Sick And Tired Of PVC Warping - Aluminium Window Frames?

[andrew.mille]

Casually preparing for this years display and as I started looking at redoing my window frames I’ve officially had enough of drilling PVC pipe

Every time I use PVC for pixel frames it seems to warp like crazy, especially once you start drilling a heap of holes into it. It works, but it’s honestly such a pain to get everything straight and looking clean.

I used @thewanderingpine / Rob's method for my verticals and they came out amazing, so this year I’m thinking about doing something similar for my window outlines instead of going back to PVC but with bullet pixels.

At the moment I’m looking at either Metal Mate square aluminium from Bunnings or Capral square aluminium. I’m leaning towards the Metal Mate mainly because I can get it in black already, which should look a lot cleaner during the day and means I don’t have to paint anything.

Has anyone else moved away from PVC for window outlines/pixel frames?

Would love to pick everyone’s brains and see what people are using, how you’re joining the corners, whether you pull the frames apart for storage each year, and how they’ve held up over a few seasons.

More than happy to spend a bit more if it means I can build them once, keep them straight and stop fighting warped PVC every Christmas

Metal Mate 25.4 x 25.4 x 1mm x 3m Black Aluminium Square Tube

Find Metal Mate 25.4 x 25.4 x 1mm x 3m Black Aluminium Square Tube at Bunnings. Visit your local store for the widest range of products.

www.bunnings.com.au

 

[thewanderingpine]

bullets in aluminium tubing might be a fun challenge to push through. I'd want to try some test holes/etc before I'd commit to trying that. I guess assuming the back one is large enough, it's just a single layer to push through.

I've gotten some black garden edging from Capral before -- do they not have a black option?

 

[merryoncherry]

This stuff is good, just need to figure out what China factory it comes from so the Aussies can get some. https://www.holidaycoro.com/PixelPipe-Pre-Drilled-Pixel-Mounting-Pipe-p/1800.htm ... light aluminum extrusion with the holes, no drilling, no warping, sun-proof. 3D printable connection points...