I am new to Maslow and have just received my Maslow 4.1 box of bits.
I don’t trust the accuracy of timber due to twists, warps and bows and Uni-Strut is expensive.
I am planning on making my frame from 4040 and 4080 extrusion.
Has anyone had experience making a frame from aluminium extrusion?
Ross51 wrote:
I am new to Maslow and have just received my Maslow 4.1 box of bits.
I don’t trust the accuracy of timber due to twists, warps and bows and Uni-Strut is expensive.
I am planning on making my frame from 4040 and 4080 extrusion.
Has anyone had experience making a frame from aluminium extrusion?
There have been a couple of people who used aluminum extrusions, they found far
more flex than they expected. but doubled up they made it work
David Lang
Ross51 wrote:
I don’t trust the accuracy of timber due to twists, warps and bows and Uni-Strut is expensive.
One key thing is that the accuracy of construction is not significant. what you
need more than anything else is rigidity.
That’s why so many people like to use anchors in concrete, or anchors attached
to walls of the workshop
David Lang
As regards rigidity, point taken and I will ensure the top is securely anchored to the wall and the base securely anchored to my concrete floor.
I am also considering adding additional wall and floor anchor points in the middle to add to the rigidity.
I may well use only 4080 extrusion to reduce flex.
I have used 4040 on my various rolling work benches and they have been very rigid.
I appreciate this will be a 2400mm x 3000mm frame and flex will be more of an issue.
Having said that I will find out how much the ply backing sheet will add to rigidity.
My past experience with timber framing is that timber, unless firmly fixed top and bottom, also has a flex issue.
Time and experimentation will tell.
Ross51 wrote:
As regards rigidity, point taken and I will ensure the top is securely
anchored to the wall and the base securely anchored to my concrete floor.I am also considering adding additional wall and floor anchor points in the
middle to add to the rigidity.
it’s really the anchor points that need to be fixed so they don’t move, there is
very little stress on anything else
David Lang
I have now decided to make the frame fusing laminated wall framing wood as it is dimensionally accurate, doesn’t warp bend or twist and is considerably cheaper than aluminium extrusion and way way cheaper than expensive Uni-Strut.
Ross51 wrote:
I have now decided to make the frame fusing laminated wall framing wood as it
is dimensionally accurate, doesn’t warp bend or twist and is considerably
cheaper than aluminium extrusion and way way cheaper than expensive Uni-Strut.
adding a plywood skin to a frame adds a LOT of stiffness. instead of the frame
members supplying rigidity, they mostly just keep the skins at the right
distance and the amount of stiffness they provide becomes a trivial amount with
even a 1/4" skin
David Lang