Thread: Stainless hand railing

The drum style finisher in procureit's post is good for linear finishes, but not so good for wrap around (circumferential) finishes. The adapted belt unit on the right side of the page will be better for wrap around but either needs one open end on the metal to allow belt access, or a joiner in the belt.

The Suhner wrap around runs the belt over a set of guide rollers while the arm is centre hinged and spring loaded to retain belt tension. In use, the unit is started and presented to the material, and the operator bends the arm at the hinge. This effectively uses the workpiece as a roller and can achieve a wrap of up to 185 deg around tube to about 65mm diameter.

In a handrail and support situation, run the machine along with the belts vertical at full wrap, opening up the wrap to avoid the supports, and closing as soon as you pass them, reverse the machine orientation to do the opposite side, then run it accross the top at about 130 deg wrap to merge the patterns accross the top.

Hi,

I have always been interested in how these S.S. railings have been made so I will continue to watch the thread with interest. I just googled about appropriate tooling and came up with this Aussie site that appears to have most of what is needed.

http://www.specialabrasives.com/pipefix.htm

Is the tubing generally used the 50mm diameter by 1.8 thickness as mentioned previously and it the best joint a (no gap) butt with excess weld that can be ground/linished flush?

Cheers
MH

Originally Posted by Metal Head

Hi,

Is the tubing generally used the 50mm diameter by 1.8 thickness as mentioned previously and it the best joint a (no gap) butt with excess weld that can be ground/linished flush?

Cheers
MH

Stainless is generally sold in Imperial sizes, so too are the fittings .
50.8mm and 38.1mm are the most common sizes, 50.8 is usually but not always the most suitable .
Wall thickness is usually 1.6 or 1.5mm depending on supplier.

With the joining , yes usually a close fitted butt. You do need to be mindful of your peno, if you have doubts sleeve the joint , it helps you get 100% ,can help with alignment and act as a bit of a heat sink.

Originally Posted by Riley

You do need to be mindful of your peno, if you have doubts sleeve the joint , it helps you get 100% ,can help with alignment and act as a bit of a heat sink.

Thanks for the reply Riley. I pressume you cannot use a sleeve if you cannot have access to get it out?

Cheers
MH

procureit, thanks for reviving the thread. I forgot to report back on my results and how I went about it. The suhner looked the goods but it’s on the expensive side for a 1 off. The one I looked at was almost a grand and you still need a variable speed grinder. For a couple of hundred bucks I got my self one of those urethane belt spindle thingys, some split belts (with key locking joiner), a couple of velcro backing pads, a mix of abrasive and scoth brite pads, and some mops and polishing compound. I already had a variable speed grinder. The process takes a little longer than it would with the really high end gear, but it’s also a distinct amount cheaper. I looked at a SIA kit which was $1500+. Another kit with a pipe linisher and spring loaded arm etc, cant remember brand, was almost $2000. For a complete setup I'd be looking at least 4 to 5 thousand. If I was doing this all the time I'd consider it, but at this stage I'm happy with what I got.
When I get a chance I'll post up some pics of the tools I bought and of the finished job. I also finished another job since then, I'll try and get some pics.

I made a blue with the link for the pipe sander, the one we use is the BOA Pipe sander found at http://csunitec.com.au/boa-pipe-sand...tic-p-111.html
this was around $1600 for the basic unit and around $2000 for the complete kit, paid for itself pretty quickly...

The new link looks like a viable unit, similar in concept to the Suhner, but it sounds a bit dearer but might work for large tube sizes than the Suhner.