Custom Solar Mounting Extrusions and Standard Tube

There is an ongoing conversation on solar projects about whether to use zinc-aluminum-magnesium steel or return to aluminum for certain sites. We are not here to argue that steel is wrong. We are here to make sure that when aluminum is the right call, the profiles arrive exactly as the mounting design asked, cut, punched, labeled and ready to bolt together.

Some mounting systems are built entirely from standard square and rectangular aluminum tube. If that is yours, we can supply the tube. Others need a custom rail with a serrated top slot for T-bolts, a side channel for cable management, or an integrated drainage groove for BIPV. That is a custom die, and we cut those too.

Steel or Aluminum? The Honest Comparison

Aluminum is roughly one-third the density of steel, which on a commercial rooftop can be the difference between reinforcing the structure and not. It does not rust: the thin oxide layer that forms on bare aluminum within seconds of exposure is self-healing, so corrosion resistance does not depend on a coating staying intact. It is softer, so it cuts and drills faster and suits factory pre-fabrication over field fabrication. At end of life it remains aluminum, recyclable indefinitely, with scrap value typically 70 to 80% of the LME aluminum price.

Steel still wins on large ground-mount arrays with spans over 4 m, on very high wind or snow loads where every megapascal of yield strength counts, and in regions with abundant cheap labor for on-site cutting and welding. If your project looks like that, steel is probably the economic choice and we will say so.

Standard Aluminum Tubes

For the structural bones of a mounting system, posts, cross beams and bracing, a standard aluminum tube or rectangular hollow section often does the job, and we keep dies for common sizes so there is no tooling charge. Square tube is available in 40×40, 50×50 and 60×60 mm, and rectangular tube in 60×40, 80×40 and 100×50 mm, with wall thickness from 1.5 mm to 5.0 mm. Alloy options are 6063-T5, 6005-T5, 6005A-T6 or 6061-T6, in mill, anodized or powder coated finish. If you need 45×45 mm or a wall thickness outside the catalog, we can usually adjust without a full new die.

Custom-Extruded Profiles

• PV rails with integrated serrated channels and side mounting grooves.
• C-channel and H-channel posts with one-piece extruded base flanges and stiffening ribs.
• Clamp base profiles with teeth that match the rail serrations exactly.
• BIPV gutters and water channels with built-in slope and drip edges.

Every custom profile gets a moment-of-inertia and section modulus check against the span and load data you provide. If the section looks underbuilt we say so before the die is made, and suggest a thicker web, an internal rib or an alloy step-up. Typical sections run from 35×30 mm to 40×40 mm in 6063-T6 for residential rooftop rails, 50×50 mm to 68×40 mm in 6005A-T6 for commercial and industrial racking with spans up to 1,500 mm, and custom large-scale sections in 6061-T6 or 6005A-T6 for utility tracker rails, where press capability reaches 5,000 MT.

Surface Finishing for 25 Years Outdoors

A solar farm is a 25-year asset, so the surface is specified for the exposure. Inland and mild climates get anodized AA15 at 15 µm with nickel salt sealing. Coastal sites over 1 km inland and high-humidity locations get AA20 at 20 µm with high-quality sealing. Coastal frontline, salt marsh and floating PV call for PVDF fluorocarbon at 35 µm or more across three coats. General outdoor work with a specific color gets super-durable powder coat at 60 to 80 µm, with 15 to 20 years expected. Before any coating, profiles go through a chrome or chrome-free conversion coating that stops filiform corrosion creeping under a coating from a scratch.

Pre-Fabrication and Fasteners

We offer three delivery levels: raw 6 m lengths for customers with their own fabrication shop; cut and punched, where every rail, post and beam is cut to finish length at 0.1 mm with all connection, drainage and grounding holes made per your assembly drawing; and the full kit, which adds a label on every piece matching its position on the installation drawing, packed by assembly zone or row. On coastal projects, galvanic corrosion between aluminum and dissimilar fasteners is the usual cause of pitting around bolt holes, so specify 316 stainless or Dacromet-coated fasteners with nylon washers or bushings for isolation. We can groove the bolt slot in the die to accept a nylon isolation strip. Minimum order is 500 kg per profile on a new die, while standard tube from existing dies can run at a few hundred kilos.