There was plenty of great metal handrail to look at on a recent trip to New Mexico. Tom and I spent most of the day wandering around the Taos area and snapping pictures of interesting custom metal handrail and guard rail. Taos is a mecca of metal artwork and the detail is not lost on a few of the commercial properties located in the town.
We found this example most interesting as it was laced with common objects. The handrail was at The World Cafe and included lots of whimsical items welded into the scrolled metal guardrails. A couple of examples are below. A great online source for metal stair material is Stairwarehouse.com. They have numerous examples of all kinds of handrails, guardrails and even stair treads. You can even view a great do it yourself project online. Another great source for metal stair rail work is Orleans Ornamental Iron & Casting Distributors, Inc. out of New Orleans Louisiana. Tom has ordered several items from Orleans and has had a good experience each time. Orleans Ornamental carries iron castings, aluminum castings, steel forgings as well as castings for furniture and accessories.

Another fabulous looking handrail we saw was located in the Taos Inn. This small stairway in the lobby of the hotel was speckled with chili peppers.
Metal handrail has developed into an artwork as there are more options for design and weld looks. Metal handrail also is a good choice to stand up in all kinds of elements. It can draw attention to a business and add to the overall atmosphere. Something to keep in mind is requirements for spacing metal pickets. Pickets are to be spaced so that a four inch spherical ball may not pass through at any point.
Check with building officials in your area to find out about other codes and requirements.

In this episode of “Sparks Fly”, Tom fabricates small trailers for portable toilets. The portable toilets belong to Honeywagon Sanitation. Honeywagon Sanitation is owned and operated by Heber and Jennifer Richardson of Laramie Wyoming. The red and blue portable toilets are a common scene at construction zones, job sites and special events around town.
Heber asked Tom to design and build small trailers to hook on is trucks for quick and easy transportation and placement.
Tom decided to go with a low start angle, torsion axle. This allowed to trailer to sit low to the ground for ease of use. Deck hight was an essential part of the design. The step up is only about eight inches, comparable to a regular house step. Tom began by finding a light duty tortion axel, about six hundred pounds. This allows the suspension to work in harmony with the portable toilet while traveling down any road, paved or gravel.
Angles were fashioned to act as clips to secure the skids of the portable toilet. A hot rolled steel rod, along with a simple hitch pin fasten on the back of the trailer to keep the portable toilet in place.
Another feature Tom added was an inexpensive folding screw jack. The jack helps level the portable toilet on site, as well as provide for a smooth removal from the truck.
With the completion of several trailers to add to his fleet, Heber is one happy business owner. We were glad we could help. Don’t forget to check back with us, Trade Tool Innovations, for more projects from the shop!

This video shows how Tom built his dream shop/house.  The shell of the building was ordered through Fast Trac Buildings, Inc. in Colorado.  Much of the interior of the shop and home was purchased as was needed through local building supply houses and stores like Builders Square, Lowes, and Home Depot.

The two and a half year project was a life long dream of Tom.  How did he talk his wife into it?  Well, she got her new home for their growing family.

The building is a 60 X 100 structure.  The house sits on the west end and was built three feet lower than the shop to allow for the second story.

The living room has a twenty five foot opening that gives the home a dramatic entrance.   There is an open kitchen with hickory cabinetry, a large eat in bar and a unique spinning pot rack.  The first floor has a large mudroom/full bath, guestroom with private bath and a den/office.  Upstairs there is another open family room as well as three kids rooms along with a kids bath.   The master bedroom and bath is also upstairs.

Tom’s shop is an all service machine shop and houses his tools and machinery.

There really are many possibilities for anyone wanting to design their own metal building house.  It is a great way to incorporate your lifestyle with your livelihood.  For questions or comments, please contact Tom at tom@toolsbytom.com.

Metal Building Patio

Our friends from Summit Structures asked Tom to fabricate this custom metal handrail on location at a new house they were building.  The handrail was built on a radius staircase so it took a little more work than usual to acquire the correct bends. 

