11.560 Angled Railbolt

Was fairly easy to install and works great. But wasn’t able to tighten all the way in because the hinge was coming apart when screwing it into the newel post. Quality could have been a little better on the ball bearing hinge since you have to use that to twist the bolt in. If it broke off there wouldn’t be an easy way to get it out.

This rail kit was awesome to use. It is sturdy, tight fitting, and relativity easy to install (with some YouTube help of course). The pic above is after install, before I stained the plug to match. There are a few things that should be mentioned: 1. In lieu of using wax to screw the main thread into the newel, I picked up a 23 cent lag bolt and ran that in and out of the newel a few times. I would agree with some other reviewers that the hinge is not beefy enough to take the torque needed to screw it in with just the 3/4" pre-drill. That being said, I still clamped the hinge with pliers for the last few turns because I thought it might break on my bottom newel. Definitely don't go at this without wax or using a lag bolt first! I can easily see why others had it break on them. 2. I had to slice the wood plug in half with a dremmel because it was too deep to go in all the way with the fancy allen nut thing. It could have been my measuring, but I double checked my 1" hole afterwards and it was to spec. But adjusting on the fly is a normal occurance in my projects. It was probably my measuring. Anyway, if you're handy enough to be installing your own railing you are handy enough to use this kit, and it looks better and is way sturdier than just nailing it in from the top!

The folding bolt is the most useful part which makes the installation and positioning calculations easier. The nut works fine although the connection needed some effort to attach to the bolt. Be mindful of the would thickness since you would need a deeper hole for the nut to fit vs regular handrail bolt kit.

Just used the angled rail bolt, and am very pleased with the product. I found the hinge to be sturdy and allowed the bolt to be screwed into the post effectively without issue. I did drill a 9/32” hole and greased the threads with petroleum jelly. Would not recommend skipping the lubricant. Following the instructions on the back (though they are small) allowed me to properly drill all required holes, and there is enough play in the system that you don’t need perfect holes for it to work! The gears in the tightening mechanism are tight to start, but if you work them a bit (spin back and forth 10+ times without the bolt) they will spin more smoothly and make it much easier to install with the rail. Would use again!

Absolute garbage. Used it exactly as instructed and the product broke in half right at the joint before I could even fully screw it in. I really wanted this product to work because it looked super easy to use and sturdy but unfortunately it’s just made of super cheap material and was unusable.

Exactly what I needed to fasten my stair hand rail to the upper newel post.

A great way to conceal a strong connection for your handrail. The instructions are straightforward, but take a bit of understanding before proceeding. Once you know the steps this is a super simply way to make a reliable and strong connection. I used 4 sets to complete this stair handrail. Just be careful the last few turns, as the pin holding the two pieces can give out. Use pliers to hold it together while tightening.

Good idea but the quality needs to be improved. The bolt snapped while I was screwing it in and the section inside the newel post was difficult to remove. Hopefully, a company with higher quality standards will take over this company and use a high quality steel instead what is used now. They can also provide instructions that can be read without a magnifying glass and a template. They used to supply a template to help in drilling the holes. I guess they decided to try to force customers to buy the drill guide by omitting the template. How much more would a paper template cost? 2 cents a page? How much more would a small vial of wax to make it easier to insert the bolt costs? 10 cents?

These were easy to use and worked great in my stair case railing

Watch videos and understand the principle on how it works and you won’t have any problems. I used a 7mm hole with a little grease and it worked a treat.

Worked well to make a sturdy connection on the angled staircase hand rail. Combined with the glue on the end grain of the rail I expect it will hold for a hundred years or more.

I had a horrible experience with the Angled Railbolt connectors, especially when installing them into hardwood. On one connection, the hinge snapped while tightening, leaving the failed screw-end permanently stuck with no way to remove it. On another, the crank mechanism stripped immediately; the second crank wouldn’t turn at all. Both failures happened during installation, not under load. This is a clear case of cheap materials and a weak, poorly engineered design. These connectors simply cannot handle real-world use. I would never use Zipbolt products again and strongly recommend using standard bolt-and-nut hardware instead.

Works good, important to follow the instructions. A little expensive compared to other brands. Even if they didn’t provide the same locking gear for easy access, it still does the work.