Zincalume furring channel to DIY some "PERMA-nent-TRACK-ing"? =D

[cray-]

Heya, as mentioned in my intro thread, just bought myself 500x pixels with the idea of maybe making them permanent on the front of my house and roofline. So had a poke around Bunnies this arvo and came across this stuff. It's a wall/drop ceiling system made by KNAUF with various profiles available. The J and U shaped stuff comes in two depths and at between $7-$10 for a 3.6m length the price is certainly right. Bluescope has instructions on their site about how to wash and paint it, looks pretty straight forward: http://www.bluescopesteel.com.au/howto/painting-zincalume

"hahahahah have fun drilling holes in that stuff buddy!" I hear you all saying? Well say hello to my not-so-little friend!


(OK that one is not mine, I just found an equivalent machine on google images, but anyway)
I happen to operate a 1.8m x 3.6m waterjet in a signage fabrication shop as a day job. It cuts through solid steel like the proverbial hot knife through butter. A few 12mm holes in a bit of tin will only take minutes.

What do ya'll think?

 

[Mark_M]

I'm looking forward to your outcome.
A week ago someone mentioned about this U/J channel like stuff in Oz.
Biggest breakthrough since sliced bread!

 

[Andrew Lee]

Yep go for it, I have the 18mm. I thought the 28mm was a bit too wide..

 

[cray-]

Yep go for it, I have the 18mm. I thought the 28mm was a bit too wide..

Any pics? How did you drill the holes and did you paint it? I'm curious now.

 

[BAZMick]

G'day Cray

Try a couple of test holes first. I cut a couple of stars out of 1.6mm stainless my first year and assumed the pixels would be at 1/2inch, I hadn't received my pixel order at that stage but once I received them I found they were 12mm. After cutting, the heavy garnet feed I used wore the holes out to almost 13mm and the pixels were a little loose fitting.
P.S. aren't they a cool machine?

 

[cray-]

Try a couple of test holes first.

Oh definitely, test cut, test cut, test cut. I come from quite a few years on CNC router but only 3 months on the waterjet. It's similar, but different. The variance in the kerf width is a constant chase, but I've got my procedures down using a quick slot and some feeler gauges. Then the software can compensate inside/outside, male/female cut once it knows what it's working with. Even so, always test cut to be sure. Often working on expensive materials so can't be too cautious. Great toys, loving the learning curve.

 

[cray-]

We had some downtime on the waterjet and then a backlog I'm working through, therefore no time for personal jobs and I got impatient.

Made up a jig for the drill press, bought a fresh 12mm step bit and went to town on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Each 3m length took about 15 minutes after I got everything setup. Not too bad for my first batch. Hopefully I'll get some waterjet ones some eventually. But these will be enough to get some sparkly up for halloween.

 

[The Hobo]

This is great! How did it end up going with the install etc? You should sell these!