Handrail material

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What is the  most common material to make round metal handrails out of, 1 1/2 tubing, 1 1/4 pipe, 1 1/2 pipe or what.  Years ago I  built a bender off the gottrkes site to build race car bumper (great bender)  and now I want to make some round metal rails an want to buy the right dies.  Tubing is thiner and harder to weld.  With pipe you can run into so nasty cleanup, not sure what the cost differance is.  I think all of those will meet the crip code.  BTW if anyone is in guesting of the stair codes you can go to the stair manufactures asso website and get a visual interpritertion of the codes. It's very good, I built wood stairs for 30 years and used it many times.   Stairways.org
Reply:Most industrial railings I see in this area are 1-1/4" pipe.  Decorative / residential railing material varies.
Reply:You need to check the OSHA book for your state. Here in wisconsin hand rails can be 1 1/2 schedule 40 pipe in Michigan it has to conform to MIOSHA standards and if I remember correctly it is 2" schedule 40 pipe. You can use other material but then it has to have an engineering stamp. The OSHA book gives you pre engineered sizes as I stated earlier. Wisconsin uses the national OSHA standards. Some states have higher standards like Michigan. If you are going to be fabricating stairs,hand rail,ladders, catwalks and such you should obtain an OSHA book that pertains to your state. There is other info you need like mid rail and top rail hight, distance between posts, toe board hight etc.Last edited by thegary; 11-14-2015 at 08:33 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by thegaryYou need to check the OSHA book for your state. Here in wisconsin hand rails can be 1 1/2 schedule 40 pipe in Michigan it has to conform to MIOSHA standards and if I remember correctly it is 2" schedule 40 pipe. You can use other material but then it has to have an engineering stamp. The OSHA book gives you pre engineered sizes as I stated earlier. Wisconsin uses the national OSHA standards. Some states have higher standards like Michigan. If you are going to be fabricating stairs,hand rail,ladders, catwalks and such you should obtain an OSHA book that pertains to you state.
Reply:Originally Posted by Phil SnyderI'm talking residential. You guys are welding in factorys and industrial building. Also don't confuse handrails with guard rails.  2 inch 40 is pushing 2.5 inches and seem a little big to grab with the average persons hand.  (Not soom of you guys I'm sure)haha.  Gob I'm bored no pics. Bah ha.
Reply:Think biggest thing I want to know is pipe or tubing.  All the bumpers and rub rails I made with tubing .095 I think, they were suppose to bend so the frame didn't.
Reply:Residential is completely different . I would contact your local building inspector, he would be able to tell you where to find the standards.
Reply:Always used 1.25" pipe or 1.5" square tube for industrial hand rail here in WI. It does make sense that there may be standards above and beyond OSHA.
Reply:Need to add, most steel suppliers offer pipe sized handrail tubing. I believe it's just not pressure rated. The finish is bare steel and much nicer than typical black pipe.
Reply:Originally Posted by M J DAlways used 1.25" pipe or 1.5" square tube for industrial hand rail here in WI. It does make sense that there may be standards above and beyond OSHA.
Reply:Originally Posted by thegaryResidential is completely different . I would contact your local building inspector, he would be able to tell you where to find the standards.
Reply:Originally Posted by Phil SnyderI know the codes for wood and there the same for metal, 200lb side force and meet the crip code it's a range 1 1/4 to 2 inch cercunferance for round, there are some other interpretations for other shapes.
Reply:Originally Posted by M J DNeed to add, most steel suppliers offer pipe sized handrail tubing. I believe it's just not pressure rated. The finish is bare steel and much nicer than typical black pipe.
Reply:Originally Posted by thegaryTheir is more to it. 200lb load can be obtained by thin material with posts closer together. The same material with wider post placement might not meet the 200lb. reg.
Reply:Originally Posted by Phil SnyderThat's right, we have used  differance configurations to obtain it with wood. Haven't had one turned down in 30 years.  200 shouldn't be much of a problem with metal.
Reply:Originally Posted by thegaryThe problem is who says your hand rail meets the 200 lb spec. I know they do not enforce this like they do in industry but they have to have some material specs. The OSHA standard is 200 lbs in any direction. They give material specs that meet that spec. I would think residetial would have something similar. If you work on a commercial site it would still have to meet OSHA spec.