Building metal handrails

Step by step process to build metal handrails. Using 1-1/2” square tube with 1/2” sq pickets.
www.mattcometalworks.com
Subscribe to our youtube channel kzbin.info/door/BXo…
Instagram. / mattco_mafia
Facebook. / getyaweldright

[@weldersandblaster]

I loved your video. You explain things so well. Thanks. Now I have to go watch all your other videos.

[@FuriousMouse]

I always tack weld small pieces of angle iron to the table and clamp the rail to it.

[@ericelam1014]

The way I weld in pickets, I mark the center of the run and start at each end coming into the middle, when finished I will have 2 picket in the center set closer then the 4" gap. It adds a look of being specially designed. Your suggestion to stagger weld is excellent' I am always learning and your advice will be used.

[@MattcoMetalWorks]

ElamCo Inc. that’s awesome. There are a couple different ways to do it like most things. Our customers usually dictate what they want or we have blueprints to go by for our commercial jobs. For our residential clients we have more freedom to be creative. Thanks for watching.

[@c_mac7773]

I have some handrailing I need to weld some commercial handrailing. Just inch and a half tube steel. I’ve only used a welder for about 30 minutes when I was a kid. I guess I’m going to learn on the job. My uncle used to weld the racing heads for Bobby LaBonte, I wish I would’ve learned from him before he passed.I’ll figure It out though like I do everything else. If you have a certain amount of skills and good craftsmanship then most of the time you can make some thing look good even if you’ve never done it before. I usually can at least

[@MattcoMetalWorks]

That is very true. If you want it bad enough you'll figure it out. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions and I'll help ya anyway I can

[@aaronperysian9413]

Do a video on how you get work, advertise, sell jobs?

[@bhinbayoucity5691]

Hopefully u did space the pickets so that a 4in sphere cannot pass between the faces of the pickets. Is the rail gonna be painted, shop primed, or galv.?

[@MattcoMetalWorks]

Yes pickets are always spaced 4" or less between, so usually 4" On Center "OC" will be painted on these, Thanks for watching

[@jhonnygringo1514]

cool but almost nobody has a table that big.

[@MattcoMetalWorks]

That’s actually a small table compared to large shops. Larger shops that do handrails make custom tables that are 15’-20’ long as there are often times we make rails that long. 6’ is alittle wide but it allows us to get large items on the table and be sure we have room to work.

[@jodymontez693]

Why don't you center the pickets? Fab 101

[@MattcoMetalWorks]

Not sure what you mean, We do center the pickets in the 1.5" sq tube We have jigs that do that

[@187denver]

what side is this table

[@MattcoMetalWorks]

The large Fab table we have is a 6' x 12' We also built a jig table and that's 4' x 8'

[@187denver]

Thanks for the reply I have been a steel detailer for about 10 years 7 of them self employed. I’m in the process of starting a small fab shop and really have enjoyed your content. Thank you for sharing. Do you have a video of a jig table and what that is.

[@bradyandsamantha1337]

A couple years to late lol but how thick of plate for your work table?

[@MattcoMetalWorks]

Both of our tables are 1/2” thick plate One is 6x12 and the other is 4x10

[@bradyandsamantha1337]

Would you not recommend anything thinner than 1/2”? Just trying to figure out a table set up that’s not gonna be thousands

[@MattcoMetalWorks]

@@bradyandsamantha1337 oh absolutely. You could definitely do 3/8” and even 1/4” it all depends on what your going to be doing on the table. How much heat will you be applying? how much weight would be on it at any given time? Will you be welding and tacking parts to the table? How critical is it that the table is perfectly flat? How much support frame is under the table? And most importantly what’s your budget? Lots of questions to ask yourself here because your exactly correct steel is very expensive right now. When we built these tables over 5 years ago things were more reasonable so we could go alittle thicker than maybe we needed at the time. Now I’m glad we did because they take a beating.

[@bradyandsamantha1337]

Okay that’s helpful info thank you , honestly it would be for handrails and railings haha I have all the equipment at home already just need a good bench set up that’s gonna keep my stuff level and easier to get tacked up and welded so it wouldn’t be a ton of heat to the table

[@reconnaisancesapper]

Clamping down the rail is a waste of time as this makes the frame no straighter than without. Not only that, the frame's material must be able to work. Before even welding the outer frame together, I always have the uprights tacked in place beforehand. With the right welding sequence, the material distortion is minimum.

[@MattcoMetalWorks]

Yossi Illan we do the same with the mid posts. They are tacked in place and the outer frame is also all tacked in place. We use clamps sometimes and sometimes we don’t. Depends on the situation and the conditions of the steel when we get it. Sometimes they have some bows in the square tubing and clamping can help keep it straight until it’s welded in place.

[@reconnaisancesapper]

@@MattcoMetalWorks This is a valid point. For this reason I usually straighten the material before any tacking begins. Of course, you can clamp both ends of the railing to straight square tubing and we can use the filling to get the inside height we need.

[@whitestains1656]

What do mean waste of time I wouldn't dare build a rail square or otherwise without clamps, ,when your building multiples of the same rails you want them to be them same