FREE DIY ALUMINUM SIM RIG PLANS
Quick summary· AI-generated
This guide walks builders through aluminum extrusion fundamentals (40 vs. 15 series, solid vs. lightweight profiles), explains the cost and rigidity tradeoffs, and promises a complete bill-of-materials with pre-cut extrusions available for one-click ordering. The author estimates 15-series saves $150+ over 40-series while maintaining sufficient stiffness for sim racing, and covers hardware compatibility (metric fasteners matching wheelbase/pedal standards) and design rationale for those interested in the engineering.
Excerpt from P1Labs, LLC - Free Stuff
The goal of this post is to provide people with the cheapest possible way of getting into an aluminum profile sim racing chassis and to make the whole ordeal as simple as possible. If you follow this guide you will able to buy, with just a few clicks, all the extrusion pre cut to length and all of the hardware necessary to build a very rigid rig that wont have you wanting for more. You will also have an understanding of how to put the rig together and for those nerdy enough to care...why it is designed the way it is.
What is aluminum extrusion framing?
Before we start we need to discuss what aluminum extrusion profiles are. Extrusion is actually a process where material is heated up and forced under extremely high pressures through a die. This creates a very long bar that could have a very intricate cross section, the process allows for cost effective mass manufacturing of framing materials. There are lots of standards for extrusions, but for sim racing rigs the most common are 40 series and 15 series. 40 Series refers to the metric standard size where the cross sections are available in 40 mm increments. For example 4040, is 40mmx40mm, whereas 4080 is 40mmx80mm and so on. 15 series refers to the imperial standard where extrusion is available is 1.5 inch increments, 1515 or 1530 for example.
Metric vs Imperial
The first design choice we have to make is which standard will we use. 40 series is more common worldwide but after doing some digging I found that 15 series was much cheaper, at least here in the US. I estimate that by using 15 series instead of 40 series we are able to save $150+ in material and shipping cost (15 series is slightly smaller but having built this rig already I can guarantee you it is stiff enough for the purpose of sim racing). On the bright side the 15 series accepts the same hardware used with 40 series. We will be using metric hardware to match the hardware wheelbases and pedals accept and because its more common/cheaper.
Light Weight vs Heavy Duty
The next choice we have to make is whether or not you use solid or light weight profile. Light weight profile has a pocket that runs the length of the extrusion, reducing the amount of material needed for the frame. This saves on material cost and saves on weight. If you click the link at the bottom of this post, you will see that you can choose either option. The light weight version is plenty stiff, that's because most of the rigidity comes from where the material is placed…
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