# Forum Home Renovation Doors, Windows, Architraves & Skirts  making your own aluminium windows

## ajm

folks, i recently started looking into making a window for our newly renovated bathroom. I needed just the sash and not the frame, yet most of the window places will not sell you just a sash and don't seem to want to make something that is not on their standard sizes chart. so, i thought i would make my own. grossly oversimplified, a window is not that hard to do. get your aluminium extrusion, cut, make angles for corners, join together around piece of glass... all done. 
the hard part is getting the aluminium extrusion, it would seem. i have just been told by Capral Aluminium that the six metre lengths of aluminium that i require will cost $x. no problem, says i, getting out my wallet to purchase. However, young chap then added the small order surcharge which more than doubled the price of the materials. what a load of @@@@@! who in their right mind is going to pay a surcharge for a small order!! if your outlet says "open to the public", why turn them away by charging a surcharge for purchasing a retail quantity? ridiculous! 
and before you building professionals all jump up and down and try and justify why a small order should be charged extra, don't. an order is an order is an order. sure, if you are breaking into a production run, its understandable that a custom job will cost more. its also understandable that if transport has to be arranged for a single item, that item will cost more due to it bearing the whole cost of the shipping. but, when a stocked piece of material, is there, on hand, there is no justifiable reason to charge extra for it. as i stated above, ridiculous. 
so, does any body know where i can get either a awning style window (roughly 770mm * 404mm) made in white aluminium or the extrusions for said window for a decent price (Boral, charge around $200 for the window and frame, and apparently just the sash is a custom job)? we are on the northside of brisbane.

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## SilentButDeadly

That Boral price seems quite reasonable since you'll get charged about a third of that just to buy and fit the glass in your DIY frame. 
The small order surcharge is to cover the cost & time of setting up the extrusion machine just for your small run and putting out the normal timing of production. 
You could try and find a slightly larger window in the odd jobs or cast off bin and cut it down to size.  But for the hassle I'd spend the two notes.

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## ajm

thanks SBD. the boral product looked awful and was really quite flimsy so I have spent the last few weeks trying to find either the bits and pieces i need to make the window, or an oversize window to cut down, exactly as you suggest. and, i do not believe that capral would have to extrude the bits i want specifically. the two pieces are standard bits from their catalogue and i want full lengths (they come in 6m pieces), nothing special. I will keep on looking. cheers

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## Pulse

I tried wardrobe extrusions form Capral, didn't get as far as an order but they had to order quite a few in. I would have thought that the common extrusions were on the racks. I think a 50% trade discount is a much more palatable way of treating us DIY customers! 
Cheers
Pulse

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## Gaza

alsupply might be better than capal, we dont buy nothing from capal can not be bothered with there rubbish, 
but 200 for whole window is cheap i know that 100x50 shop front section is around $100 for 6.5mt length plus then need glazing bead another $40 also rubber, plus head sill and sub sill 
if using domestic section you need to notch the parts around the profile they are not mitered. the machine you use for this is a massive punch / die set, for a one off could use power file and grinder.

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