Clarification on T-slot extrusion systems

pacnwers

Member
Looking for quick clarity if someone can help.
In the T-slot world, 80/20 is the company that seems to have created and standardized the system, but other companies make extrusions as well.
Do the connectors and lengths from various mfg’r work well together as long as a person stays within a particular series.. series 10, 20,40....
I see some resellers referring to ‘European Standard’.. but I read elsewhere there is no standard spec..
Trying to keep things flexible and wanted to verify before ordering material to start building.
The internet is not clear (to me..) on this topic.
Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
There are fractional and metric as far as I know, so European could indeed means metric.

From 8020 - Fractional:
Series 10 means 1” based profiles, so 2040 is 2” x 4”
Series 15 means 1.5” based profiles

Metric
Series 20 means 20mm based profiles
Series 25 means 25mm based profiles
Series 30 means 30mm based profiles
Series 40 means 40mm based profiles
Series 45 means 45mm based profiles

I used predominantly 15 series. I would assume you could interchange series 25 (25mm) with series 10 (25.4mm). I recently purchased an Incra router table with T-slot profile legs of their own design, I don’t think there is a T-slot standard.

Misumi and Boschrexroth have large selection of metric t-profiles.
 

hein

Van Guru
15 series is the most common in the van up-fitting world. -LS (light smooth) variety is plenty strong.
The 30mm size is often overlooked and would be nice size for van interior structures.

All the best,
Hein
DIYvan
541 490 5098
 

pfflyer

Well-known member
I believe T-slot is the generic term?

80/20 is priced at a premium, but does set he standard that AFAIK the others follow wrt compatbility

with no-name Chinese stuff I'd definitely test when for load-bearing mission-critical use cases.

This outfit has a decent rep: http://www.minitecframing.com/Products/Profile_Fasteners/T-Slotted_Profile_Fasteners.html
T-SLOTS that Dave is referring to is also a company. I have/had both TSLOTS and 80/20 stocked locally but TSLOTS was more economical. Look at Dave's thread on using 80/20 to save even more money on connectors and fittings.

https://www.tslots.com/
 

aberator

2004 140" WB
Another source for generic t-slot I found was www.tnutz.com . Everything I bought there was compatible with the 8020-brand product I started with.

Not incredibly cheaper on the actual extrusion, but I remember the savings accumulating as I bought hardware and brackets. Hardware offerings from 8020 were more diverse and slightly higher quality, but the tnutz stuff worked, and you can price out your specific order and see how much it might save you.
 

hulagun

Haulin' A** since 1974
Has anyone done a T-Slot or 80/20 type build using metric fasteners? I'm just curious if it is possible, as all of my van tools are metric threads, and all of my Riv-nut mandrels are too, I can see some advantage in sticking to metric. Thanks in advance for your experienced advice.
 
Last edited:

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
You can make your project more complicated by interchanging metric and SAE fasteners with inch and metric profiles. It can be done but why? I can't see benefits.
 

Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
Easier to find hardware at the local stores if you use SAE. Once build is complete it makes no difference. You can use metric to attach the structure to the van.
 

hulagun

Haulin' A** since 1974
Easier to find hardware at the local stores if you use SAE. Once build is complete it makes no difference. You can use metric to attach the structure to the van.
Thanks, Dave. Sounds good. I'm finally following up on your recommendation of 80/20... years after meeting you (you provided me some spare tie down rings you'd removed from your Sprinter). One of these days when SIP is done, I'd like to visit you in Occidental, buy you a beverage, and see your new build in person.
 

brownvan

2017 4X4 HR 144"
Has anyone done a T-Slot or 80/20 type build using metric fasteners? I'm just curious if it is possible, as all of my van tools are metric threads, and all of my Riv-nut mandrels are too, I can see some advantage in sticking to metric. Thanks in advance for your experienced advice.
Yes I did my entire buildout using 80/20 4040 extrusions & Metric fasteners - alot of M8 & M6
Also on the Euro aluminum frame systems stuff there is Bosch-Rexroth and Blocan

Looking for quick clarity if someone can help.
In the T-slot world, 80/20 is the company that seems to have created and standardized the system, but other companies make extrusions as well.
Do the connectors and lengths from various mfg’r work well together as long as a person stays within a particular series.. series 10, 20,40....
I see some resellers referring to ‘European Standard’.. but I read elsewhere there is no standard spec..
Trying to keep things flexible and wanted to verify before ordering material to start building.
The internet is not clear (to me..) on this topic.
Thanks.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You will find some of these companies may have similarly-dimensioned extrusions (for example 40 mm x 40 mm) but the T-slot profiles rarely are the same and the T-nuts are not interchangeable. I know this from trying to get 80/20 adapted to euro equipment that uses bosch or blocan.
 
Last edited:

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
80/20's 2 degree drop lock feature is not very well known but it is important in vibration environment such camper conversions. As far as I know it is 80/20 exclusive. That is why I use 80/20 profiles and fasteners only. I tried T-nutz and found them at lower quality than 80/20 ones. ,

 

Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
80/20's 2 degree drop lock feature is not very well known but it is important in vibration environment such camper conversions. As far as I know it is 80/20 exclusive. That is why I use 80/20 profiles and fasteners only. I tried T-nutz and found them at lower quality than 80/20 ones. ,

The 2 degree anti vibration feature is not exclusive to 80/20. The T-Slot equivalent extrusion that I used also has the 2 degree anti vibration feature.

On my Sprinter conversion I used serrated flange nuts on my connections. Even with the 2 degree feature I found some fasteners loose after time. Changed to elastic stop nuts for the Transit conversion. So the 2 degree feature is beneficial but apparently not enough to prevent loose fasteners in a conversion.
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
The 2 degree anti vibration feature is not exclusive to 80/20. The T-Slot equivalent extrusion that I used also has the 2 degree anti vibration feature.

On my Sprinter conversion I used serrated flange nuts on my connections. Even with the 2 degree feature I found some fasteners loose after time. Changed to elastic stop nuts for the Transit conversion. So the 2 degree feature is beneficial but apparently not enough to prevent loose fasteners in a conversion.
If drop lock is not only in 80/20 it would be good to know which other manufacturer has it. The video is from 2011 so other folks could adapt it. I do believe it was introduced by 80/20.

I used double fastening in critical joints, for example corner bracket and end connector except with anchor connectors.
 

BigDC

Active member
I’m using 15 series but I’ve ordered all metric fastener hardware. Their online interactive catalogue has a good search tool and they have pretty much every piece of hardware in a metric version. My AdWag kit is mostly M6 and I wanted to keep the 80/20 assembly the same.
 

overl4nd

New member
I now see 40mm profiles on amazon from chinese manufacturers. Are they reliable? Otherwise the best price I have found for close to this size is the 15x15 from tnutz (1.5"x1.5")
 

Top Bottom