Build it! For me the hardest part when I was starting out was understanding how extruded aluminum worked and ordering it. If you are familiar then this is a review, but it all comes down to series. For your build the 10 series is more than enough. The 10 or 1010 series means each extrusion is 1 square inch if you use imperial. Then all the connectors, hinges, plates, T nuts/cams/bolts/etc all fall within the series and play well together. So you can narrow down the million choices for stuff by series. Then you’ll need to decide how you want the extrusion to look as they have standard extrusions, smooth faced, solid sides, rounded etc. Because my unit is a kitchen that I’ll be handling and leaning against I chose rounded. For the corners it’s similar to wood working, are you going to butt or dove tail them. The same is true with extrusions will you butt the corners or use connectors. Triangle connectors are awesome but they cost more than simply butting up the ends. But I love how rounded corners look. :)
For me another challenging aspect was when I built my wood drawer I had a “plan” but winged a number of aspects, but with extruded aluminum I had more detailed blueprints. It’s harder to just wing it (depending on complexity) because you can’t just go to a Home Depot and pick up more. So have some good plans, you can keep it easy by working in whole inches, and know what you want to do. If you want to do a bunch of cutting with aluminum you’ll need a non-ferrous blade. On my chop saw I have a 96 tooth blade that cuts like butter. Or have the extrusions cut to the exact size and tapped if you want. The price for them to prep isn’t really that much compared to the cost for the material, and it’s done exactly.
8020.net has by far the largest selection of almost anything you can ever think of. Tnutz is cheaper but with fewer options. 8020 extrusions are easier to tap yourself, I chucked a 1/4-20 tap and used WD-40 and no problem. Tnutz doesn’t have the center splice on the hole that 8020 does and you have to drill it out, then tap, and its a harder process. Not difficult, but for something like 50 cents an extrusion I opted to build and not be tapping all the time.
Panels...if you don’t want to use 1/4” ply then 8020 has a number of options that cost. I’ve used 1/4” HDPE from a local plastics store and it works pretty well, but HDPE is heavy, expands A LOT in the direct sun, and isn’t that cheap. The drawer we make uses about $400 worth of HDPE. But you can easily cut it, router it, very similar to wood. In the video
@Michael makes fun of me for my router work....jerk....so just be sure if you router to move along the edge at the same pace. :)
Other options for panels is aluminum composite material (ACM) is what we use which is awesome and is used on the outside of buildings. Another choice is flight case panels, but often it’s 7mm which is just a wee bit thick and you’ve got to trim it a touch to fit, or one of the 8020 options. Other than ACM your color options will be likely black, grey, or an off white. Just depends how fancy you wanna get.
Hopefully that helps, that’s all stuff I wish I knew. Like Michael said in his drawer video, square tube is cheaper and easier to work with if you use end connectors or know how to weld. But just all depends on what you want. Oh and square tube needs to be prepped to prevent rust.
Have fun and enjoy that good ole DIY pride!
