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Wrought Aluminum Alloys Guide [Infographic]

Framing Tech aluminum extrusions

Aluminum is aluminum is aluminum…right?

Well, not exactly. The base properties of elemental aluminum are well documented and have been described extensively on this website. The properties of this remarkable metal include (but are not limited to):

  • Lightness
  • Reyclability
  • Ductility
  • Malleability
  • Reflectivity
  • Corrosion-resistance
  • Strength at low temperatures
  • Electrical and thermal conductivity

And thanks in part to its prevalence in Earth’s crust, hardly a day goes by when the average American does not come into contact with some form of aluminum or see it in action. Continue reading “Wrought Aluminum Alloys Guide [Infographic]”

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Framing Tech Aquarium Stand Film Festival

Framing Tech with film strip

So Santa was good to you this Christmas. And with your holiday windfall you’ve decided it may be time to take the leap into turning your lifelong dream of becoming a serious aquarist into a reality. We’re not talking about a kid’s little fish tank here with a few freshwater guppies destined in short order for the porcelain cemetery; but a full-fledged, grown-up aquarium. And if you’re really feeling it, maybe even a saltwater tank.

Hold your horses, my friend. This is a decision not to be taken lightly. Lives are at stake (fish lives matter too, you know). The complexities of the setup alone can be daunting, not to mention the time and money commitment required in maintaining what is, after all, a complex, self-contained ecosystem, populated with living creatures for which you and you alone are responsible. But that’s the whole point, isn’t? Therefore, planning is everything.

Continue reading “Framing Tech Aquarium Stand Film Festival”

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FramingTech’s Secret Sauce: Accessories

Save 10% on all FramingTech accessories

Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail.

— Leonardo Da Vinci

Word to the Wise: Accessorize

Some things simply go together—they’re just right when paired. Think peanut butter and jelly. Bogey and Bacall. Bacon and eggs. Abbott and Costello. Fish and chips. Astaire and Rogers. Franks and beans.

The list goes on. Individually, each is wonderful in its own way. But when they pair up, the results are magical.

What is true of the kitchen and Hollywood is also true at FramingTech. By themselves, our Extruded Inch and Metric T-slot Aluminum Profiles provide the perfect, versatile aluminum fabrication solutions to a host of customer needs, from shelves and aquarium stands, to carts and enclosures, to tables and workbenches, and more. But when our superior fabrications are customized with the just the right accessories, they go from great to extraordinary.

In the art world they call adding those little extra details the pièce de résistance. Here at FramingTech we call it “attention to detail.” Here is just a sampling of the kinds of accessories available on our website. Continue reading “FramingTech’s Secret Sauce: Accessories”

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Everyday Aluminum: Europe Edition

Aluminum building in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Guest Blog by Frank Weaver

It is the most abundant metallic element in the Earth’s crust—and, as it happens, one of the most useful to humans in our industrial age. I am referring, or course, to aluminum. Most people in the United States come in contact with aluminum every day, in one form or another, most typically in the kitchen. But beyond cooking utensils and aluminum foil, this metal has been put to use in myriad applications outside the home. Indeed, it is estimated that each year every single person in the U.S. uses more than 3,600 pounds of bauxite ore (from which aluminum is extracted) in their daily lives.

Aluminum is everywhere. Of course, we at FramingTech deal with it all the time, in the form of our T-slot aluminum extrusions and related structural framing products. And yet ironically, because it has become so commonplace, many of us tend to take it for granted. Nevertheless, the more you learn about this ubiquitous and versatile metal, the more you will notice and be fascinated by it.

On a recent trip to Europe, I made a conscious effort to “notice” and document the many ways that aluminum is put to use, often in ways we are not even aware of. Continue reading “Everyday Aluminum: Europe Edition”

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Aquarium Stands: What Size Should I Get?

Aquarium fish

“I will go back to the great sweet mother,
Mother and lover of men, the sea.”

