First attempt at some gates

[J.F]

First attempt at some gates using some of the metal craft tools

http://www.metal-craft.co.uk/

Each gate is 1m x 1.6m, and cost £90 for everything to be galvanised.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Very nice, much better than the first set I ever made.

Comments welcome?

Your hinge pins are all the same direction, without a split pin or similar method the gates can be lifted off and stolen.

When capping the posts, leave a 20mm overhang, it looks better visually and tidier with no weld visible on the top.

The post galv vent hole, design it so it faces the wall out of view.

Use the same material as the outer frame for the horizontal crossbar, better visually and strengthwise.

 

[J.F]

Thanks, yes I know what you mean about the hinge pins, I did consider it but it's not the main gate into the house so I'm not too worried.

Yes thinking about it I could have bought something like this for the posts http://www.metal-craft.co.uk/store/product?id=276&cat=54&subcat=91

As for the vent holes I have had some things come back with more holes in than I remember drilling!!!!

 

[cumbriasteve]

Don't buy your bits from Metalcraft, their tools are great without a doubt, the accessories are expensive.

I use this firm: http://www.dciron.co.uk/

Delivery is £10 next day, so only worthwhile buying a few £'s worth, excellent quality though and I stopped making scrolls because theirs were so good and well priced.

 

[J.F]

Cheers for the link.

 

[addjunkie]

Don't buy your bits from Metalcraft, their tools are great without a doubt, the accessories are expensive.

I use this firm: http://www.dciron.co.uk/

Delivery is £10 next day, so only worthwhile buying a few £'s worth, excellent quality though and I stopped making scrolls because theirs were so good and well priced.

Thats hand to know, my old man lives two minutes from there, so i pass quite regularly

 

[cumbriasteve]

Thats hand to know, my old man lives two minutes from there, so i pass quite regularly

Never had anything bad off them, the scrolls are good heavy duty, was not even worth making my own at the price.

For standard gates you can just about buy every bit and an hour with the welder and job done, not very skillful or self rewarding but an easy way to make money with minimum effort.

 

[Welderpaul]

Very tidy job - 2 comments from me - middle hinge not needed IMO, and the spacings of the vertical infills need shifting about to make sure the first and last bars have the same gaps to the edges of the frames.

How did you fix the top hinge into the frame without being able to pass the bolt right through? Maybe drop that one down to save having to faff around with it?

Another vote for DC Iron.

 

[Kent]

Very nice, much better than the first set I ever made.

Comments welcome?

Your hinge pins are all the same direction, without a split pin or similar method the gates can be lifted off and stolen.

When capping the posts, leave a 20mm overhang, it looks better visually and tidier with no weld visible on the top.

The post galv vent hole, design it so it faces the wall out of view.

Use the same material as the outer frame for the horizontal crossbar, better visually and strengthwise.

Or cut the capping plates for a corner to corner weld. Grind and polish
Personally hate overlapping plates the only thing worse is tacked on domed caps

But it's all opinion

 

[I'm getting on a bit]

Very tidy job - 2 comments from me - the spacings of the vertical infills need shifting about to make sure the first and last bars have the same gaps to the edges of the frames.

That was the stand out thing for me, very nice but spoilt by the spacing

 

[Wendelspanswick]

That was the stand out thing for me, very nice but spoilt by the spacing

Here's the formula I use to work out the spacing between railings so that the gap is equal and is less than 100mm (Building Regs specification for balustrades).
I used to have it chalked on the hood of my forge along with loads of other useful info and I have copied it down from memory so just test it a few times to make sure I haven't made a mistake!

G = Gap to fill
N = Number of railings
T = Thickness of railings
S = Space between railings

S = (G - (N x T)) / N + 1

Increase N till S <= 100mm

Example:
G = 1500mm
T = 16mm

12 (N) x 16 = 192
1500 - 192 = 1308
1308 / 13 (N + 1) = 100mm

This is the space between the railings, if you need to know the Centre Line of the railings (if punching or drilling holes):

To find the First Centre Line:
FCL = S + (T / 2)

Subsequent Centre Lines:
SCL = S + T

Or you could just lay out the railings on your rails and keep adjusting them till they are evenly spaced!

