simple guard rail, completed last week

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This is a 200' guard rail job.  It was straight forward.  It took 10 hours to fabricate--That is 3 days of welding for me.  I was able to completely weld a panel in about 15-20 minutes.  That is with a jig and only lifting my helmet to turn the rail over.  Since it was simple, I concentrated on spacing of all panels and balusters.  The spacing between balusters is the same, however the panel size with each run along the wall.  I also concentrated on removing any welding deformation.  The second pictures shows the top rail of the longest run 80'.Finally, I concentrated on the panels and post being plumb.  I hate getting dizzy when I look through one set of balusters to another set.The third pictures is a rotisseri I made to hold the rails while painting.  It helped a lot.  The rails were completely painted in 10 min.  There were no marks to touch-up since attachments were made inside the tubing.The final picture is of the bundles.  I decided to get the balusters cut rather than cutting them myself.  This freed up a lot of time for me to work on other jobs.  I used solid 1/2 inch steel.  Solid is much easier to deal with and less clean up--no oil.  Most of my rails are made using tubing.  If you do order pre-cut material, then keep them in the bundles.  Do not mix bundles.  If there is an error in size, then the entire bundle will be wrong. Thus if all are kept seperate, then you can work around the errors.  For example, my supplier says they will be within 1/16" of sizing.  Hence, one bundle could be off 1/8" from another.  That could make you sick if all the bundles are mixed up and you have a jig set up for the smallest size.I am satisfied with the build.  The client was satisfied.  A week of fab and painting and a week(20 hour at 3-4 hours in the evening) of installation and cleaning.I got $75/foot for this rail.  That is higher than normal for such a simple rail -for me anyway.  I bid high because of uncertainty of their end.  I anticipated problems and there were problems.  I have had this contract since April and just started working on it this month.The rotisseri stands will be used for a spiral stair build starting next week.Last edited by MicroZone; 06-24-2007 at 12:32 AM.
Reply:Nice job.. I like the "top shot" of the rail..straight as an arrow..The pile of bar.. I'v seen that many times..But in 20 footers!...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Very nice work Tap,  I always enjoyed building rails.  Just don't ever get many to do.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Thanks guysThe other reason I took a shot of the bundles was to show small 1700lbs of metal.  Each bundle weighs 300lbs approx.  It really was a concern as the wood on my trailer bead bowed under the weight.  It was difficult to distribute the load of such small bundles. ScaryOn the pallet the bundled bundles dimensions was 15"x10"x39"
Reply:Super nice work.Those 1/2" solid balusters will last forever . . . and a day . . . and a half.So maybe when you see an old rail wonder about who made it.Many years from now maybe sombody will wonder about this one and for this one, you did.  Very cool.Favorite right now is a Miller Syncro 200.Tons of tools and I blame at least one of them when things don't go right.
Reply:Perfect work. No way they can complain about that job.
Reply:nice work  looks good63' Lincoln SA200 2008 miller trailblazer 302fibre-metal pipelinermiller camo BWEand all the guns and ammo a growin boy needs
Reply:Great work man.   By chance do you have any shots of how you connected the sections togeather?    I am doing a similar setup only as a fence for my mothers yard and have been debating how to connect the sections.Come try it out and stay a while.
Reply:That looks really good. Did you prime before paint? If not, don't you get rust spotting? I was thinking about doing a similar fence and was debating going with aluminum because it rains so much in my area.
Reply:I butted the panels to a post. In my jig I left a 1/8 inch gap between the top of the post and top edge of the top rail, that left room for my 1/4 in cap.  The cap is just rectangles cut from 1/4x1" flat. The post are 1.25 square.  I use smaller caps than the metal, so I can weld around them then grind away weld without removing all the metal.  My biggest concern preventing water from entering the tubing, especially since this was cored.  I debated for awhile on how to connect the panels.  Butting them square to the post seems to be the easier and quickest method.  I did not prime.  I only prime when requested.  I one reason I went with solid was that the mill scale adds texture, paint adheres to the scale.  The metal washed with greased lightening cleaner.  I cleaned several rails with metalprep79, however there was much residue left.   The rail was painted and completely repainted on-site.  There are 3 coats of paint.  I have been doing this for eight years and have never had problems with scale falling off.  If using tubing, then etching becomes very important since it is so smooth and oil covered.  If you're having problems with rust spots, then coverage there is probably not enough coverage.  I pay particular attention to all welds and Paint from the corners never straight onto a square baluster.  Hence, each baluster or square post gets 4 passes per coat.  While I don't prime usually I two coat everything.
