Maybe iron, copper and others supporting beams in disrepair (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
base metal
'maybe iron copper' is the definition.
'base metal' can be an answer for 'copper' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'maybe iron' bit.
'and others supporting beams in disrepair' is the wordplay.
'and others' becomes 'etal' (short for 'et alia', 'and others' in Latin).
'supporting' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, some letters go below others).
'in disrepair' indicates an anagram.
'beams' anagrammed gives 'basem'.
'etal' after 'basem' is 'BASE METAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for base metal that I've seen before include "Lead, for example" , "Not being noble, it soon tarnishes" , "Lead for one" , "this isn't rare" , "Say, iron" .)