Not sure if they’re called aluminum profiles, or aluminum extrusions as I have seen it both ways. They look something like this.
I know I can buy them on Aliexpress or Taobao, but I am hoping to find a place in or around Taipei selling them. I would need about 24 meters total, cut to various lengths.
I would check with the stores up and down Taiyuan and Xingcheng Roads in Taipei
Should be very easy to find in Taipei. Try the search term 鋁擠型 on ruten, shopee or for a physical store.
If you don’t need too much then a 3D printer parts store can likely help (but usually at a higher cost):
Check for various aluminum shops and see if they have the profiles you are looking for. This looks like it’s for stage or something. There are aluminum shops in Taiyuan rd but also look around Xingjhuan district, specifically around Furen University and IKEA because this is an industrial area so there are plenty of material suppliers for various industries.
I can ask my neighbor if the shop he does business with has that profile. He can get me 100nt per kg.
It’s called T-Slot extruded aluminum and is very common for building machinery frames, enclosures, industrial furniture, solar panel frames, 3D printers, etc.
It’s listed in sizes like 2020 (20mm), 3030 (30mm), etc.
Thanks for the tip. I found one on Google street view that I’ll go check out.
Thanks for that link. I’ve actually been looking for a place like that. I need to get some parts to fix my 3d printer, but never wanted to order from Amazon due to the price and shipping.
I found one on Taiyuan Rd using google street view. I’ll check them out this weekend probably. I’m actually looking into building a small laser cutter. I need a few different sizes like 2020 and 2040. Is 100nt per KG a normal price? I thought they just charged by length.
Usually if you give them the plans they will cut it and figure out all the accessories you need. They can also drill the corner connectors instead of using L brackets.
The shop that my neighbor works with charges by weight, but the shops in Taiyuan rd will charge more (like over 150). I asked him and he showed me that catalog.
Are you sure you want to build a laser cutter? What’s your wattage? Working area? CO2 or Fiber? You can buy one for anywhere from 20,000-60,000nt if you’re ok with just 40-50 watt CO2. That’s what I use. It uses the crap moshi board however. I’m guessing you want something better than that?
I saw a few Chinese CO2 laser cutters on shopee and taobao that were about 22,000ntd. Which is fine, since I don’t plan to do anything fancy with it. I’ve read that people have trouble with them or end up upgrading the motherboard to a Ruida or something else. I plan on pricing out building my own and if it’s similar then I’ll build my own, but if it’s way more expensive I’ll just buy a cheap Chinese one. Most of the stuff I plan on doing is just cutting wood or acrylic to make some board game inserts.
I found some plans online for a 600x400mm working area. That’s more than enough for me, so I might even see about scaling down slightly to save some money. I aiming to go with a 50w or 60w tube.
That would be great. I will have to take the plans with me and see what they say about it and what it will cost.
Might just be cheaper/easier to find a company that can cut the inserts for you. A lot of this kind of stuff is very cheap here.
I’m just going to say off the bat that you will likely spend over 100,000NT to build the laser. Those DSP parts and drivers are not cheap. Then you have laser tubes, power supplies, mirrors, mounts, racks, etc. that is going to add up. You can spend a few hundred here and there and it will balloon to 20,000 before you know it. I suggest buying this:
It has DSP controller I think…
80W
They’re ready to go and all you have to do is draw what you want…
I have the first machine but I paid only 40,000NT for it, but it doesn’t have DSP, only the cheap moshi board but alternative drivers are available that’s better than what it includes.
Or send me a file of what you want cut and I can cut it for you for nominal cost…
another thing you need to think about is safety. I’m assuming that this is going to be some open cabinet? What are you using for the height adjustable table? All of these machine have power height adjustment (even mine, though not computer controlled). Off the top of my head this is a $300 item from lightobject.com
https://www.lightobject.com/Motorized-Z-table/Power-Z-table-bed-kit-for-P530-500x300
That’s 10,000 plus shipping right there.
For safety the machine has better be inside an enclosure. Where do you plan to get that? Are you going to use plywood? Google to find out what 50w laser does to your limbs (it’s not pretty).
I appreciate the links to the machines, I’ll definitely check them out later. The first one looks better than most of the ones I’ve seen especially for that price.
As for safety, I do know that the lasers are dangerous. I was going to build an enclosure for the machine. The part list that I have recommends aluminum sheets for the outside. I wasn’t going to just blindly follow this list though, since lasers are dangerous. I was going to do a bit more research on an enclosure and see what it is recommended and safe.
I still think you’ll be happier just buying one and upgrading them as needed. You’ll probably spend less too. Also check out some machine dealers in Xingjhuan. They have used machine that may meet your need.
At minimum you want some way to vent the smoke outside.
I didn’t even know there was a used market for these machines in Taiwan. I’ll have to go check them out. Got any recommendations on a good dealer?
There are used machine dealers all over Xingjhuan or any other industrial areas. They have all kinds of machines but for used machines, especially CO2 lasers you need to check it to make sure the power supply and tube is any good. There are a few close to Furen University MRT station. Most the time it’s lathes, mills, presses, etc. but maybe they have lasers
Thanks for the help, I’ll go check out the places over there and see what I find.
Another thing is, do you have 3 phase supply? Most industrial machine will be 3 phase. Keep this in mind as you shop…