 

[Kent]

Building regs is actually any point other than under the stringer were a triangle space might be on stairs
A sphere of 100 mm must not be able to pass through
Effectively meaning less than 100 mm space between spindles

 

[Kent]

Just divide by the spaces and then adjust to suit bearing in mind the rules

Just doing some railings at present in ten sections
Each section is slightly different and I required 100 centres for 16 mm bar
So I worked out the longest with 16 spindles the shortest with 14 so I managed an alternate boss layouts
Centres varied off memory from 103 to 95 without burying myself into a post or stopping to far back ( you can't see that and all spaces will be under 100 when you take into account 16 mm for two half thicknesses
For a discalculic like me the formula gave way to a fag packet drawing and a little count the rail. Spot the bush extersize but took all of five mins

 

[Kent]

BTW
I don't think the spaces too bad on the example the only fault is imo never drawing it or having a mind set fixed on a certain centre
It's a tidy first go no question at all but you will get critics in engineering projects - it's just a certain mind set that exists in the trade too look for issues and problems
Not the negativity it seems at first

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Building regs is actually any point other than under the stringer were a triangle space might be on stairs
A sphere of 100 mm must not be able to pass through
Effectively meaning less than 100 mm space between spindles

Cheers, now corrected. I thought it was 100mm but when I googled it it came back with 125mm but I think this may have been the maximum gap between the bottom rail and the floor.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Building regs is actually any point other than under the stringer were a triangle space might be on stairs
A sphere of 100 mm must not be able to pass through
Effectively meaning less than 100 mm space between spindles

I don't think building regs actually applies to ornamental gates and railings at ground level but a 100mm gap tends to look right.
I used to do a lot of gates with 'dog bars', short bars in the bottom of the gate spaced at 75mm interspaced with full length bars resulting in the gap between railings in the top half of the gate being around 150mm.

 

[Kent]

I don't think building regs actually applies to ornamental gates and railings at ground level but a 100mm gap tends to look right.
I used to do a lot of gates with 'dog bars', short bars in the bottom of the gate spaced at 75mm interspaced with full length bars resulting in the gap between railings in the top half of the gate being around 150mm.

Yes your correct it just depends on were they are
It isn't 125 though and just thought that worth correction
Modern " liability " and where thier blame thier a cliam culture often for me at least over rides building regs
Instead of the first call being the fire brigade to remove the kid who has his head stuck in the railings- it might well be " we fix any claim.com

 

[Kent]

Cheers, now corrected. I thought it was 100mm but when I googled it it came back with 125mm but I think this may have been the maximum gap between the bottom rail and the floor.

Perhaps on stairs though the gap below the stringer is excluded were the triangle forms ( just picked up a stair job yesterday and they requested infill scrolls in this area as they have two dogs and they thought about them poking thier heads through
Now sheep would for sure but dogs?

 

[J.F]

How did you fix the top hinge into the frame without being able to pass the bolt right through? Maybe drop that one down to save having to faff around with it?

A self colour nut was welded to the outside and then re taped after galvanising.

Cheers for the formula Wendelspanswick

How I worked out the spacing was to mark the centre of the gate and then have the scrolls all equal length and meet in the centre. Then marked 50mm either side of centre for the verticals railings and then 100mm from then on outwards so the spacing between all the railings is 100mm except for the railing at each end of the gate which turned out approx. 40mm from the end of the gate.

 

[Son of a Steelman]

I understand DC's (dciron) will deliver purchases over £50 in value for free. Might be worth checking out as it doesn't take much in wrought parts to build a bill of £50.00, plus saves a tenner if ordering regularly.

Gates look good. Nice job. Galvanised as well - No expense spared. Doesn't appear to have a small gap in the centre of the gate styles, which appears to be pushing the gates out of a true straight alignment. Is there a centre latch etc?

Plenty of suitable, attractive shaped post cappings to choose from for those SHS posts at DC's. Finishes gates off well.