The first thing Tom did was to set the upright posts in line with the radius wall.  Next, he bent the square tubing in a radius.  Tom used a Shop Outfitters 238 Ring Roller after a slight modification in the ring roller.  He removed a bushing out to allow the steel tubing to fit through.  He also made some different idler rollers for the ring roller as well.  He was then able to roll 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch square tubing through the ring roller.  He had to make several passes through the ring roller with his square tubing in order to get the desired radius on the steel.  He was only able to bend a little at a time.  An application like this is slightly hard on the ring roller, so anyone attempting this sort of use should be sure he has the machine set properly. 

When building a handrail along a curved stairway one trick is worth noting.  When welding in the top and bottom rails to the upright posts a twist needs to be formed into the rails.  When tubing goes up in a radius it should twist to gain the desired effect when tying the handrail into the upright posts.  Tom accomplished the twist by taking each handrail and placing them into a vice.  Using a 48 inch pipe wrench he put a 6 degree twist into the upper and lower rails before attaching them to the posts. 

Next, Tom welded the pickets between each post.  He purchased the pre-twisted metal pickets at Orleans Ornamental Iron.  Pickets were necessary for the metal handrail because building code usually requires that a guardrail be in place if the  stairway has more than a 30 inch drop.  The metal pickets were first cut to the proper angle and then welded by spacing them so that nothing smaller than a 4 inch sphere can fit between them.

Tom fashioned metal ends to finish off the metal handrail.  The decorative ends were designed to tie in the vertical uprights to the radius tubes that go up the staircase.  Tom used a Shop Outfitters 20/20 compact bender using 1.5 by .25 inch flat steel stock.

The last touch was to prep the handrail for paint.  Tom rubbed the handrail down with acetone to remove a lot of the oils in the tubing.  He then scrubbed the handrail down with a soap and water solution with scotch-bright pads. Finally, he painted the project black.

Most of the metal handrail had to be fashioned onsite.

Tom had the chance to stop and visit with Steve Yuhl of Triton Marine Construction out of Aiea Hawaii on a recent trip to Oahu. Steve and his company, Triton Marine Construction, have modified the TTI Screedright Pro to help them repair bridge decks on interstates.

When concrete breaks out of the decks on interstates the result is a large crack and pothole in the road. Usually rain and moisture exacerbate the problem as well as a constant flow of traffic over the holes and cracks.

Triton Marine uses a mechanical water jet that sits on a pair of tracks to remove damaged concrete off the road deck. Triton Marine programs the osculation and forward movement speed of their water jet. They may remove up to four inches from the surface of a deck that is twelve inches thick. They leave the existing re bar. They will then set up temporary rails or forms for the TTI Screedright Pro to ride on. The rails set the elevation to keep the repair level with the existing roadway. An extremely quick curring concrete is then applied. There is a volumetric truck on site so the concrete can be mixed on site. The concrete is set after only one hour and holds an incredible 3000 psi roadway that the traffic can travel on. This quick curring concrete allows for Triton Marine to work very quickly so that they can get on site, repair the concrete and then open up for traffic in a very short amount of time. Steve was looking for a screed that could strike off a slab in a short amount of time with minimal manpower.

Triton Marine modified the screed in a couple of ways. First, their screed accepts a 2" X 4" magnesium bar instead of the average 2x4. They also fashioned a longer handle bar on the end so they can set the screed on the far side of a 10 foot wide deck and pull across the deck without having to step in the fast drying concrete.

Triton Marine Construction has highway deck repair down to an art form. The next time you visit the great island of Oahu, you can thank your smooth ride to Steve Yuhl and his crew at Triton Marine Construction.

Tom and crew pour a slab of concrete for his new building addition using the TTI Screedright Pro.  The TTI Screedright Pro utilizes a wooden 2X4 as a screed bar.  A wooden 2X4 allows for better screeding with no expensive screed bars to purchase.  A wooden board can be cut to any length for a perfect fit for any job.

The unit runs on a 4 stroke Subaru engine and cuts screeding time in half.  Anyone who has ever tried to finish off a slab of concrete knows the worst part of the job is being the guy at one of the ends of a screed bar.  The TTI Screedright Pro allows for one operator to quickly strike off wet concrete as it is coming out of the truck.

