flat bar for gate

[BrokenBiker]

what is commonly used for small gates?

after going back to re-attach the scrolls on my grandmothers gate i have come to the conclusion that it is fubar and needs replacing...i showed her a few on the wickes site and i was shocked at how cheap they looked and how expensive they were...

she has asked me to draw something up that will incorporate her house number, some fancy bits (she likes baskets and scrolls) and be robust enough to withstand the test of time.

looking on brundle's site and the hooks and eyes on there are 30mm wide, so i thought of using 30x8 flat bar, some 16mm twisted bars and some baskets, bend a semi circle for the top and put 2x S scrolls in the top section. it wont be far off what she has now but a bit heavier material, sturdier becasue of the 16mm twisted bars insteead of the 8mm round bars on the current gate and was thinking of painting the gate blue (as the current one is british steel blue...have a guess why) and then painting the baskets a different colour so they stand out a bit...

i can get all of this including vat and delivery for 40 quid, i have a small bending jig made form box section that will take 10mm bar and obviously have the equipment to fabricate the gate up quite easilly...

the only thing that is sticking in my mind is 30x8mm seems awfully heavy, but the hook and eye tabs would look daft if i used 20x6mm steel and then had the edges of the tabs hanging over.

her current gate is 1"x3/16" and was made quite badly by my grandfather about 30 years ago

 

[cumbriasteve]

30x 8 is good but 30x 5 would do fine for a single gate, 16mm bars are a bit ott for a simple single gate, 14mm or even 12mm would be fine.

 

[cumbriasteve]

These are the pins I used for single gates unless they were something really heavy, use the adjustable eyes with them and easy to set up.

They are about 25mm wide if memory serves me right.

http://www.dciron.co.uk/gate-pins/

http://www.dciron.co.uk/adjustable-eye-bolts/

 

[BrokenBiker]

they are the same pins i am looking at on brundles site, but the dimenstions on dc iron make sens of it a bit more...the tabs arent 30mm wide by the looks, the 30mm refers to the dimension from the bottom of the base to the top of the pin...@25mm wide they are perfect for what i want then. those adjustable eye bolts make better sense too

30x5 would be better, i only saw 30x8 on brundles site at a first glance...just found 30x5 so will use that instead if she wants the gate...at the moment its choice of me making one for cost of materials @around 40-45 quid, or paying up to 60 quid for a plain and flimsy looking mass produce gate that wont be quite the right size, and will need modifying which will never look right, as my grandfather made the walls the gate attaches too and took no thought as to how wide the gap should be...

i chose 16mm twisted bars as i like the chunky look, but as you have pointed out it may be a bit heavy for this gate...12mm might be better and cheaper too. i will need 5 lenght just under a meter, and a 6M length of pre twisted bar is under a tenner in 12mm. might even drop down to 25x5mm flat bar for the frame so the thinner twisted bars dont look out of place...

i think i started off trying to design an expensive looking gate that could be made realtively cheaply...i think less might be more in some aspects though...it will still look better than the neighbours that was bout off ebay and fitted by a one eyed, one armed alcoholic...

 

[pedrobedro]

Save yourself some hassle and make it out of 20 x 20 rhs and stick some 20 x 20 x 5 scrolls on it to make it look fancy.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Save yourself some hassle and make it out of 20 x 20 rhs and stick some 20 x 20 x 5 scrolls on it to make it look fancy.

had thought of using box section but not sure it will look right. i have been playing on the design app on brundles site and have a few printed out to show her

 

[cumbriasteve]

25mm x 5mm for the frame is just a bit too light in my opinion, it would probably do the job with sufficient tie in from the insert bars but after making more gates than I can possibly remember I got where I would never go below 30x5.

Box section gives the 'heavy' look without the weight and cost but if not treated will rust through from the inside in a fairly rapid fashion.

 

[BrokenBiker]

25mm x 5mm for the frame is just a bit too light in my opinion, it would probably do the job with sufficient tie in from the insert bars but after making more gates than I can possibly remember I got where I would never go below 30x5.

Box section gives the 'heavy' look without the weight and cost but if not treated will rust through from the inside in a fairly rapid fashion.

30x5 it is then...

that is another reason i dont like box section...the first gate i made was box section and it didnt last all that long...was made in damp conditions and although i painted the exterior it just rusted away

 

[pedrobedro]

Box section gives the 'heavy' look without the weight and cost but if not treated will rust through from the inside in a fairly rapid fashion.

My brother in law made one for their back garden over 40 years ago and with the ends boxed in it is still as solid as the day he made it. It's 1.6 mm wall thickness so not heavy at all, you don't need a lot for a garden gate they look too clumsy made of thick material. Drive gates are a different matter where they are covering a bigger span.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I am surprised untreated box section lasted 40 years, not doubting you..just surprised.

I have seen fully mitred and welded one's (technically sealed) last less than 5 years, when we cut them up they were heavily corroded inside and wafer thin in places.

I knew the firm that had made them and it was a decent enough workshop and work practices.

Would be interesting to know why some do and some don't.

 

[BrokenBiker]

My brother in law made one for their back garden over 40 years ago and with the ends boxed in it is still as solid as the day he made it. It's 1.6 mm wall thickness so not heavy at all, you don't need a lot for a garden gate they look too clumsy made of thick material. Drive gates are a different matter where they are covering a bigger span.

surely it would look more clumsy mare form 20x20 rather than 30x5...