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Fab School
So here it is
Several people asked for a post of how to fabricate a railing start to finish
So I'll show you step by step how I did these two railings, along with some pretty pictures.
Any questions, ask away,
Any criticism, just shut up, just kidding.
This is how I do it, I've done probably into the 1000s of linear feet, I've never counted.
So I start with some measurements like this
https://images.platforum.cloud/uploads/202...d4f96d3554.jpg
This is what I was saying before. You don't need a scaled drawing, you don't even need graphpaper really, you just need a couple points of reference, I measure the top landing, starting from the house, to the top nosing. Then I measure the horizontal and vertical to the bottom nosing,
I repeat, the bottom nosing, NOT the ground,
You don't need to measure the angle, you can figure that out using a handy dandy construction calculator, or a triangle calculator online, it's way more accurate.
So then you take those references and transfer them to your table.
You can see the soapstone marks I made, denoting the top landing, and in this case it only has one step.
Connect the bottom and top nose with a line, this is good to measure to. https://images.platforum.cloud/uploads/202...24e803b06d.jpg
A very important point here, a residential gaurdail needs to be 36" minimum off the walking surface, I make my panels 34" tall, and leave a 2"gap, with the thickness of the caprail it usually comes out to 36.5"
So, you can do 2 things, that white line can indicate the surface of the step, or it can indicate where you're going to place your bottom rail.
Either way, same result, if it indicates the surface of the step, then you measure up from the line 2" and clamp your bottom rail, in this case I'm using 1x1/2x1/8 channel , that's 90% of the rails I do, and 90% of the rails I see out in the world.
Now, I core drill most of my rails, I allow for 4" of post to go into the stone or concrete. So when you cut your posts, allow for that.
I leave 2" from the house to the 1st post of the railing, that's my preference.
Please don't use hollow 1x1 tubing, it rots out, always.
You guys who are seasoned fabricators can skip most of this, this is aimed at people who've never done this before, or wmat to do it a tried and tested way.
I leave 2" gap from the house to the railing, that's my preference.
Last edited by MetalMan23; 06-14-2020 at 10:27 PM.
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