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For thousands of years humans have been fabricating useful, pleasing furnishings and other structures for the home and workplace out of an impressive range of materials, including straw, mud, stone, wood, brick, iron, steel, and other metals of various sorts. But it is only within the last hundred years or so that aluminum the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust has been utilized in an ever-increasing number of day-to-day applications. Partly this is because a cost-effective process for extracting aluminum from bauxite ore was not perfected until about 1920.
So there is one great advantage of employing aluminum for structural design purposes: it is plentiful. Its other advantageous properties include strength, lightness, formability, high ductility, and excellent corrosion-resistance. The innate utilitarian value of those properties is vastly magnified when the metal is formed into T-slot aluminum extrusions.
Strength
True, steel is harder and “stronger.” But by the same token, aluminum is among the lightest of metals used for modern engineering purposes, with a molecular density one-third that of steel. As a result, it possesses a strength-to-weight ratio that is actually superior to that of steel . Contrary to what you might think, extruded aluminum is strong enough to handle most structural design and assembly applications.
Once you factor in the inconvenience of moving and positioning heavy pieces of steel not to mention the added labor cost of welding or riveting them together, drilling and tapping holes for mounting bolts, and then cleaning, prepping, priming, and painting the surface of the metal then T-slot aluminum becomes an increasingly attractive option if you are seeking cost-effective structural framing solutions.
Durability
If it’s tough enough for trucks, military combat vehicles, and commercial airliners, then rest assured that aluminum is tough enough for more prosaic, everyday purposes. One key aspect of this durability is its resistance to rusting. Rust is to steel as rot is to wood. Unlike steel, for all intents and purposes aluminum doesn’t rust at all. A microscopic layer of oxide (which is responsible for the silvery-gray color of anodized aluminum) naturally forms on the surface of the metal and prevents that from happening. You don’t even have to prime and paint it in order to protect it! If any of your project’s aluminum extrusions or other parts never rust, then you’ll never have to replace them saving you money and down-time in the long run.
Versatility
Finally, one of the most important advantages to using T-slot aluminum extrusions and accessories is that, unlike permanently welded steel, the system is modular by design i.e., it is easily changeable. You can connect, position, and fasten together the aluminum profiles however you’d like, using the appropriate fasteners , connectors , and desired accessories . Later on, as needed, you can then adjust and rearrange them in any configuration you like.
The most common type of aluminum fastener used to fasten parts together is the T-nut: just drop it into the T-slot and then twist it into a locked position. That is so much easier than welding!
But where the real magic happens is in the versatility of our aluminum connectors. Just a partial list would include:
Once you’ve put the finishing touches on the assembly with end caps, casters, cable blocks, machining jigs, tool hangers, cabinet siding, doors, or any of a number of other accessories that we carry, you’re good to go!
For maximum versatility for both both our international and domestic customers, be aware that our T-slot aluminum extrusions come in both metric profiles and inch profiles .
From carts to aquarium stands , from shelves to enclosures , and from ergonomic workbenches to eye-catching signs , Framing Tech T-slot aluminum extrusion systems are designed, machined, and assembled for versatility—and they are built to last.
