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Comment by pitched | Hacker News Reader

The reason I haven’t used these for a few past projects is that they can’t quite hold up under human-scale weights (1). Would be awesome to have something like this but steel!

1: https://us.misumi-ec.com/pdf/fa/2010/p2433.pdf

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I've used all kinds of 8020 frames for things much larger and heavier than humans. You just have to use larger cross-section members: https://www.facebook.com/229125947114533/photos/pb.100063454...

That’s what the chart I linked says. To stand on a 1m length suspended on both ends, a 2060 might work but a 2080 should be safe. That’s just a bit smaller than a much cheaper wooden 1x4 though.

The chart doesn't seem to account for the profiles that only have a slot on 1 or 2 sides versus all 4. I would guess those are quite a bit stronger. Like this one: https://8020.net/media/catalog/product/cache/9208ae76a38c408...

Edit: Their calculator shows the same exact deflection with the same weight, so maybe not, though that seems odd to me. https://8020.net/deflection-calculator

I've used 80/20 for a number of projrcts, but for a larger project I found this steel square/rectangular tube system from Flex Craft works well. No relation other than satisfied customer. The people are also great to work with.

[0] flex-craft.com

You might look into Unistrut or the other compatible steel strut channel.

You’re looking for metal framing channel aka Unistrut (brand name) aka strut (trade name). 12 ga steel is going to be far stronger than extruded aluminum. It’s heavily used in commercial and industrial construction.

That’s only really useful to compare sizes. Normally you just build your structure with as many supports etc as needed. And 30 degree, 60 degree, 90 degree etc connecting pieces are standard to add support struts.

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