8020 Cabinet Construction

I've had a couple of requests on how I built my cabinets using 8020 aluminum extrusion so I took a few photos while working on the latest project.

I'm not sure where to put this thread so this seems to be a good place since these are in my Vagabond Outdoors Drifter.

The materials can be purchased online from several sources. I used www.tnutz.com but there is also www.8020.net and www.automation4less.com/tslots1. All of the extrusions, brackets, corners and bolts for the two cabinets shown below totaled about $250. Not exactly inexpensive, but much cheaper than buying premade cabinets.

First, study the tutorials at 8020.net and learn the many ways of putting this stuff together. Then you can look at your own project and decide what will work best for you.

Sketch a plan for your build. You can either buy long lengths of extrusion and cut it to size or figure it all out ahead of time and order the pieces already cut to length like I did.


Lay out your parts. In this case I'm using these 3-sided corner cubes. The end of the extrusion needs to be tapped 1/4"-20 wherever a bolt goes. The extrusion already has a hole through the center which is the tap drill size for 1/4"-20 threads. How convenient!


Tap those holes:


Screw it all together. Once I check the fit in the truck, I use a drop of threadlocker to keep everything secure.


For my cabinet I wanted some panels to fill in some areas. The slots in the extrusion will accept 1/4" sheet goods. I use 1/8" luan plywood and cover it with marine carpet. It makes a nice snug slip-fit in the slot. Inside of panel:


Outside of panel:


I make up the various side panels on a flat surface and then screw them together in sections. Seems to be easier than working with all the individual pieces at once.


Brackets to attach the cabinet to the truck can be fabricated from angle or flat bar. You'll have to use your imagination for your particular application. Likewise, adding shelves or doors or drawers is easy to accomplish. Tapped inserts slide into the slots in the extrusion and you can bolt whatever you want to it.

Edit: I should have mentioned, instead of the corner cubes, you could just overlap the extrusions and use an angle bracket to hold the corner together. They sell plastic end caps to cover up the exposed end.

 

thanks for this it looks awesome and is helpful!

 

nice write up. looks really good. I took some scrap 8020 from work that I'm thinking about making into a compartment/bench seat at the front of the truck bed.

 

What is the width of your cabinets? I love the space down the center.

 

The left side is 9" wide and the right side is 21", leaving 27" down the center(room for my fridge and a chair or a wide sleeping pad).

Made a little more progress. The top galley section removes with four bolts leaving both sides the same height so I can still carry full sheets of plywood or drywall if needed. The countertop will have a small sink and room for my stove as well as additional storage.

 

Thanks a lot for sharing this! I want to try to build out my interior with 8020 once I get my Drifter and this is inspiring.

 

Couple questions, What size for the 80/20 1x1, 1.5x1.5 or 2x2" and what did you use for the floor 3/4 ply painted? Your build is awesome!

 

Thanks!

I used 1x1. It's plenty strong for this application.

The floor is 1/4" foam in the grooves of the bed adhered to a sheet of 1/2" foam adhered to 1/4" birch plywood, painted. I wanted some insulation and to keep it light weight.

 

Awesome setup! Thanks for sharing your experience. Can’t wait to transform my truck into a camper.

 

Do you have any pictures of how you did the insides of the cabinets? Corners and around the wheel wells, and how you attached to the bed rails? thanks

 

This is the front left corner.

The red arrows are L brackets with a bolt and t-slot connector in the extrusion and screws through the floor. I used five per side cabinet.

The blue arrow is a piece of 1" square aluminum tubing. There is a bolt and t-slot connector in the extrusion and a bolt and sliding threaded piece(?) in the truck rail. I used three per side cabinet. Very solid!

 

Thank you, that is very clear and looks like a very efficient way to do it.

 

I built bed drawers already but I think they are heavy and not as functional as this type of system. I think I will rebuild it at some point here soon.

 

Super cool man, thanks. What is the least expensive extrusion that you think would work for this application.

And do you have any details on how you carpeted the walls?

 

The best price I found on extrusion was at tnutz.com(link in post #1). I think the 1" size is plenty for this type of use. For a rack that will see a lot of weight or rough movement I'd step up to 1-1/2".

The walls were pretty simple. I cut 1" foam insulation board to fit the space, minus about 1/4" for the thickness of the carpet. Spray the carpet and the foam board with Super77 adhesive. Cut the carpet a few inches oversize, spray more adhesive on the back and wrap it around the back side. Then the panels just push into place, nice tight fit and don't move or fall out of place.

One nice thing about all of the carpeted surfaces is that the hook side Velcro sticks to it. I've got various things stuck all over the place.

 

Thats awesome. I definitely am going to use yours as inspiration. I'm very curious to see how I'll be able to anchor the shelving to the lip of my 1st gen. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I have a bike axle mount drilled into my bed for keeping my bike locked inside, so I only have one side of the bed to work with but I'd like to do something tall like yours.

Couple questions:
What are the corner parts called? And the tapping of the ends is the only big change needed to the extrusion pieces? Could using some of those L brackets bypass this if I dont have a vice and tap?
The top of the driver side storage looks really nice. How did you do that?

 

Tapping is all that's needed for those corners. The corners are: Square Tri-corner
You could just overlap the extrusion and use L-brackets, but I liked the clean look of these.

As far as the tapping goes, it's really easy to do. The correct size hole is already there, it's aluminum so it taps really easy, a tap and tap handle can be had for under $10 at any hardware store, and you don't need a vice, just clamp it to a solid table or the tailgate or the bumper.

The tops are simply plywood covered with carpet. There are a couple of cleats on the bottom to keep them from sliding off or popping up when driving. I'm all about keeping it simple.

 

Sweet man, thanks for the info!

 

Did I see a bug screen in the back of your rig on another post? Did you make it or buy it and how/from who? Have any updated photos of any mods completed? Love your set up.
Thanks