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Originally Posted by M. Krass
Though the 8020 extrusion itself may be lighter per foot than box aluminum, don't forget to factor in the weight of the additional fasteners and joining plates required to make it all stay together. If a team has access to aluminum welding equipment, it's probably lighter to weld a frame together from box aluminum than to make it from extrusion -- depending on its design, somewhat.
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Let's see.
If you're using say 25 feet of 1" 80-20 for your frame, you'll save about .4 lbs over box.
40 1/4-20 bolts at 5/8" long, 8 of those corner fasteners (about .025 lbs each) and prolly about a foot and a half of 1" x .125" angle (at .2742 lbs / ft) gives you fasterner weight total of about .752 lbs...
<math skipped, have faith in my algebra>
So using 1" 80/20 for your frame is about 3.1% heavier than box aluminum,
fasteners included. (13.17 lbs vs. 12.78 lbs)
Absolutely worth it IMHO.