T Slot Aluminum Extrusion – The Building Blocks of Modern Manufacturing
You practice continuous improvement on your factory floor, but what about in your manufacturing equipment and can t slot aluminum extrusion help? Can you reconfigure guards, gantries and workstations when someone has an idea to increase throughput or improve safety? Can you get new carts out on the line within hours of them being requested? Can you set up racking, and then modify it quickly to accommodate results from the latest kaizen event?
If you’re using t slot aluminum extrusion, the answer is yes. It’s the fastest, and also the most flexible way to create structures and framing. It screws together, and it can be unscrewed and reconfigured just as easily. This is why it’s considered a building block of modern manufacturing.
The Basics of T Slot Aluminum Extrusion
The concept is simple: extrude lengths of aluminum with slots along the sides. These slots are dimensioned to accept a particular size of rectangular nut. The nut can slide lengthwise but can’t rotate. Now, using screws that fit within the slot, it’s possible to attach a bracket, plate or other length of extrusion.
With this concept it’s possible to build almost any structure you might need on a factory floor. For heavier loads pick a stronger, stiffer weight of profile that uses larger diameter screws with higher torque capability. Add brackets and plates to increase rigidity. Then finish your assembly with accessories like feet, hinges, handles and solid or wire panels.
Using Aluminum Extrusion in Manufacturing
It may be a cliché but it’s still true: the only limit to how you can use this framing material is your imagination. Here’s a short list of some of the most common industrial applications.
- Wheeled carts for moving tools or materials between machines, cells or operations
- Workstations for assembly, testing, inspection, packing and more (read “Manufacturing Work Stations – Why Aluminum Extrusion Makes Sense” for additional detail)
- Racks and pegboards for 5S organization, kanban cards or storage
- Machine guarding
- Gantry systems
- Machine structures
If you’re familiar with T slot aluminum extrusion you might raise an eyebrow at those last two, but it’s true: heavy-duty profiles assembled the right way have the stiffness and durability to handle dynamic loads and motion! Contact us and we’ll be happy to give you more information.
Why Use Aluminum Extrusion?
Two reasons: speed and flexibility.
With standard profiles and fasteners it’s very easy to design the framing or structure you need. Do it in your CAD system after downloading drawings from our website, or sketch what you want and ask us for a detailed design.
Both approaches will give you a parts list. Ask us for a quote, follow up with an order, and you’ll have a complete kit within days. Compare that with sending drawings to your preferred fabrication house, waiting for their quote, and then waiting again for whatever lead time they can achieve.
Aluminum framing is also far more flexible than welding. If something doesn’t quite suit production, it can be changed. The same applies if a new layout is needed, if the product is replaced by a new design, or if someone has an idea for improving productivity or safety. With T slot aluminum it’s just a case of undoing fasteners, replacing lengths of extrusion, and reassembling.
Aluminum Extrusion for the Flexibility you Need
Today’s factory is a fast-changing, dynamic environment. Structures assembled from T slot aluminum extrusion are quickly adapted to suit. Contact us to learn more about this building block of modern manufacturing.
