# Forum Home Renovation Metalwork & Welding  making balustrade posts

## phild01

For my stainless steel wire balustrade, I need to fabricate some metal posts with a fixing plate at each end.  I was thinking of using 2.0 or 2.5mm gal SHS.
Cost wise, would I be better off using black steel and having the whole lot galvanised (rather than using cold gal at the welds)? 
Suggestions of where in Sydney I need to travel for the galvanising?

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## OBBob

If cost is the consideration I would've thought galvanising afterwards would be more expensive (although better) ... perhaps I'm off track though.

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## phild01

> If cost is the consideration I would've thought galvanising afterwards would be more expensive (although better) ...

   My thought as well.

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## Marc

Depends how you are going to finish the post. Paint? powdercoat? leave it galvanised? 
If you are going to paint it yourself, you can get away with using duragal and spray cold gal on the weld, then two pack undercoat and top coat. 
A tin of this guys is about $100 Primers 
If you have enough post to justify hot dip, try this mob : 9607 2880 (Ian or David) 2/12 Ash Rd Preston. they have a minimum charge but it is a bit rubbery and you may be able to negotiate.  
Thre is an alternative to hot dip, that is Hot Metal Spray. It's like an electric welder combined with a sandblaster that blasts molten zinc on your piece. I never used it for small parts but it's worth a try Contact Services
I had a guy that did this in a small scale but seem to have lost his contact, but it wasn't hard to find 
If you go hot dip, you can't weld the post shut, and the little holes for the wire don't count. You will have to drill a 12mm hole in the base right next to the inside wall of the pipe and another on the top

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## ringtail

Why are you not using SS posts Phil ? Pretty cheap, already drilled and obviously no need to paint.

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## Marc

There are probably steel galvanized post ready made too.

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## Marc

Stainless Steel Balustrade Posts | Ready-To-Install Round Posts  http://www.hammersmith.com.au/hs_pro...y-to-use-posts 
Mm not very cheap

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## phild01

> Depends how you are going to finish the post. Paint? powdercoat? leave it galvanised? 
> If you are going to paint it yourself, you can get away with using duragal and spray cold gal on the weld, then two pack undercoat and top coat. 
> A tin of this guys is about $100 Primers 
> If you have enough post to justify hot dip, try this mob : 9607 2880 (Ian or David) 2/12 Ash Rd Preston. they have a minimum charge but it is a bit rubbery and you may be able to negotiate.  
> Thre is an alternative to hot dip, that is Hot Metal Spray. It's like an electric welder combined with a sandblaster that blasts molten zinc on your piece. I never used it for small parts but it's worth a try Contact Services
> I had a guy that did this in a small scale but seem to have lost his contact, but it wasn't hard to find 
> If you go hot dip, you can't weld the post shut, and the little holes for the wire don't count. You will have to drill a 12mm hole in the base right next to the inside wall of the pipe and another on the top

  Thanks Marc, I went to a local welder I didn't know existed and ordered 2 8m lengths of gal SHS 50/2.5.  I decided to tec screw duragal angle in lieu of a bottom flange and cold gal the top flange. 
But that info might be very useful for future reference, thanks.

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## phild01

> Why are you not using SS posts Phil ? Pretty cheap, already drilled and obviously no need to paint.

  I would like ss but not so sure 14 posts could be got for less than $200.  Can these be got with a top flange and as shs or just round?

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## Marc

So you are not going to do the welding?
Tech screw angle for the base ... mm I don't like the sound of that. 
Give me the whole picture. 
Post goes on what surface, handrail made of what, size of handrail etc. 
A rail post cops a lot of abuse and the last thing you want is to have a wobbly railing.

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## phild01

> So you are not going to do the welding?
> Tech screw angle for the base ... mm I don't like the sound of that. 
> Give me the whole picture. 
> Post goes on what surface, handrail made of what, size of handrail etc. 
> A rail post cops a lot of abuse and the last thing you want is to have a wobbly railing.

  I did this a while back and it worked a treat.  The post mounts to a 140x45 deck face plate, and may also be bolted through to an intermediate supporting angle behind this on the joist.  The rail is a 90x45 Merbau.  The one I did already is rock solid.  I did that welding but I am limited to smokey gasless wire and can't see what I am doing, so like the idea of paying someone $90 an hour **eek** to do it for me.  My MIG takes gas but I am a bit clueless doing this type of setup.  Still have a roll of gas type wire too.

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## ringtail

> I would like ss but not so sure 14 posts could be got for less than $200.  Can these be got with a top flange and as shs or just round?

  Ummm, no. $200 is dreamin'. And round only. Agree with Marc too.  I don't  like the idea of tek screws.

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## ringtail

> .  I did that welding but I am limited to smokey gasless wire and can't see what I am doing, so like the idea of paying someone $90 an hour **eek** to do it for me.  My MIG takes gas but I am a bit clueless doing this type of setup.  Still have a roll of gas type wire too.

  Smokey gasless wire, you mean the good stuff  :Wink: . Use a fan ( can't do that with solid wire  :Wink: ). Solid wire is a lot easier than flux core but you obviously need gas and no breeze. Flux core with a fan is tops. Blows all the bad fumes to the neighbours house.  :Tongue:

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## Marc

OK so you are getting a plate welded for the top ... what? 80x80? and bottom you have a way to fix it to the joist. Well that sounds like a plan, I was picturing little pieces of angle screwed to the deck ...  :Smilie: 
Are you painting it or powder coat it?

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## phild01

> Ummm, no. $200 is dreamin'. And round only. Agree with Marc too.  I don't  like the idea of tek screws.

