Can you identify the construction material/system used in the pic?

Question

What's the name of the "big meccano" used in the photo below to construct all the cabinets and racks?

It appears to be an aluminium cut-to-length system of 4-way rails. I've seen it used many times and assume it has a well-known brand-name to those that know.

Inside Audi facility

Photo taken from theverge.com and was a feature about how Audi are building a new car.

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 06 '14 at 14:08

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It looks like 80/20 to me: http://www.8020.net/

I've used it many times...pretty useful stuff.

answered May 06 '14 at 14:08

Andrew Capodieci

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Brilliant, thanks so much. So it's known as "T-slot framing" in the industry and there appear to be a few good makers internationally. Cool. – Luke Puplett May 06 '14 at 14:15
As @LukePuplett says there are many other vendors, e.g.: http://www13.boschrexroth-us.com/framing_shop/ – Guy Sirton May 06 '14 at 17:20
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+1 for directly answering the question. You might also mention that the horizontal rails are DIN rail, and people making smaller robots might want to look at miniature T-slot rails -- OpenRail, VSlot, MakerBeam, OpenBeam. – David Cary May 07 '14 at 03:11

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:49

The original T-slot frame system, was developed in the 80's by item GmbH and was quickly developed into the MB Building Kit System, hence I've always known it as item bar.

Since then though, there have been many other manufacturers producing similar systems. Examples include Bosch Rexroth (as mentioned by Guy Sirton), 80/20 (Andrew Capodieci's suggestion), FlexLink and many others, but item is still one of the most popular and well respected, especially in Europe.

Also, as David Cary says there are also people producing micro versions of T-slot systems, such as OpenRail/VSlot, MakerBeam and OpenBeam etc.

Can you identify the construction material/system used in the pic?

2 Answers2