to square when gravity is holding it in one plane and awkward once it isn't. Panels are clear acrylic, cut to fit the slots and captured by the profile itself rather than fastened through the face.