Pros & Cons of Aluminum Extrusion Custom Exhibits

Pros & Cons of Aluminum Extrusion Custom Exhibits

Aluminum Extrusion walls, also known as Stick Extrusions, are milled aluminum mental parts that can be configure into many different shapes and objects like a large Lego set, making them perfect for custom rental designs on a budget. Each aluminum part can be connected to any other part with metal cam locks and groves. Locks use simple tools like an Allen wrench to lock and unlock them when configuring shapes.

Aluminum Stick Extrusions have the ability of using many different types of material as insert panels in them. Wood, acrylic, melamine, sintra, plastics and even fabric, are able to be used as constructed walls inside the aluminum made frames. This allows custom exhibits more versatility over box framed hard wall panels because of each part being easily change and all parts can break down for shipping. There are many companies that can provide aluminum stick extrusions such as AGAM, Octanorm, BeMatrix, and Nimlock. Each of them has very similar parts with small variations on locks and custom pieces but the overall design capabilities are the same; This allows designers the capability to be more creative with less restrictions in design.

The downside to custom exhibits built with aluminum stick extrusions is the metal frames are more than often visible in the design. Many clean seamless custom designs will never use aluminum stick extrusions without some kind of hidden cladding over them to hide the metal. This method can become costly and it not a good option on custom designed exhibits with tight budgets.

Pros:

• Easy to reconfigure parts making different configurations on custom exhibit designs.
• Easy to change in-fill panels such as colors and styles in the extruded aluminum frame.
• All parts are able to break down for ease of packing and shipping for traveling custom exhibits.
• If handled with care, parts have a longer shelf life than other exhibit systems.
• Custom parts can be integrated with standard parts easily.

Cons:

• Aluminum stick extrusions are not shown often in custom exhibit designs unless cladding is used.
• Custom exhibits with aluminum parts take longer to setup over traditional hard wall panel systems.
• Some parts can be easy broken based on the complexity of them.
• Custom parts, such as bends, can be very costly and usually incur a bending charge from manufactures.
• Aluminum extrusions can be scratched or damaged due to misuse or carelessness.

If you would like to learn more about creating innovative designs with functionality to carry your Brand message onto the show floor with a custom exhibit, please contact Michael Carvalho, Custom Exhibits, mike@lvexpo.com