Metal · Cutting · Railing
Railing cut list: posts, rails and balusters
What it does and how it is worked out
Type the cuts of your railing and the page lays them out on the fewest bars, with what is left of each one. Free, in the browser and on a phone. The list below is an example, the posts and rails of a straight railing in square tube, 192 × 42 in: 10 pieces on 3 bars of 240 in, 99 % of the bar used. Clear it and put in your own cuts.
- bars
- —
- used
- —%
- waste
- —%
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The example of this page, worked out
The list the page opens with is an example, not anybody's order: the posts and rails of a straight railing in square tube, 192 × 42 in. Every length comes from the outside sizes of the job, and the figures are the optimiser's own, worked out by the same code as the tool above, on bars of 240 in with a 0.125 in cut and 0.5 in trimmed off each end.
| What the optimiser answers | Figure |
|---|---|
| Bars to buy | 3 |
| Pieces | 10 |
| Bar used | 99.2 % |
| Waste: blade, trim and short ends | 0.8 % |
| Offcuts worth keeping, 12 in or more | 2 · 11.7 ft |
Top railBottom railPost
The cutting list of the example
| Piece | Qty | Length, in |
|---|---|---|
| Post | 5 | 40 |
| Top rail | 1 | 192 |
| Bottom rail | 4 | 45.5 |
The same list on the main optimiser, with other bar lengths and your own offcuts: open it there.
What to watch: railing
- The handrail in one length. It runs over the posts, so it is the whole length of the railing; a run longer than the bar is spliced over a post: put the two parts in as two rows.
- Balusters are another bar. Posts and rails are tube, balusters are bar: their list is one of this page's templates, with as many a bay as keep the clear gap under the one asked for.
- Heights and gaps are your code's. The height of the railing and the largest gap between balusters are set by the building code where you work: the sizes here are an example.
- Your bar, your blade, your trim. The example is on bars of 240 in with a 0.125 in cut and 0.5 in trimmed off each end. Set the bar your supplier sells and the width of your blade: the plan is worked out again as you type, and so is what is worth keeping (12 in or more here).
Templates: railing
Example sizes, not a standard: load one into the list above, then change each length to yours. Loading one replaces the list; nothing is sent and no email is asked for.
| Template | Pieces | Bars | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A balcony, 8 ft long | 6 | 2 | 99.4 % | Load |
| A long run, posts further apart | 10 | 3 | 99.0 % | Load |
| The balusters of the example, another bar | 40 | 6 | 99.2 % | Load |
Bars and bar used on bars of 240 in, as the optimiser works them out. To size the job and its material first: the railing calculator. What the bars weigh: metal weight calculator.
Questions people ask
- How many bars does a railing take?
- The example on this page, the posts and rails of a straight railing in square tube, 192 × 42 in, is 10 pieces and takes 3 bars of 240 in with a 0.125 in cut and 0.5 in trimmed off each end: 99.2 % of the bar is used and 2 offcuts are worth keeping. Put in your own cuts and the page works out yours.
- How many balusters does a railing need?
- As many as keep the clear gap between them under the limit. The example asks for 4 in at most, in 4 bays between posts: 10 balusters a bay, with 3.68 in between them.