TNutz as an alternative to 80/20 - Sprinter-Source.com

If you want to know how it works then read the "using 80/20" posts on this site.

Another supplier that I used and is interchangeable with 80/20 is "T-Slots".

IMO for a conversion build you do not need any machined parts. No need for the extra strength in our application. Simple angle and flat work well. I have done two builds without any machined connectors. Use elastic stop nuts to prevent nut from getting loose from vehicle vibration.

If you want to save money using 80/20 buy long extrusions and cut them to the length you want on a chop saw with an aluminum cutting blade. Make your own connectors out of aluminum angle and flat extrusions bought locally. You cut the connector to length and drill the holes. Not necessary to be super accurate because there is enough clearance in the slots for slightly inaccurate hole locations. Make the connectors 1 1/4" wide instead of 1 1/2" to inset the connector from the edge of the extrusions.

Save on freight if you can find a local distributor that stocks extrusions.

The other advantage of making your own connectors is changing the thickness from 1/4" to 3/16". 1/4" is overkill for our application. I prefer to use carriage bolts for the connections instead of bolts with nuts in the slots. Stronger connection and easier to install. Problem with using carriage bolts with an angle connector is the nuts can not be installed. The solution is to offset the holes. At least one of the holes needs to be 1" from the apex instead of 3/4". Then you can get both nuts on the carriage bolts.

Making your own connectors is much faster than ordering parts and waiting for UPS to deliver. Make your own as you build and install that day.

Buy your fasteners from a industrial fastener supply company instead of 80/20.

Some additional hints, pictures of connectors and printable PDF drawings of the connectors can be found on my web site:

http://www.ortontransit.info/testeighty4.php Looking at the website it looks like everything ships from New York. 80/20 and Tslots works with distributors. So depending on where you are at and what the local distributor stocks, shipping may offset any savings. If they all interchange with each other, I would buy what I could local and order what ever is not local from Tnutz. Or Tslots and 80/20 most likely have a freight program with their distributors which means if they order a certain weight or dollar volume, freight is paid by the shipper. If you deal with a local distributor I would ask about that and if you can wait, piggyback on one of their stock orders. I don't know for sure if 80/20/Tslots have this program but 90% of the manufactures I deal with all do. Last time I checked, locally I have both 80/20 and Tslot distributors and I was able to pick up at less than list price from 80/20 and no freight.

Edit: if you don't want to fabricate and cut the extrusions yourself, ask your local distributor if they do or know someone who can. One of the 80/20 distributors custom fabricated parts and assembled finished product to local customers. I believe they did design/CAD work as well.

Looking at the website it looks like everything ships from New York. 80/20 and Tslots works with distributors. So depending on where you are at and what the local distributor stocks, shipping may offset any savings. If they all interchange with each other, I would buy what I could local and order what ever is not local from Tnutz. Or Tslots and 80/20 most likely have a freight program with their distributors which means if they order a certain weight or dollar volume, freight is paid by the shipper. If you deal with a local distributor I would ask about that and if you can wait, piggyback on one of their stock orders. I don't know for sure if 80/20/Tslots have this program but 90% of the manufactures I deal with all do. Last time I checked, locally I have both 80/20 and Tslot distributors and I was able to pick up at less than list price from 80/20 and no freight.

Edit: if you don't want to fabricate and cut the extrusions yourself, ask your local distributor if they do or know someone who can. One of the 80/20 distributors custom fabricated parts and assembled finished product to local customers. I believe they did design/CAD work as well.

Where I live there is nothing local. Closest real city is 300 miles away. I’m fine with ordering a large order of product and paying shipping vs driving that far to collect somewhere.
I checked on shipping and it’s not horrible; I can live with it.

If I choose to not make my own brackets, but not use theirs. There is a local metal shop that be happy to turn a long length of aluminum angle iron into a bunch of brackets...for not much money.

I’m not opposed to cutting extrusions, but since have no permanemet garage or shop space nor easy access to long length material, I’ll start with having them (tnutz) do some of the work. I also thinking about using this Tnutz to build my bed-frame and bench seats/kitchen cabinent.
I cannot really find their strength rating, any where I can find these information?

I originally planned to use 1" Steel Square Tube (from Homedepot), to weld a 60"x75" bed frame. I tried standing (140lb) on the middle of a 1"x72" Steel tube supported by both ends, and it bends slightly (maybe ~1" downward). With 2 of them, basically none, so I figured a bed frame of 60"x75" with 18" apart supporting tubes should give me a solid bedframe.

I never experience with 80/20 before, but I looked into aluminum 1" square tube in Homedepot, and they are weak.
From online specs, the Tnutz or 80/20 are thicker, and wonders if they have stronger strength. From most I read, people use 1.5" or 2" 80/20, so I always assume their strength won't be strong enough for 1".