— Algernon Charles Swinburne (‘The Triumph of Time’)

All life on Earth ultimately rose from the sea. Is it any wonder, then, that people have always felt mysteriously drawn back to the ocean—or indeed to any fair to middling size body of water—as if a child back into the loving arms of its mother? Whether lounging beside a crystalline lake, on the banks of a flowing river, or at the wave-lapped ocean’s edge, humans always seem to feel most at peace. If we could, many of us would prefer not just to live near such soul-cleansing waters, but to live in them. As air-breathers, unfortunately, that is simply not possible. What is possible, however, is to invite a small part of that watery world into our homes—in the form of an aquarium. Continue reading “Aquarium Stands: What Size Should I Get?”

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The B-52: America’s Aluminum Fortress in the Sky

U.S. Air Force Insignia

Guest blog by Frank Weaver

There’s a very good reason why FramingTech’s “go-to” material for its machine guard and workplace enclosures, aquarium stands, shelving, and other extruded T-slot solutions is aluminum. This abundant metal’s superior strength-to-weight ratio, workability, elasticity, corrosion-resistance, and low cost (relative to steel) makes it the ideal choice—structurally, aesthetically, and performance-wise—for a wide variety of demanding applications.

For that same reason it is safe to say that modern aviation—civilian and military—simply would not exist without aluminum. This fact cannot be more clearly illustrated than with the U.S. Air Force’s legendary Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber.

B-52H Static Display with Armaments at Barksdale AFB
A B-52H on display with armaments at Barksdale AFB, Shrevport, LA

Continue reading “The B-52: America’s Aluminum Fortress in the Sky”

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Everyday Aluminum: Winter Fun with the Metal of Kings

Crumpled Aluminum Foil

By the end of February, most of us in the northern climes of the United States are suffering from a terminal case of cabin fever. We become desperate to chase away the Winter doldrums and somehow fill in the dragging hours with something—anything!—to do until Spring finally rolls around.

Aluminum to the rescue! In previous blogs we have written about the numerous elemental physical properties of aluminum, including its lightness, strength, malleability, corrosion-resistance, and so on. These properties are the reason we use this uniquely versatile metal for our T-slot extruded aluminum profiles, aquarium stands, workbenches, enclosures, and other products.

But “all work and no play…,” as they say. Those same unique properties can be applied to at-home activities that are sure to keep you occupied for the remainder of the Winter. Best of all—it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. While aluminum may be the most abundant metal in Earth’s crust, once upon it time it was also one of the most valuable (hence the moniker, “Metal of Kings”). It wasn’t until the discovery of the Hall-Heroult smelting process in 1886 that this abundant metal could be inexpensively produced on a large-scale basis for the general consumer market.

So break out the aluminum foil and let’s have some fun! Continue reading “Everyday Aluminum: Winter Fun with the Metal of Kings”

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FramingTech: A Peek Inside

FramingTech Facility

Last month we gave you a video overview of our T-slot extruded aluminum manufacturing facility in Rochester, New York. This month, we present a photo gallery of still images featuring views of our products, product raw materials, and our outstanding, highly skilled work force in action, as well as a selection of our high-tech fabricating, cutting, and shaping equipment, including:

  • Fanuc Robo-drill
  • Brother TC-324
  • Chiron FZ-18L
  • Maka PE70
  • Vertical knee mill
  • Holzher Horizontal Table Saw
  • Niagara manual shearing machine

Click on a thumbnail to see a larger view of the image. Continue reading “FramingTech: A Peek Inside”

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Everyday Aluminum: Architecture

Soumaya Museum

In a previous blog article (“Everyday Aluminum: Construction”) we discussed how aluminum extrusions have lately become an important feature in the construction industry. Building contractors have long recognized the structural and aesthetic benefits of using aluminum components in their work. Nowadays you commonly see them in windows, doors, frames, stairways, and elsewhere.

In the realm of architecture too we find that this lightweight and versatile metal now plays an increasingly important role in more heavily weighted and complex fabrications within buildings, bridges, and other architectural structures: in railings, enclosures, curtain walls, façades, and pergolas, just to name a few. This article, then, will focus on specific examples of those kinds of whole structures in which aluminum stands out as a major component in their construction. Continue reading “Everyday Aluminum: Architecture”