To order yours visit www.toolsbytom.com today!

Tom chose to put 8, 4 foot by 4 foot  windows on the south side of the new addition.  The solid steel framed windows will allow the southern sun to come in and heat this part of the building.  Tom also included two slide windows with built in screens on the west and north walls as well.

The first step was to frame out he windows with framing that came with the building package.  They were pre cut and needed bolting and squaring prior to attachment to the main structure.  Trim the came with the building package was used to trim out the inside of the window frame for a smoother look. 

Tom used a standard vinyl fixed windows that can be found at any local building supply store.  The south facing windows were energy star rated.

Tom puts up the skeleton for the new steel building addition.  After the concrete footings and floor were complete, it was time to erect the steel structure.  The main frame steel is put up first.  Those are the large steel girders and serve as the main support for the metal structure.  Tom started in the north bay first.  This is where the cable cross basing is located.  Two should go up at once and be tied together using purlins and girts.  Tom put enough purlins and girts on to at least temporarily hold the large beams in place.  It is important to stabilize the large beams using purlins and girts. 

The building package came with hardware to fasten the perlins and girts onto the main beams.  Bolts were screwed in by hand.  Bolts should be torqued twice by hand.  It is not recommended to use a rattle gun because it is hard to get a constant torque.

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The twenty four foot portable toilet trailer that Tom is building for Honeywagon Sanitation has one last step.   Creating a good system for attaching the portable toilets insures the security, safety and ease when mounting the portable toilets for travel.  It also secures the investment a sanitation company has made in purchasing portable toilets. 

A rail that runs down the center of the trailer helps to hold the portable toilets in place.  One side of the skids of the individual portable toilets fit underneath the rail and holds down that side of the portable toilet.  Looped ropes are designed to fit over the opposite side of the unit.  This causes the portable toilet to be pulled down and back into the center rail.  The portable toilet is then secure on the trailer.  Tom attached boat winches to tighten up the ropes.  Heber Richardson, owner of Honeywagon Sanitation, can then pull the rope by hand in the front and then use the wench to tighten up the front.  Tom also put a winch in the back to tighten up to help take out slack in the back of the trailer.

The trailer is also designed for ease of use.  Portable toilets can easily be loaded and unloaded from the sides.  The sides of the trailer are sloped and one person can readily tilt a portable toilet against the trailer and then slide the skids up onto the rail.  The rail is built lower for easy loading. 

Portable toilets can be loaded and unloaded in any order.  The operator will want to make sure that tongue weight is taken into consideration.  Toilets will more than likely want to be unloaded off the rear of the trailer first.  Leaving five or six portable toilets in the back of the trailer creates negative tongue weight.  Negative tongue weight is dangerous because it can cause a trailer to weave.  Couplers are not designed for negative tongue weight.  The trailer is made to hold twelve portable toilets, six on each side. 

Today Tom completed wiring the lights and the charge wire for the trailer breakaway kit.   With a few tools and a little know how, anyone can complete a simple wiring job.  Tom used: fish tape, an ohm meter, wire cutter, wire stripper, soldering iron, shrink tubing and a heat gun.

A few wires were needed in order to correctly establish lighting for the trailer.  A reliable lighting system requires grounding the trailer through wiring.  You should avoid using the ball and coupler as the only ground.  Necessary wiring includes: clearance lights, running lights, right tail, left tail, and the electric brake wire off the control of the truck. 

Good electrical wiring is vital to any trailer.  Proper lighting insures safety and good visibility, especially for those night time pick-ups.  Good brake lights and blinker lights are mandatory by law.

A trailer breakaway kit is the safety mechanism for the trailer.  If the trailer comes unhooked from the truck for any reason, the breakaway kit becomes necessary to avoid a runaway trailer.  The battery built into the breakaway kit activates the electric breaks so the trailer stops.  An additional charge wire from the towing vehicle is also required to charge the emergency battery.

A breakaway kit can be purchased and consists of a battery and a switch that activates the trailer breaks.  Tom purchased his breakaway kit at C&S Tractor in Laramie Wyoming.  A breakaway kit is easily found at any tractor supply or auto supply store.