Creativity in Aluminum Safety and Hand Rails
Woody Miller • February 2, 2023

Including Safety and Innovation with Aluminum Handrails

Stainless-steel cable with solid aluminum uprights

Anodized aluminum railing is a beautiful and long-lasting solution for a wide range of projects. At AMI we see them called for in schools, sporting venues, commercial and office buildings, and even residentially. The styles of railing are as varied as the colors. Full hollow tube construction is one of the most popular commercial handrail system designs. This construction method is very strong and has a pleasing appearance. They also have a soft round look and feel with no sharp edges, so it is ideal for safety railing.


Another pleasing and more modern way anodized aluminum is used in railing systems is by mixing materials. Stainless steel cable tensioned through heave aluminum flat bar up rights creates a strong and visibly unintrusive look. If the view is the feature that needs to be show cased, but safety cannot be ignored this is an elegant solution.

Aluminum tube has also been mixed with wood and composite products residentially. This technique is a very carpenter friendly approach and requires much less planning and detailing. Just provide the lineal footage needed and normal carpentry saws can cut the aluminum to size.


When preparing for your railing job be sure to consider anodize rack attachments and drain holes. Collaborate with your AMI contact for best results.

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September 27, 2021
I was recently reminded of how important thinking through the whole design of a project and how it relates to the anodizing process is. We are working on a Mural project with a local artist and he would like to use aluminum panels to paint on. We are doing an acid etch to prepare the panels for a base primer to allow the artist plenty of time to work out his design. The Etch process is a normal preparation for anodizing and makes one of the best pretreatments for paint. The Artist wants the whole panel to be utilized in the mural so avoiding rack marks is important to everyone.  After speaking with the installer we learned that the panels were being mounted on brick and holes were going to be drilled in the perimeter of the panels. This was perfect! We would be able to hang the panels from the holes and avoid rack marks altogether. Furthermore, communicating this to the painter helped their process and planning. All of this planning gives us the best chance of making our customers happy and both of our work look the best.
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