Extruded Aluminum Van Build Basics
Converting your campervan with extruded aluminum (also known as 80/20) is an excellent decision. Extruded aluminum is lightweight, incredibly strong, functional, and long lasting. Additionally, using extruded aluminum for your van build, instead of the more common, wood, will reduce moisture issues, and save space. We have completely DIY-ed two campervans with extruded aluminum and have also written several guides to doing so yourself. This specific guide is meant to serve as a “101 type” or starting point for you to dip your toe into DIY extruded aluminum campervan building.
Further Learning
This guide is perfect for beginning your campervan conversion and getting a grasp on the basics of extruded aluminum. If you wish to dive deeper, feel free to head to our Complete Guide to Converting Your Campervan with 80/20.
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Is it Extruded Aluminum or 80/20?
Throughout our guides, we use the term 80/20 and extruded aluminum, or aluminum extrusions, interchangeably. This is because 80/20 has become the generic name (think “Kleenex”) for using extruded aluminum, especially in the van building world. We do however, acknowledge that this can be confusing to some as historically extruded aluminum is numbered by it’s width so 20mm x 20mm would be 2020, 80mmx20mm would be 8020, etc.
During our 2 campervan builds we have used both 10 series and 15 series extruded aluminum. Which is another added layer of complexity bc those are imperial numbers, not metric (measured in mm). So, all in all we continue to use “80/20” as the generic term for extruded aluminum! The fact that we happen to chose 80/20 inc as our supplier, ironically has nothing to do with the naming.
Now, onto the fun stuff!
Where to Buy Extruded Aluminum
Sourcing extruded aluminum is not as straightforward as sourcing wood is so we figured this was a good place to start. There are a couple of different scenarios that will lead to various places to source the extruded aluminum and connectors your need for your van build.
If you can semi plan ahead: 8020.net (first choice)
Personally, we planned our entire 80/20 van build ahead using sketchup (see our 3D Model Here) and then made one massive order from 8020.net. We, of course, missed a few connectors, and bolts, so also ended up making a few orders from Amazon. We find the price from 8020.net to be reasonable, and the quality to be extremely high from 8020.net. You can be confident in the quality, and accuracy of your order. The only downside here, and why we recommend you to plan ahead, is that shipping times can vary.
Additionally, the team at 80/20 inc loves seeing extruded aluminum van builds so they have shared a 5% off link with us for our blog. It will be applied directly to your cart when you click through any link on this blog. Please let us know if you have issues!
5% off 8020.net applied to cart 😉
when clicking through any link on our blog.If you missed a few items: Amazon
Even though we planned pretty darn well, we missed items. Specifically, we missed connectors and bolts. For this scenario, we recommend Amazon due to speedy shipping times. The cost is not too much higher than 8020.net + shipping. Below we will list some things we found ourselves needing from Amazon:
If you want to pick up in person: Grainger
Grainger is a great place to source (some) extruded aluminum you will need if you prefer to pick up in person. Though, they do not have everything! We found they have standard profiles and lengths, but not all connectors and fasteners we needed.
Basics of Extruded Aluminum (80/20) Campervan Building
The first time we built a campervan with extruded aluminum, we were quite overwhelmed with HOW it was going to work. It is not a hammer and nail job. However, once you distill it down to some basics, it becomes really easy to work with.
Extruded aluminum modules are built with 3 things: extruded aluminum profile lengths, connectors, and bolt/t nut combos. T-nuts slide into the channels along the lengths of extruded aluminum and the bolts go through a connector into the t-nut to hold everything in place. The actual extruded aluminum lengths come in varying profiles, but we find most van dwellers prefer the smooth profile.
Let’s dig into profiles and connectors a bit more.
80/20 Profile Types
Extruded aluminum profiles come in smooth, and non-smooth. From there, you can purchase
lengths that have X number of open channels. An open channel allows you to add a bolt and t-
nut combo. For beginners, we recommend having 4 open channels just so you don’t have to
worry about captivated channels. Personally, we did do the maths of calculating how many
captivated channels we could have. You can see below how a module looks if you can plan
ahead and have the outward facing side be captivated.
