Jim Stewart wrote:
Wood Butcher wrote:

I want to make handrails for the stairs on my deck
out of 1 1/2 inch Cu pipe. The problem is I cannot
find reasonably priced flanges.

My thought is to cut 3" dia circles out of 0.125 Cu
plate and solder end caps to them.

Will these be strong enough for the application?
Any suggestions on where to find the Cu plate?


*disclaimer* I am not qualified to give you
an authoratative answer on a safety-critical
issue like this.....

If it were me, I'd be more concerned about the
solder joint than the copper plate. I'd bolt
the plate to the end cap internally and hard-
solder.

That solder is going to be really ugly, have you considered phosphorous
bronze? Good color match, much stronger and tougher joint too.