I am trying to find the best method to attach spindles made from 3/4 inch square aluminum tubing to a 2x wooden bottom rail for a deck railing. I have considered drilling a 1 inch hole, setting the spindles square in place and using epoxy to secure and waterproof the joint. My concern is that the epoxy, wood and aluminum may all expand and contract at different rates and allow water to enter and set in the holes in the wooden bottom rail. I intend to also use a hole drilled into the bottom of the top rail but don’t see a water problem here. Any ideas would be appreciated.
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An initial undeveloped notion......Do you know anyone with a bench top or floor mostising machine who would let you use it for a few minutes.............so to speak. You needn't have a full 3/4" mortising chisel to do this.......a 3/8" would work pretty well here. You could chop them out with the mortiser in a matter of seconds each. Then drill a smallish hole in the bottom of the mortise to let any accumulated water out. Might be a good idea to file ltttle notches in the bottom edge of all four sides of the spindles (presuming they're hollow)to provide the water a quick and easy route to the drain holes. I'd probably want to make those mortises a bit oversize cause of the expansion you talked about. You could make top rail mortises at the same time.
What the heck......come on over and I''ll let ya use mine. Bring a couple beers along and we'll call it even.
Edited 9/8/2002 3:17:48 PM ET by GOLDHILLER
Edited 9/8/2002 3:24:04 PM ET by GOLDHILLER
Goldhiller, Thanks for your advice. Idont know anyone with a mortiser but I like the idea of drilling the weep holes. If you were anywhere near Hammond, LA I,d take you up on your offer. A few beers would be a cheap way out.
Another option is to rip the rails on one edge of where you want the holes. Then dado in notches and glue the rip pieces off.
If you are doing a bunch of these you can gang them and cut all of the dados in one pass.
Ah, faced the same problem: my solution was to drill the bottom rails for dowels that were a snug fit into the spindle, set about 1" into the rail, and left about 2" proud of the rail. I packed the bottom of each spindle with a dollup of slow-setting automotive body filler and tapped it down over its dowel. Make sure the bottom of the spindles are squared and slightly sharpened to ensure they sit tightly.
If I had to do it again (can't think of everything the first time) I'd:
a) poor thin epoxy down from the top after the spindle was set in place instead of using body filler, or maybe thinned glue or even paint (?)
b) if I did use body filler, I'd cover the ends with paper tape first so that none leaked out while I was tapping it down.
c) I'd put a taper on the top of each dowel to make them easier to start.
.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Edited 9/9/2002 11:26:39 AM ET by Phill Giles