Anyone has experience with this? how much will a 1" by 6ft long bend from 150lb weight on the middle?
Will 20mm or 1" 80/20 aluminum at 6' long, give have similar bend, stronger or weaker?

Added: Just read this, it provides alot of info directly from 80/20. also watching youtube for user experiences

Addeded: 80/20 uses -T5 Aluminum Alloy, while Tnutz uses -T6 (FYI, -T5 is stronger)

I also thinking about using this Tnutz to build my bed-frame and bench seats/kitchen cabinent.
I cannot really find their strength rating, any where I can find these information?

I originally planned to use 1" Steel Square Tube (from Homedepot), to weld a 60"x75" bed frame. I tried standing (140lb) on the middle of a 1"x72" Steel tube supported by both ends, and it bends slightly (maybe ~1" downward). With 2 of them, basically none, so I figured a bed frame of 60"x75" with 18" apart supporting tubes should give me a solid bedframe.

I never experience with 80/20 before, but I looked into aluminum 1" square tube in Homedepot, and they are weak.
From online specs, the Tnutz or 80/20 are thicker, and wonders if they have stronger strength. From most I read, people use 1.5" or 2" 80/20, so I always assume their strength won't be strong enough for 1".

Anyone has experience with this? how much will a 1" by 6ft long bend from 150lb weight on the middle?
Will 20mm or 1" 80/20 aluminum at 6' long, give have similar bend, stronger or weaker?

You might consider a composite panel for a bed platform. Core of 1 1/2" polyiso with 1/4" plywood covers glued to both sides. My "guess" is the panel will be rigid spanning the width of the van. Have not made what I am suggesting. Light weight and insulated platform. Edges closed with 3/4" x 1 15/16" wood. Check the thickness of the polyiso to determine the 1 15/16" edge board dimension. Need to check that the finished panel can fit through the doors.

My bed platform consists of four 27" wide panels that are hinged at the van wall. These fold down and sit on top of the center tabletop. The panels are composite with a 1" polyiso core with 1/4" plywood top cover and 3/16" indoor/outdoor carpet bottom cover. I do know you can kneel on the panels without causing any damage. I made the edge boards the full thickness to hide the plywood edges.

Reason for what I did was the need to have a table for two people and the ability to convert van to haul cargo. Interesting... Why you use polyiso insulation for the bed platform? is it for light weight+strength when sandwiched with plywood? or for insulation?
I am doing bed lifting, so the only support is 4 corners. and on my last build, using Zinc coated Steel L-Beam (6or so of them) across the van, with 1/4" plywood on top, it is not solid (with 6" memory foam) when I am on the bed, I can feel it sag downward (I checked with pictures taken)But with the setup I built, its too late to change, so I ended up doubling the Steel Beam, changed the Plywood to 1/2", (I still do'nt feel solid), and ended with bolting the plywood down to the steel L-Beam. no longer light weight.. LOL.

Interesting... Why you use polyiso insulation for the bed platform? is it for light weight+strength when sandwiched with plywood? or for insulation?
I am doing bed lifting, so the only support is 4 corners. and on my last build, using Zinc coated Steel L-Beam (6or so of them) across the van, with 1/4" plywood on top, it is not solid (with 6" memory foam) when I am on the bed, I can feel it sag downward (I checked with pictures taken)But with the setup I built, its too late to change, so I ended up doubling the Steel Beam, changed the Plywood to 1/2", (I still do'nt feel solid), and ended with bolting the plywood down to the steel L-Beam. no longer light weight.. LOL.
View attachment View attachment

Used polyiso for strength and for insulation. The 1" I used for my half width panels were rigid. They are supported by the table so do not span a large width. I did not have two 1/4" covers because I did not want to scratch the tabletop and when panels stored vertically I wanted the carpet to match the rest of the wall covering. Composite panel is like a steel I beam. The flanges provide the stiffness.

Long ago I built race car 1" thick bulkhead and dash panel using Hexel expanded aluminum between two sheets of thin aluminum covers. The panels were extremely light weight and rigid. Talked to 3M to get the right adhesive and made the panels. Had spare bedroom so put panels on the floor and loaded bricks on top of them until glue cured. Here is what I found (on paper) from 80/20 deflective calculator.
on a single 75" long (.75" only) with 300lbs on single point at the center, the beam will deflects only 1/2" (pretty impressive)
If I up to (1.2") same paramaters, the deflection drops to 0.082in downward.... WOW.
CORRECTION.... the above is for 2" and 3"... sadly.
for .75" will be 16" deflection, for 1" will be 6.3" deflection and for 1.6" will be 0.8" deflection (acceptable)

In reality will be 150lbs on a single point (when I climb into bed)

I will seriously look into this as alternative to 1" Steel square tube.
The only things that worries me is, all the joints are by nutz & bolts. I feel like they will flex and loosen.... a lever of 75" long, hold by a single bolt at the end? Anyone can share their experience on this part? they really will hold up? I know it won't be as tough as welding, but it will hold?

