A deck contractor needed heavy-wall aluminum cable-railing posts no catalog sells — and had only a rough detail sketch. We engineered the posts, welded them, and powder coated them.
A contractor came to us with a hand-drawn detail and a spec no catalog product could meet: 3" × 3" posts with 1/4" wall — far heavier than the 2–2-3/8" thin-wall extrusions sold off the shelf — with welded side-mount brackets, standoffs for a deck overhang, and welded caps instead of plastic plugs. Catalog systems warn that thin posts deflect under cable tension. There was no drawing package, just the sketch and the requirement.
We designed the post system in CAD from the sketch: four post configurations (level, inside corner, outside corner, and stair posts with fabricated angled tops), 13 cable pass-throughs per post on ~3" spacing, and welded 1/4" plate brackets with standoffs. Two engineering details mattered: corner and terminal posts anchor the cable tension, so intermediate pass-through holes carry no load — no gussets needed — and we specified isolation grommets rated for 1/4" wall to prevent galvanic corrosion between the stainless cable and aluminum posts. Powder coat was sequenced after drilling so every hole edge is coated.
Sixteen TIG-welded 6061-T6 posts, powder coated in AAMA-grade black, engineered for cable tension — a fabricated product that doesn't exist as an off-the-shelf SKU. The customer got exactly the spec they asked for, with the design work handled in-house.
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No minimum order · Prototypes to production runs