Reply:75 a foot is pretty good money for that type of rail.  I wish all my bids worked out that clean.  Nice job.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:so do I figure that right that you got $15k for that job?That sounds like some pretty decent cash, of course I'm ignoring all material costs !- John
Reply:pretty nice job!My Babies: HF Drill pressHF Pipe Bender3   4.5" Black and Decker angle grindersLincoln Electric PROMIG 175that´s it!
Reply:Wow, it's so BLUE.   Balusters are 1/2 inch solid steel square bar, got it.  What are the top and bottom rails?  1-1/2 inch square tube?  Oh wait, you said the posts are 1-1/4 square tube, and the rails look the same size in the -fuzzy- pics.  Man, you have to give us better pictures than -that-.   And speaking of the rails, did you join the balusters to the rails with a butt weld or are the rails punched out and the balusters slid into the holes and then fillet welded?All the balusters on 4" centers?  That would leave a 3.5" space to meet the usual 4" code for fence spacing.  Or did you go up to 4.5" OC to get right on the 4" space?And where are the pics of the welds and the dime?     All I see is lots of blue.   The long shot down the rail top looks nice and straight, good job.Your panel painting rotisserie jig looks like a good idea.  A little thinking and fab to make the jig up front, and then it holds the panels from inside the top and bottom rails so the panel can be painted all in one go.   But if you prepainted all the panels, and then field welded them to the posts, then you had to clean off the paint and then weld and then clean off the scorched paint and then repaint and feather in the repainted area?   And yes, I know that a simple looking looking job often entails a lot of work and planning to make it all come out nice.Oh, and since this is the welding site, what and how did you weld it all together with?
Reply:All post and rails are 1.25".  Spacing is 3-15/16 between balusters.  That is the measure of my spacer, it is safe.The welds are not critical, so I didn't spend time removing prior to welding.  I chipped and wire brushed post weld.  Welds on post were grinded away.I was taught never carry an unpainted/unprimed part onsite.  Homeowners especially might not understand naked metal.The entire rail was repainted (hvlp spray) onsite.  I took advantage of the fact that this is a new contruction site with zero traffic while I worked.All balusters are butted.  I considered punched channel,  however I thought the larger tubing would require less straightening due to welding deformation. Where would I find somebody to punch tubing?  I have never seen it used locally.All balusters and one post mig welded.  All else 3/32 6013 stick welded. Mig is Lincoln 180c.  Stick welders: 295 amp 20th Century,  Onsite welder Thermalarc Dragster 80.$3000 material and paintng.  I cored the post myself- bought a new bit    $200.  20 lbs of Rockite expanding cement.  Rockite is my favorite filler.The Lincoln 180c is new.  I bought it especially for this job.  I like it.  However, my first one was defective and had to be returned the same week I started this build.  The vender nor the local repair center had one in stock so I had to wait 4 days for a new one.  Things worked out quite well in the end.  I like the thermalarc 80 absolutely no problems with performance, however only 80 amps can be limiting at times. Won a ebay bid for a miller 150s @ $450, it should be here on Wednesday
Reply:Great job tap, even better profit margin! John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:Not only does it look like top-notch work, your making of a jig and rotisserie and buying pre-cut parts, all to make the job go smoother and faster, is quite impressive. I could have done that job and it would have only taken, let's see.... ABOUT A ZILLION HOURS !!!Nice work, thanks for sharing.- John
Reply:Nice Job!! Do you have any pictures of your jig for positioning the balusters?Lincoln Power Mig 140C