The main factor I expect is connecting the two, and that's likely not a real issue. Just use 80/20 nuts with that, Tnutz-compatible with their rails. Everything else is just brackets and standard bolts.

If I do go this route, I will most likely go for Tnutz. I won't sleep while driving... LOL, and I am sure tnutz be much stronger than wood frame and much lighter in weight when comparing to 2"x1" solid wood frame.

Just need to research more on the nutz and bolts... are they really going to make a STRONG bond between two? I am thinking interms of 60" by 75" bed frame. with 6 or so in-between beams in # pattern. I just worries the flex will comes from the bolts and eventually loosen.

Guide to DIY with T-Slot Aluminum
By Zach Friedrichs (@polyppal)​
T-Slot aluminum extrusion is an ideal material for building modern, strong tank stands and canopies. And it isn’t as difficult as you might think, essentially you are playing with a supersize Erector kit! Using simple fastening methods and careful planning, even an individual with no experience can build a high tech stand quickly and easily!

Standard DIY disclaimers applies - The author is not responsible for anything you build based on information in this article.


Why use T-Slot extrusion over wood?

Building with T-Slot has a number of advantages over building with wood. Aluminum extrusion is stronger and lighter than wood. Once the cuts are made, it can also be put together and taken down easily. And while it isn’t exactly cheap, designing and building your own stand need not be overly expensive either.

One of the keys to successfully building your T-Slot stand is careful planning and design. I order my T-Slot and brackets from Zyltech (zyltech.com), where you can have bars precision cut to specific sizes for a small fee. Other T-Slot suppliers also offer custom cutting services, and I highly recommend this since extrusion can be a challenge to cut precisely on a home miter saw. If you choose to cut the bar yourself, it is recommend to use a blade designed for cutting aluminum extrusion, like a 60-72 tooth carbide tipped triple chip blade. Always use proper eye and safety protection when cutting T-Slot, cutting has a tendency to produce tiny/sharp/hot aluminum shavings!


profile bar. 30mm x 30mm

What profile (size) do I need?

Profile refers to the size/thickness of the T-Slot bar used. Common profiles are (20mmx20mm) , (30mmx30mm), (40mmx40mm) etc. Aluminum extrusion is very strong, and in most cases you will not need to build with anything over . For example, a 36” bar supported on 2 ends can support 3,573 lbs! For very large systems, you might choose a larger profile.


(From left to right) reinforced corner bracket, tee plate, 90 corner plate

How do I attach it?

The simplest way to attach T-Slot is by using external plates or supported corner brackets. These brackets attach to the exterior of the bar, and are anchored in place by T-Bolts and Nuts. I prefer the look and strength of external plates in most situations. They also make it much easier to add slide-in panels between the bars for aesthetic purposes.




So, let's build a stand!

For the purposes of this sample build, we will use the simplest types of external fasteners, plates and corner brackets


In the example build for this article, we will build my custom 68g acrylic tank stand seen here.
(The basic aspects of the tank can easily be duplicated to your specific tank needs).



My custom AIO is 32”w x 26”d x 20”h, holding approx. 68-72 gallons max. Figuring 10 lbs/gal with water/rock/etc, the stand should hold a minimum of 720 lbs. With bar, this could easily be accomplished even without the additional front center braces, but I like to include at least one center brace on med/larger tanks.

The stand height is 32”, converting to mm is 813mm, so the stand has 4 bars cut to 813mm.

• The 4 front width top/bottom bars are 753mm (front of tank is 813mm, minus the 30mm bars on the left and right)
• The 4 side top/bottom bars are 600mm (side of tank is 660mm, minus the 30mm bars on the left and right)
• X’s denote where corner or center plates are attached. There are a total of 16 90deg plates used on the corners, and 8 Tee Plates used for the inside and outside of the center braces.

Using a Hex wrench and M5 nuts/bolts (M5 for bar, the nut/bolt size will change depending on profile) - loosely thread a bolt on the back of each bolt to attach the plate. Then place the plate over the rail and tighten/hand torque it into position. Tighten the bolts well, but don’t over tighten them, it can make them extremely hard to remove if you need to make adjustments or disassemble it!



I had 2 pieces of white acrylic cut that easily slide into place when using exterior plates. These can make nice decorative or mounting features. I also attach a padded neoprene tape to the top of the stand where it meets the tank.


Additional images from the construction of this stand

These are just the basics, once you are comfortable working with it, any number of other features can be included on your T-Slot stands - like lighting canopies, shelving, doors, caster brackets, etc!



