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Let T-Slot Fasteners and Other Accessories Enhance Your Extruded Aluminum Creations

Framing Tech T-slot Fasteners and Accessories

Whether you’re working on a full structural or modular aluminum framing project or a more simple task, Framing Tech has the pieces you need to build a complete and economical solution.

Our extruded aluminum T-slot framing (metric profiles and inch profiles) come in all shapes and sizes. Yet these aluminum extrusions can’t just assemble themselves. Specialty fasteners, connectors, and other accessories are needed to attach one piece solidly to another to create a stable structure. And still other accessories extend the practical utility of your fabrications, and even add aesthetic value to what you build.

Here is an overview of those specialty fasteners and other accessories.

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What Are You Going to Build with Your Extruded Aluminum Framing Profiles?

Aluminum extrusions

Framing Tech’s modular aluminum extrusions are used extensively in various settings—from large industrial complexes to in-house ateliers to private homes. The framed fabrications, which are lightweight, sturdy, and rust-resistant, are made up of extruded aluminum profiles of various lengths (metric or inch), with a variety of connectors and fasteners to hold the components together. Accessories of all types, such as doors, panels, and frame-to-floor leveling feet, can be added as needed. The easy-to-install and alter-as-needed profiles require very few tools for assembly. One might even think of them as resilient Legos for grownups with tasks to tackle!

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Oh the Things You Can Make with Extruded Aluminum Framing

Aluminum extrusions

“Play opens up the imagination, which
then opens up new possibilities.”

— Alfred Carlton Gilbert

Those lines are uttered by actor Jason Alexander playing inventor, magician, and toy maker A.C. Gilbert in the 2008 biographical film The Man Who Saved Christmas. You can preview the film in this trailer:

Visitors to our blog, of a certain age, will probably recall with great nostalgia what is surely Gilbert’s most famous invention and one of the most popular playthings of their childhood, namely, the inimitable Erector Set. Produced by the A.C. Gilbert Company, “Erector Set” was a brand of metal toy construction kits first patented in 1913. Basic Erector Set parts included various sizes of flat beams, made with real steel, with regularly spaced holes for assembly using nuts and bolts, and room for additional parts and accessories, including little electric motors. The only limit was your imagination.

1922 Erector Set ad
From a 1922 advertisement for Erector Set (Source)

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Framing Tech Machine Enclosures: Ensuring Safety First in the Workplace

Machine Guard

You are driving by the well-manicured lawns in your rural neighborhood, admiring the lush hydrangeas and abundant azaleas. Suddenly, out of nowhere, something small hits your windshield. Instantaneously, a crack appears. The culprit? A pebble launched by a landscaper’s string trimmer. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to have it repaired. Yet, while windshields can be easily repaired, the human body cannot be restored quite so easily.

One might think of damage or injuries in the workplace as out-of-the-ordinary as projectile rocks on a sunny morning in the country. However, statistics prove otherwise. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one worker died every 99 minutes from a work-related injury in 2019. The number of casualties would be significantly higher without adequate safeguards in the workplace. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, worker deaths in America are down, on average, from about 38 worker deaths a day in 1970 to 15 a day in 2019.

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T-slot Aluminum Inspiration: Summer Solutions

T-slot profiles at Framing Tech Factory Floor

Considering that aluminum is the most abundant metal in Earth’s crust, it should come as little surprise that its use in the industrial world is equally abundant. From transportation and packaging to computer casings and household goods, you will find aluminum everywhere, and often in plain sight.

In recent years, manufacturers have even made it possible for the average person to take aluminum into their own hands and configure it to individual needs, thanks to T-slot aluminum extrusions and related accessories.

T-slot aluminum aquarium stand
Aquarium stand

Sturdy, custom-designed aquarium stands are lately among the most popular fabrications, but those just scratch the surface of what is possible. Meet a few of the projects that caught our eye, and the people from across the country who have used extruded T-slot aluminum profiles to make their living space creatively conducive to their needs.

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Aluminum: The Shape of Things to Come

Aluminum cladding on Titanic Museum
Aluminum pyramid at apex of Washington Monument
Aluminum apex of Washington Monument showing inscriptions on its east and north faces (source)

From planes and trains to the cellphone in your hand and the versatile roll of foil in your pantry, aluminum is omnipresent in today’s fabricated world. Which should come as no surprise, considering it is the most abundant metal in Earth’s crust. Yet, it is hard to imagine that aluminum was once prized more than gold! In fact, despite its abundance, aluminum was valued so highly in the 19th century because it was so difficult to obtain. It was so special, indeed, that in 1884 this rare “metal of kings” earned a prestigious perch atop the Washington monument in the shape of a cast pyramid.

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Why T-slot Aluminum Is a Great Choice for Custom Aquarium Stands

Goldfish in fish tank

Hats off to Framing Tech for taking the extra step in reassuring my peace of mind. I would definitely go out on a limb and say that any reefer that wants to stay in the hobby for a long time should consider building your stand with Framing Tech.

— J’s Reefs

Unless you intend to install in your home a gigantic floor-to-ceiling fish tank, such as you would find at a commercial aquarium, you’ll need some kind of platform to hold your fish tank. Novice hobbyists might initially overlook this little detail, until they take the tank home and realize they have no place to put it, except on the floor. That is why, no matter the size of your tank, you need an aquarium stand.

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Framing Tech Custom 80/20 Aluminum Solutions [Infographic]

Framing Technology custom solutions

When it comes to the kinds of things you can build with extruded 80/20 aluminum profiles, sometimes basic is better. Many of our fabrications are available in standard “kit” form, with set parts, and are delivered to home or office with detailed instructions for assembly. This includes many of our most popular products, e.g.:

But sometimes you need something special and out of the ordinary for your specific needs. It could be just a matter of size, or unique functionality, or particular design features—or even something never before conceived!

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80/20 Aluminum: What’s In a Name?

Extruded aluminum inch profiles

It goes by several different terms: T-slot structural framing, T-slotted aluminum extrusions, 80/20 T-slot aluminum building system, and 80/20 framing, among others. The various descriptors used in these terms are fairly straightforward and self-explanatory. Individually we know what aluminum is, not to mention extrusions, systems, T-slot, and framing. But what does 80/20 have to do with any of these?

Believe it or not, there is an answer to that question. And thereby hangs a tale. Continue reading “80/20 Aluminum: What’s In a Name?”

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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]”