Question 80/20 rails and hardware sourcing

Hi,

I am in the process of designing and building my 2DoF rig for Flight Sim, I have all the motors, controllers, electronics and now I am trying to source the 80/20 rails and hardware. I've been shopping around and looked at the usually places:

• Amazon
• Ebay
• 8020.net
• McMaster-Carr
• Grainger

8020 and McMaster-Carr seem to have the best options and prices. Currently to build a simple 2Dof Platform, I am estimating around $660. This is without shipping and cutting fees.

Any recommendations in the US, where I can perhaps get better pricing?

I have been looking for a while and the best prices I have found in the US are from Misumi:

https://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/mech/M1500000000/

I have been looking at the 45x45 and 45x90 sizes, so I am not certain that the other sizes are cheaper.

Vention in Canada is another to look at, but the shipping is high to the US.

Hope this helps.
-Chad

You could also try Parco. Be careful to include the cut charges from them that they add separately in the cart when you compare.

https://parco-inc.com/

Thanks,
Chad

Sorry to keep making new posts, but I also just remembered that Tnutz was a good source for me.

https://www.tnutz.com/

They had some great prices on corner brackets, gussets, joining plates, etc. And they offer free shipping over $250 if you are not ordering extrusions.

I also took your request for 8020 in the general aluminum extrusion sense rather than the specific brand. My apologies if you are looking specifically for 8020 as the information I have given won't be of much use.

Again, I hope this helps.
Thanks,
Chad

Awesome stuff. Thank you! This helps.

Great! I am glad it helped. One other thing to note with Misumi is that they offer 3 different weights in some of the extrusions, a standard, lite, and heavy so you can tailor the extrusions to the specific need for stiffness vs cost and weight.

Good luck with your build.
-Chad

Just to take it a step further, and hopefully help anyone else looking to use 8020 type framing, both Misumi and Vention have tools to help you work out your design. Misumi's tools is downloadable after you fill out a form on their website:

https://us.misumi-ec.com/service/promotion/frames/

Vention's tool is online through your browser:

https://vention.io/machine-builder/

I used the Vention tool because I found it first and it uses the size extrusions that I plan to use. It was very easy to learn. The vention tool keeps track of the cost of the parts as you build and you can add a whole design to your cart. I have not used Misumi's tool, but they advertise that it will give you a BOM. I hope this helps out some folks as I don't believe that I have come across any mention of these tools in the forum. I sure could have missed it in the large amount of information here, though.

Thanks,
Chad

Good stuff. Thank you