I cut and drilled aluminum-angle stock into custom brackets for the roof-mounted equipment. Making those small pieces took more fitting work than the finished mounts suggest.
A custom aluminum-angle connection between the extrusion pieces in my mount.
Why I bought it
The light bar and security cameras needed connections between the rack extrusion and the additional pieces I was fitting. Aluminum-angle stock was one of the materials I used to make those brackets.
I was working with both the existing roof-rack extrusion and smaller added extrusion. Custom bracket pieces let me arrange the mounting points around the parts I had.
How I used it in my camper van
For the light bar, I cut three short aluminum mounts, drilled two holes in each and used them to connect the added extrusion to the rack. The camera-mount work continued with angle brackets cut and drilled for the extrusion assembly.
The following sessions involved enlarging bracket holes, adding a bracket for the camera’s front attachment point and preparing more mounts. I also decided to bring the drill press into the work as the number of holes grew.
Short connecting brackets between the light-bar extrusion and the roof-rack extrusion.
My review
The useful feature of angle stock in my build was having a right-angled blank I could turn into several small connecting pieces. The work involved measuring, cutting, drilling and fitting each one.
The brackets also exposed the time spent on small hardware. My notes describe moving T-nuts into position and planning shorter bolts so I would not have to keep shortening them. The bracket shape was only one part of assembling the mount.
A small custom bracket still involved cut planning, hole placement, hardware and repeated fitting.
Alternative products
Two alternatives to compare
Randall Manufacturing supplies a longer angle length with one-inch legs and an eighth-inch wall. The M-D option has a narrower equal-leg profile in a long length. Stock profile and the number of bracket blanks obtainable from a length are useful differences to compare with the short Blulu pieces.
Randall Manufacturing Aluminum Angle
This aluminum-angle length provides two right-angled legs for fabrication work. The longer stock can be divided into bracket blanks and corner pieces.
This equal-leg aluminum angle provides right-angled stock for custom fabrication. Its long, narrow profile offers another blank for cutting and drilling small brackets.