80/20 Connectors and Fasteners
Connectors (or fasteners) are how you connect extruded aluminum lengths to build your campervan modules. The most common, and easiest, connector to use is an external two hole corner bracket. We built our entire first campervan with these! You can also extend these to 4 hole, or even gusseted, for some added strength for larger modules. These are great because they don’t require machining adjustments.
We personally came to love 3 way corner connectors in our second campervan conversion. They do require basic end tapping of all lengths that are being connected but this can be done with a simple hand tool. We like these connectors as they leave the corners empty for a full panel covering.
You can truly go on an endless deep dive on fasteners on 8020.net, and find one to meet any specific need you have. To make things simple for now, we would recommend gusseted, or two-four hole corner bracketfor everything hidden, and 3 way corner connectors for anything showing.
80/20 Hardware
Bolts and T-nuts. That is all the hardware you need to know (mostly) to work with extruded aluminum. T-nuts go into the channels of the extruded aluminum profile and the connector is secured via a bolt though the connector and into the T-nut.
There are two types of T-nuts, shown below. Roll in and slide in. Roll in T-nuts (top, silver) are more expensive but offer more forgiveness in that if you forget to insert them into a channel and it becomes captivated, you can roll it in. Slide in t-nuts (bottom, black) are cheaper, but need to be “pre loaded” into channels before constructing.
Anchoring Extruded Aluminum to Your Campervan Chassis
Anchoring your modules to your campervan is extremely important. We like to anchor ours to both the floor, and the walls. Here is how we do it:
Wall anchoring
To anchor our modules to the walls, we use plusnuts and bolts. We run bolts through corner brackets attached to modules. See below:
Floor Anchoring
Anchoring modules to the floor is a bit more complex but a similar concept. The easiest option, and more preferred, would be to anchor the modules into L-track that runs along the floor. L-track is a really great options with lots of utility in a campervan.
Additionally, you could pursue a similar concept to the wall anchoring (with the corner brackets). However, if you go this route, we recommend lag bolts into the floor rather than plusnut and bolt.
Bonus Extruded Aluminum Campervan Building Guides
If you have read any of our other guides, you know we get really in depth, really quick. So in an effort to restrain ourselves and keep this is a guide to get started, we are going to leave links and brief intros to our other 80/20 campervan building guides below that you can use to continue your journey.
80/20 Campervan Bed System
A bed system is the PERFECT starter project for working with extruded aluminum. Not only does it use simple materials, but the construction is straight forward. An 80/20 campervan bed system is lightweight, space saving, and durable.
Fastening Panels to 80/20 Modules
There is a bit of a mindset shift when it comes to adding panels to cabinets, galleys, and drawers. You can’t simply hammer some nails into them. Instead, you have to utilize specific connectors and hardware (shocker!). In the below guide, we share everything you need to know.
80/20 Campervan Drawer Guide
We absolutely love the strength or drawers with have built with extruded aluminum in our campervan. In the below guide, we dive into the nitty gritty of doing this yourself: latches, slides, construction, and more.
80/20 Shower in a Bench Schematics
In our second rig, we built a shower in a bench. It absolutely saves us during the winters we spend living in the snowy alpine. We LOVE that we can shower, but don’t lose precious space. In the below guide, we break down the schematics and parts of our shower in a bench.
80/20 Upper Cabinet Build Guide
Do lightweight, slim, but strong upper cabinets sound like a good idea for your campervan? Well, perfect, because we have got your covered! Upper cabinets are an excellent starter project for building with extruded aluminum.
80/20 Galley Module Calculator + Build Guide
In our opinion, galley modules for campervan builds can get the most complex. We built a calculator and drew up some schematics so you can have a good starting point. And, so that you can understand the basics of constructing one.
Thanks for being here! Happy building!
Eric + Colby
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Comments 4
Any vans for sale and the cost?
Any vans for sale?….what do they cost?
Have you e.g. attached any aluminium framing to the ceiling/ceiling ribs?
Thanks
Author
Hello! Yes! You have a few options for that. I would start by looking at our upper cabinet guide that shows how we do it.