  The steel for the 14 posts is coming in at around $200 and is gal.  The Tec screws are fairly big and the idea is that the base remains with the best rust protection I can achieve without dipping.  I might weld it, but I am an amateur welder.

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## Marc

Having said that I would have a top and bottom plate, weld it or get it welded, then galvanise it and powdercoat it. Only because it is 14. if only a few, I would paint it with a brush. Make sure they don't quench the galvo, epoxy undercoat and top coat may be POR-15 or hammerit or something like that

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## phild01

> Smokey gasless wire, you mean the good stuff . Use a fan ( can't do that with solid wire ). Solid wire is a lot easier than flux core but you obviously need gas and no breeze. Flux core with a fan is tops. Blows all the bad fumes to the neighbours house.

  Interesting what you say about no breeze, as I can only do this outside on a sunny day.  How big a fan do you reckon I need, a household domestic one ok?

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## phild01

> Having said that I would have a top and bottom plate, welde it, then galvanise it and powdercoat it

  Too costly by the sounds of it, I'll give it a good prime, and you suggest 2 pack.  I have had trouble with painting duragal before but a spray etch primer seems to work. Can 2 pack primers be legally sprayed outdoors?

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## Marc

If you need to fix an SHS to a joist, there is an easy way to do it and you don't need a base plate. 
Drill two holes on the side of the SHS big enough to fit the head of the bolt and the (long) socket to hold it. Drill a smaller hole for the bolt to pass through the other side and the joist. 
Two 12mm bolts 100mm apart have a phenomenal holding power.
Don't be too scared of cutting the duragal. A good spray of good quality cold gal covered with epoxy primer and topcoat will last a very long time. They protect public works that way.

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## Marc

As for priming galvo, Dulux Luxepox can be sprayed and it is designed for precisely that purpose, on top of zinc coating.
Oh, outdoors? I have no idea, probably nothing can be sprayed outdoors legally, but who is going to know? You can apply with a brush, I did my ramp that way, and will do my stairs too. That paint goes a very long way. Just finished painting two 100x100 SHS and a universal post 250, colg galvo, primer and white knight top coat

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## phild01

> If you need to fix an SHS to a joist, there is an easy way to do it and you don't need a base plate. 
> Drill two holes on the side of the SHS big enough to fit the head of the bolt and the (long) socket to hold it. Drill a smaller hole for the bolt to pass through the other side and the joist. 
> Two 12mm bolts 100mm apart have a phenomenal holding power.
> Don't be too scared of cutting the duragal. A good spray of good quality cold gal covered with epoxy primer and topcoat will last a very long time. They protect public works that way.

   This is how I did it before similar to what you say.  This time I am mounting to the front face of the face board.

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## Marc

Yes, that will work for sure. To weld a flat bar 50x100 on top shouldn't cost that much. You can get galvanised flat bar that size.

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## ringtail

Yep Phil, any fan will do. Don't put it too close or it will cool the weld too quickly. The idea is to blow the weld plume away to give better vision bit also get that crap away from your face. Welding fumes are so frikken toxic. Gal welding fumes are lethal. Grind the area to be welded and keep that fan blowing

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## phild01

Know about welding gal, it does make you feel crook, even after I thought I had it ground away sufficiently.

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## ringtail

Blow that crap out of the way. Fluxcore, like stick, welds gal much better than solid wire.

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## PlatypusGardens

> Know about welding gal, it does make you feel crook, even after I thought I had it ground away sufficiently.

  
Yes
Blah 
I can usually taste it for hours afterwards   :Yuk:   
You'll never grind it all off...
Especially if it's a tube there will be stuff on the inside too which turns to white fluff as you weld   :Yuk:   :Yuk:

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## PlatypusGardens

> Yep Phil, any fan will do. Don't put it too close or it will cool the weld too quickly. The idea is to blow the weld plume away to give better vision bit also get that crap away from your face. Welding fumes are so frikken toxic. Gal welding fumes are lethal. Grind the area to be welded and keep that fan blowing

  Pooter fan on welding gun.
Problem solved             :Play Ball:

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## phild01

> Pooter fan on welding gun.
> Problem solved

  Neat, your setup or staged?

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## PlatypusGardens

> Neat, your setup or staged?

  
Haha staged for the purpouse of this thread, but could be mounted like so, I suppose.
(Maybe a smaller one would be more practical)
And it could be turned around for either blowing or extracting....with some ducting....and a small battery attached....   
....mmm....  
I had a much smaller fan here at one point, maybe 40mm dia or so, probably from an old laptop...
That would be the go for something like this. 
Or there's fancy (=expen$ive) extraction/ventilation attachments to buy of course.   :Smilie:

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## ringtail

That's interesting.  :Biggrin:  I'd give the fan about 5 minutes before it melted though. I use one of those industrial floor fans. Bought it years ago. Set it up at one end of the workshop all good. Just like having a constant 15 knot breeze which is perfect. 
like this one  https://www.bigw.com.au/product/feni...0000000035793/

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## PlatypusGardens

> That's interesting.  I'd give the fan about 5 minutes before it melted though.

  Mmm...maybe hehe. 
Could work if it was mounted further away with some ducting.... 
But it would probably be a bit awkward to use

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## ringtail

> Mmm...maybe hehe. 
> Could work if it was mounted further away with some ducting.... 
> But it would probably be a bit awkward to use

  You and the ducting  :Biggrin: . Big fan works great as it cools me at the same time. Of course, with solid wire/gas, you're screwed.

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## PlatypusGardens

> You and the ducting.

  
Hehe thought you'd like that

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## ringtail

Time for some ducting art PG  :Wink 1:

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