Metal Rail Help (+K)

you want them to be attached along 2x4's? or are the 2x4's just for the base?

You might be able to bolt the pipe together, being able to weld would be a plus. If you could post like a sketch of kinda what you were planning on doing that might be helpful

I want them to be attached to the 2 by 4

basically I want to make 5 different rails. each with one piece of an 8' pipe. It would have an 8' 2 by 4, supported by 4 legs. each leg would be mounted on a 1' 2 by 4. Basically I want to simply attach the metal pipe to the 2 by 4 on top. If that makes any sense.
                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                       

I see what you mean. best way then would be to drill + tap holes into bottom of metal then bolt up into tubing.

And you don't need a "special" drill for drilling metal, you just need a special drill bit which can be obtained really cheaply.

Use self drilling screws, make sure you get the kind for metal

There's 2 ways that would work pretty well. You can have 2 spaced almost like a box with a 2x4 in the middle. You can have the 2x4 on it's side or flat depending on how wide you want it, you could throw some topsheet on there.

You could drill a couple holes through each pipe, bolt 2 pipes together, then drill through the bottom and either bolt them into the 2x4 or put a good sized screw in there.

If you went single tube you would have more of a chance for the pipe to want to roll back and forth as there's only a small area in contact with the tube. You might be able to take a jigsaw and cut out some half circles to go under the pipe to stabilize it. Maybe screw it in on the narrow side of the 2x4 then have ply sticking up on both sides to hold it in place.

You def need more than glue to hold them on, especially if you're going to be jumping on these from different angles.

Ask around and see if you know anyone that welds, or if your parents do. If you do that you might want to check on what kind of pipe you have.

I know I mentioned a bunch of drilling but honestly if you aren't welding them you need something to hold them to whatever, and glue isn't going to cut it. Bolt that shit down.

You might want to throw another 8 footer on the base and make a rectangular box of sorts 8'x whatever height you want the legs. That'll help keep the legs from ripping off.

use a constant stream of water or some type of anti friction liquid while drilling. it will prevent it from overheating and give you a cleaner finish.

Nah. NS knows more about this than any hardware store employee.

also you're drilling small holes in a metal tube for a rail. You're not machining it out of a solid block. you absolutely don't need to bother with a stream of water or anything like that. way more effort than it's worth. Just make sure you have it well clamped down while you're drilling and start with a much smaller hole then necessary

When I was putting together the shop cabinets I drilled a smaller pilot hole first then when through with the larger bit. Small bits go right through easy, made things a lot easier with the larger bits.


If you end up making this without drilling anything and it's all glued together I would like to see some pics of the final product. If you can make that somehow work than shit, that's awesome.

didn't really read the thread

this part doesn't translate when posted. Figured you were either high or that was happening.

Thanks I might try that. Seems like a good Idea

If you have a chance to weld them, then do it. Or ask your Friend/dad/someone weld them for you.

I use some of the same materials for rails, and what has worked for me is something like a triangle-shaped rail holder. For example, I start out with say a 8 foot long 1x10 inch base, then have boards set up in in a triangle with the 1x10 as the base, so that the two extending boards form a "cradle" for the pipe. The diagram-type thing below is supposed to be a view from the end, where "O" is the end of the pipe, The / and \ are the supporting triangular boards, and "--------" is the base 1x10. Sorry for the bad description, but I gave it a shot at least, hah.