I hope this information is helpful to your future T-Slot project endeavors!
- Zach (polyppal)


Some T-Slot suppliers you might consider:

http://.net
Amazon http://amazon.com
Grainger http://grainger.com
Openbuilds http://openbuildspartstore.com
Orange Aluminum http://orangealuminum.com
Parco http://parco-inc.com
Zyltech (my preferred supplier) http://zyltech.com

Guide to DIY with T-Slot Aluminum
By Zach Friedrichs (@polyppal)​
T-Slot aluminum extrusion is an ideal material for building modern, strong tank stands and canopies. And it isn’t as difficult as you might think, essentially you are playing with a supersize Erector kit! Using simple fastening methods and careful planning, even an individual with no experience can build a high tech stand quickly and easily!

Standard DIY disclaimers applies - The author is not responsible for anything you build based on information in this article.


Why use T-Slot extrusion over wood?

Building with T-Slot has a number of advantages over building with wood. Aluminum extrusion is stronger and lighter than wood. Once the cuts are made, it can also be put together and taken down easily. And while it isn’t exactly cheap, designing and building your own stand need not be overly expensive either.

One of the keys to successfully building your T-Slot stand is careful planning and design. I order my T-Slot and brackets from Zyltech (zyltech.com), where you can have bars precision cut to specific sizes for a small fee. Other T-Slot suppliers also offer custom cutting services, and I highly recommend this since extrusion can be a challenge to cut precisely on a home miter saw. If you choose to cut the bar yourself, it is recommend to use a blade designed for cutting aluminum extrusion, like a 60-72 tooth carbide tipped triple chip blade. Always use proper eye and safety protection when cutting T-Slot, cutting has a tendency to produce tiny/sharp/hot aluminum shavings!


profile bar. 30mm x 30mm

What profile (size) do I need?

Profile refers to the size/thickness of the T-Slot bar used. Common profiles are (20mmx20mm) , (30mmx30mm), (40mmx40mm) etc. Aluminum extrusion is very strong, and in most cases you will not need to build with anything over . For example, a 36” bar supported on 2 ends can support 3,573 lbs! For very large systems, you might choose a larger profile.


(From left to right) reinforced corner bracket, tee plate, 90 corner plate

How do I attach it?

The simplest way to attach T-Slot is by using external plates or supported corner brackets. These brackets attach to the exterior of the bar, and are anchored in place by T-Bolts and Nuts. I prefer the look and strength of external plates in most situations. They also make it much easier to add slide-in panels between the bars for aesthetic purposes.




So, let's build a stand!

For the purposes of this sample build, we will use the simplest types of external fasteners, plates and corner brackets


In the example build for this article, we will build my custom 68g acrylic tank stand seen here.
(The basic aspects of the tank can easily be duplicated to your specific tank needs).



My custom AIO is 32”w x 26”d x 20”h, holding approx. 68-72 gallons max. Figuring 10 lbs/gal with water/rock/etc, the stand should hold a minimum of 720 lbs. With bar, this could easily be accomplished even without the additional front center braces, but I like to include at least one center brace on med/larger tanks.

The stand height is 32”, converting to mm is 813mm, so the stand has 4 bars cut to 813mm.

• The 4 front width top/bottom bars are 753mm (front of tank is 813mm, minus the 30mm bars on the left and right)
• The 4 side top/bottom bars are 600mm (side of tank is 660mm, minus the 30mm bars on the left and right)
• X’s denote where corner or center plates are attached. There are a total of 16 90deg plates used on the corners, and 8 Tee Plates used for the inside and outside of the center braces.

Using a Hex wrench and M5 nuts/bolts (M5 for bar, the nut/bolt size will change depending on profile) - loosely thread a bolt on the back of each bolt to attach the plate. Then place the plate over the rail and tighten/hand torque it into position. Tighten the bolts well, but don’t over tighten them, it can make them extremely hard to remove if you need to make adjustments or disassemble it!



I had 2 pieces of white acrylic cut that easily slide into place when using exterior plates. These can make nice decorative or mounting features. I also attach a padded neoprene tape to the top of the stand where it meets the tank.


Additional images from the construction of this stand

These are just the basics, once you are comfortable working with it, any number of other features can be included on your T-Slot stands - like lighting canopies, shelving, doors, caster brackets, etc!



I hope this information is helpful to your future T-Slot project endeavors!
- Zach (polyppal)


Some T-Slot suppliers you might consider:

http://.net
Amazon http://amazon.com
Grainger http://grainger.com
Openbuilds http://openbuildspartstore.com
Orange Aluminum http://orangealuminum.com
Parco http://parco-inc.com
Zyltech (my preferred supplier) http://zyltech.com

Solid cheaper source for T-Slot and hardware:

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