Hi Kimberli,
I agree with Jake on the random aspect of your railing. That's quite an accomplishment.I'll be a sour-puss and say that I'd recommend 4", maybe it's because I have grandchildren.
Frank

I'm using 5/16 inch rod for the interior. I didn't think about the randomness being an issue........I just really like the way it looks.

Hi Kimberly,
Your railings are pleasing.....the floating shapes. Will you be insetting glass into these at all? I also have the 4" limitation rule on all railings (sometimes can get away with it in a completed space where the client has no issues about children's heads.I cut myself out a 4" squared block of wood which I use to gauge myself. Good luck...keep us posted. How will you finish them for outside?
Janet R.

Can't wait to see the glass insets...impressive...hurry!!
SteelyJan

Hi Kimberli, the railings look great. Warping from the stresses caused by the welds can be frustrating as hell, but the important thing is that you made it work. On your next rail, after you get everything tacked together, balancing out the welds helps a lot. Weld a couple welds on one side, then weld their symmetrical opposite on the other side to balance out the stresses. This is especially true if you've got the rail in its upright position and are welding the interior pickets/decoration. If you weld all of the way down one side first and then weld the other side, you'll end up with a nice curved railing, whether you wanted one or not. Learned that the hard way. Also, stay away from inside corner welds if you can, often times you don't need them for structural purposes anyway. If you do have to use them, make sure the interior pickets/decoration are at least tacked in to brace the frame against squeezing. Finally, the thinner the wall thickness on the tubing, the more warpage. Although it adds a lot of weight, I only use 11ga or thicker for most of my rails.

I really like the design and can't wait to see it finished.

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

Thank you so much! This is very helpful. One thing I'm not exactly clear about what you are saying is:

"This is especially true if you've got the rail in its upright position and are welding the interior pickets/decoration. If you weld all of the way down one side first and then weld the other side, you'll end up with a nice curved railing, whether you wanted one or not."

.......I'm not sure what you mean by weld all of the way down one side........do you mean that........if the rail is in it's upright position........and you are welding the interior part........that it's best to do the right side and left side? What if it's the end part and there isn't another side?......? Sorry my muddled brain synapses are attempting to fire......

Sorry for the confusion Kimberli. When I referred to the rail in its' upright position, i meant standing up as if it were installed with the base plates on the table and the caprail in the air. This allows you to work both sides at once, which is good if you want to balance out your welds.

I'll just describe how I fabricate a rail and hopefully that'll clear it up. I'm sure others here have their own methods as well, so don't think this is the only way. For this example i'm going to use straight square pickets bc it'll be easier to describe, and we'll arbitrarily label one side of the railing plane front and the other back.

Once i get all of my material cut and prepped, I build a jig on my table for the railing which locks the toprail, bottom rail(if there is one), and any posts into place. I then mark, and sometimes build a jig, to align the pickets using spacers underneath to center them in the top and bottom rail. Once that is all done and every thing is in place and clamped down(especially the frame) i tack it all together.

Welding
All welds create stresses that pull metal one way or another, the absolute worst being the inside fillet weld. I try to use these stresses to my advantage and so the order of the welds be come important. I start by welding all outside corner welds on the frame, welding vertically down while it is flat on the table. This locks the frame permanently and has the least distortion. Unless absolutely necessary i don't weld inside fillets on the frame, with one exception. If the railing is outside, I'll weld all inside fillets that face up, to try to keep water out, and then a very small fast weld to minimize stresses and only after the interior pieces are welded in. I weld the front and back face of the frame last. I clean up all of the welds on the frame with a grinding wheel and flapper disc and put it back int the jig.

I then move on to the pickets welding vertical down while the frame is in the jig and clamped. Since these are fillet welds I use a certain order to help balance out the stresses. Here's my primitive image to help out.

welding order 1

It doesn't matter if you weld the top or bottom first, just make sure to balance out your welds, welding one side of the picket, then the other. Once those are all welded, I prop the rail into it's upright position and clamp/secure it to my table. Now time to weld the front and back side of the picket to the rail. Once again i've provided excellent props to help explain my rambling. :)

welding order 2

I start by welding no more than 4 pickets using a horizontal fillet weld in the bottom front corner of the picket/base plate joint. I then move around and weld the bottom back of those 4 pickets and continue on welding the bottom back joint of the next 4 pickets. I then move around and weld the bottom front of the second set of 4 pickets and continue on with 4 more. I keep leapfrogging this way until i reach the end, balancing out the stresses created on one side, with the stresses created on the other. Now I can either weld the top joint with overhead horizontal fillets welds or flip the rail so the top rail is on the table, making it a little more convenient. Either way I just repeat the same process as before. When i made the statement

"This is especially true if you've got the rail in its upright position and are welding the interior pickets/decoration. If you weld all of the way down one side first and then weld the other side, you'll end up with a nice curved railing, whether you wanted one or not."

I was refering to welding all of the bottom front welds one after the other, then all of the top front welds, then moving to the other side and welding all of the bottom back welds, and finally all of the top back welds. This will save you a lot of time, but I can almost guarantee a curved railing.

Well, that there is the method to my madness. I hope it made a little sense.

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

Wow.......thank you so so much for taking the time to explain your process. I think it will help others too. I wish I hadn't welded those inside fillets that's for sure....especially for indoor use. The fact that it was 16g was both a help and a hindrance.

I'll add here for anyone that this might help.........I ended up having to saw them in half after they were done, and weld them on site, inside the clients dining room (carried my 110 mig with me) because they wouldn't fit through the stairwell and inside the door! Possibly noone else would make such a mistake, however if it helps just one other person I thought I'd mention......(!)

This belongs with a post we should possibly start entitled 'stupidest mistakes I've made'......

Kimberli,
Love the design. The installation looks great. I made a foyer thing for my house using 3/16" rod, it worked out pretty well. I posted it awhile ago.
Jake,
Thanks for the advice, I will use it on my horse design I'm trying to knock out. Of course, I reserve the right to ask many more questions.
Lorrie

...nice composition.

keith

Stephen Fitz-Gerald
Eligius advice is excellent.
For my own work I always TRY to make my railings down flat on the jig table.And by jig table I mean a 3/4 inch thick steel plate table 8'x4'. After building the frame and welding all the corners solidly,I put it back on the jig table and CLAMP THE SHIT OUT OF IT. I can't stress this enough. It's worth it to go to Harbor Freight or a similar discount tool supply and get a whole bunch of c-clamps. Over doing the clamping means you have to pay less attention to the order in which you weld.
And if you ever progress to a stainless or bronze welded railing,the clamping is absolutely critical because the heat warpage is greater with those metals.Also ESPECIALLY if you have an abstract design like this one where the welds are at odd distances from one another on the perimeter frame.
And please,never build a rail with 16 ga. again.LOL.
This design is beautiful by the way...