Extrusions and Trim

It seems like I am always looking for a corner extrusion of some sort, so I thought I would start collecting some of that information.
Orange Aluminum has a variety of “Z” clips (or panel clips). I found them because they have corner channel mold pieces that they market for retaining panels on road cases. Its for ½” or 3/8” material though. They also have a “valance” profile that makes panels lock together like a tongue and groove panel would. The have divider bars – something that I could being used instead of quarks for where panels meet up together. They also have some edge trim that could be used for counters and desks. It looks like it might be better than t-molding, but would not be flexible.
Outwater, of course, has a variety of plastic and aluminum corner channels.
Wgsonline sells a variety of glass products and has corner extrusions for ¼” glass. Though glass is not critical, they could be used for other panels. However, you can buy vacuum cups / section lifters if you want to move a heavy glass panel around.
US Plastic Corp has a clear two way corner channel joiner. They also have just about everything from bags, bottles, buckets, fittings, pipe, tube and sheets… if its plastic, they might have it.
Extrude a trim (which calls the corner molding F-channel) has a variety of sizes and a couple finish options. They also have other trims as well. Also stock F channel, (and H, h, T and Z) is Brunner Enterprises. Brunner also carries square tubing connectors for ¾” and 1” tube.
Also check out Paramount Extrusions.

J Molding & Screed Channel

For a current interior project we are using J Moldings to finish off the bottom edge of teh wall. approximately every 1' we are also installing an aluminum screed channel, giving a nice effect to the wall. There is also a wide variety of channels, inclucding v-grooved channels, curves and other hardware for finishing off all of the assorted angles and cuts necessary for installation.
It always seems that one of teh age old problems with scenery in any form is how to deal with seams. These channel options allow the edges to be designed in to the overall look.

Balls, Hollow Balls, and Hemispheres

I think that Wagner is becoming a frequently referenced company here.

Today, I cam calling them out because they sell hollow balls from 1 1/2" all the way up to 12" in steel, aluminium, stainless, brass and bronze, along with a smaller variety of solid balls, and hemispheres. I have sourced large metal balls for several projects - and of course the 1/2 steel balls are great for decorative finishes like rivets and add-on's.

If money was no object

I would have one of these. I can think of tons of fun things to do with one of these - and could definately see it's use around the shop, especially for props. Take a look at the PlasmaCam and see what you think.

Decorative Metal

Looking through the latest issue of The Fabricator I saw an add for TwistedBars.com. As the name implies, they do sell twisted rod, but they also sell a variety of other products as well; such as embossed, hammered, birdcages (baskets, spheres and oblongs), finals (ends, cut silhouettes, and wood grained metal. They can do steel, aluminium, copper, and brass. The wood grained piece caught my eye because there have certainly been times in the past where the designer wanted the look of wood, but the scenery needed the structural support of steel. While paint can do wonders, wood faking steel and vise versa never quite work. But, it the steel had a wood grained texture - perhaps this would be a suitable alternative in those situations.

Custom / Specialty Steel Shapes

GSP offers a variety of specialty steel shapes, and will do custom work. While expensive to use, it can be necessary in certain jobs. The J channel is something in particular that has been useful.

Welding Resources

The following two links will take you to the Miller welding equipment site where there are lots of resources to help you fine tune your welding skills.
Miller Etraining
Miller Welding Resources

Molding Resources

Moldings and decorative elements can be hard to find and specific to the manufacturer. Below are a variety of resources to help locate decorative elements, or can assist with ideas when designing.


Frank Morrow Company has a variety of metal stampings and architectural details.

Decorators Supply has a large variety of wooden and plaster decorative details. While you can order their catalogs (which are great as a resource), you can also browse online and get a variety of CAD downloads.

Architectural Depot

Cast Design Supply

Van Dykes Restorers

Historical Arts and Castings

Metal Museum

The Metal Museum in Memphis, TN, would make a great visit if you are ever in the area. They also offer classes if you could make your visit last a few days.

The Fabricator

The Fabricator is a free magaizine (subscribe here that talks about metal fabricating techniques. Their website has a variety of information as well that is useful for someone working with metals, like for instance, this article about bending.

Magnetic Gluing Jig

Toolmonger recently had a blog post showcasing a model gluing jig (http://toolmonger.com/2009/01/05/magnetic-gluing-jig/).

It looks like a cool idea for building model set pieces - though if you worked in a particular space often enough, I think cutting sheet steel to the ground plan of the facility may open up a variety of interesting ideas as well.

Coped Connectors

When you are working with pipe to create a structure, one of the choices is how pieces are joined. While some large shops may be able to machine the required notches, the machinery is not typical in most shop settings. Doing it by hand is possible – I have done a few myself, but it is tedious and time consuming. Often the choice is made to buy structural fittings (like Kee Klamps) to create the needed structure. The fittings are reusable, and it is easy to build up a stock of pieces, though there is some initial outlay of cost. Today, when I was flipping through the new McNichols flier, I came across another potential alternative – Coped Connectors. You can take a look at these to get an idea of what I am talking about. I think it’s a great idea. The connector fits into the pipe on one end, welds on, and then the opposite end is coped to fit the necessary pipe connection. While the connectors are not reusable, they do eliminate the bulk of the fittings we typically use. The fittings, for steel, range between .74 cents and 2.68 per, with bulk discounts available. This pricing would make these product feasible in many situations, particularly if the required kee klamp fittings would be a purchased item as well.

Lindapters

For a recent project I was quoting I was looking at a product called Lindapter. You can see their site here. They have some cool products that can be used for attaching structural steel pieces to other pieces without damaging the steel. It also means that there is no welding, and that they can be removable. The downside is that they are fairly expensive (50 or more each), and can have a long lead time.

I would think that this would be worth though for critical applications, and would be useful for installing grids.

They also have a product called a hallo-bolt that is used for structural steel. As you tighten the bolt a nut inside the steel expands trapping the bolt securely. While I can see definite uses for this, it is out of the price range for most situations considering the pricing starts at over 10 dollars for a single bolt.

Nevertheless, the types of products they sell gave me some ideas about how I could make some nonstructural connections easily.

Structures resources

I have recently found a few more structures related resources:
http://www.cousesteel.com/AndysPlace/Pdf/LRFDBeamLoadTables.pdf
Which has span tables for sq. and rectangular box tube.

http://www.decks.com/article40.aspx
For wooden beams

http://www.toolbase.org/PDF/DesignGuides/BuildersSteelStudGuide.pdf