Frequently Asked Questions
PC75 / PC75R Picket Forming Tool
What do I need to make my own pickets?
You'll need square tubing, a way to cut the tubing to your desired picket length (or purchase pre-cut), our picket forming tool and a press to power the tool.
What sizes of tubing can I form into pickets?
Our tooling will accept 1/2" square minimum, 1" square maximum. 14 gauge to 18 gauge. The tool is set up for one size of square tubing and requires a changeover punch and die when changing tube sizes. Some sizes can be run with the same tooling, see chart below.
| Tube Size |
Gauge |
Use tooling for: |
| 1/2" square |
14 ~ 18 |
1/2" |
| 5/8" square |
14 ~ 18 |
3/4" |
| 3/4" square |
14 ~ 18 |
3/4" |
| 7/8" square |
14 ~ 18 |
1" |
| 1" square |
14 ~ 18 |
1" |
You show different shapes on your site, what should I get?
The sharp (PC75) and radius (PC75R) are our standard designs. You can buy either design and convert them later to the other style. We caution that many local building codes may restrict or ban the use of the sharp point design, for safety reasons. The radius tip is by far our most popular design. The other two designs with notched sides are custom-built. We may be able to other additional custom designs, so please fax or email us your ideas!
How many strokes does it take to smash, trim and form the picket?
Our tooling only requires one press stroke to create the picket from you cut to length square tube. Note that a small bit of scrap is created during the trimming of the tip shape, so you will actually need to cut your tubes slightly longer to compensate.
I don't have a press to run your tooling in, can I operate in my Vogel Hand Press?
The tonnage required to form pickets exceeds what our hand press can generate. You will need our CSP-25-SA, a simple hydraulic power unit. This press is 110V, small enough to fit on a workbench, and has a foot switch to cycle the press each time you are ready to form a picket. With a $80.00 mounting adaptor, you can also use the power unit to run all the notching tooling that you currently operate with your hand press.
What do I do to form the horizontal rails to make a complete panel?
We offer three tools that can be used to pierce the rails. We offer two channel pierce tools (with different maximum capacities) and one tube piercing tool.
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