Garden railings

[peterd51]

Hi,

mother wanted some railings across the front of her garden and as I've never made any before I thought it'd be good practice...

but I didn't know it'd takes weeks to get finished!

So I did the measurements and a basic design on paper. Two big panels about 50" long and 40" high, plus a small one for the end about 20" x 23", and three posts. Spacing the rails out at slightly less than 4" I could get eleven rails on each of the big panels and five on the small one, so I decided on a pattern of 'bobbins' with a bit of poke'n'hope.

First job was to cut the metal for the panels, 30 x 10mm...





and then to drill holes in the 'rop' rails. Marked up and punched, then popped a 3mm drill through and finished off with a 12mm. I gave each hole a squirt of WD40 from time to time and took it steady so it took a couple of hours to get the holes drilled.





Then after running a bit of 'prep' on the 'sides' I started the welding. Tacked each panel, checked for 90 degrees and welded a bit at a time on each side to keep them lined up.





Next job was to cut the rails as accurately as I could, but as usual one or two were 'out' by a couple of millimetres. After threading the bobbins on the relevant rails I lined up the bottom ends of each rail by using wood and metal spacers to set the height above the bench.





As some of the rail-tops were now higher or lower than their neighbours I had to make sure with carefull measuring (and by previously choosing the end rails as matching pairs) that the two end balls were exactly the same height above the top rail. Then using a length of dexion angle iron clamped on as a temprary jig I managed to get all of the balls at the same height. These are 30mm balls to match the panel top width.





continued in next message...

 

[peterd51]

...from previous message...

the bobbins were spaced out in the pattern that I decided on, measured and tacked in place. Then I put the two bigger panels alongside each other to double check that everything was in the right place before welding up fully.

I cut some lugs, drilled 12mm holes and then opened out one end with a cutting disk in the grinder to make slots and attached these to the panel sides...what I didn't realise was the amount of distortion that this would cause. It doesn't show up too bad in the finished fence but I know it's there and I'm sure that most people here will spot it!





I didn't photograph the posts, but basically they're 40 x 40 x 4mm box with a plate on each end and I cut some rough 5mm plates to weld on below ground level so it looked like fins on a bomb. Something for the concrete to hang on to. I finished off each post with a 40mm ball on top.

As there's no-where locally to get galvanising or powder coating I decided to paint the fence. I covered all of the welds with Kurust and covered the whole lot in a zinc phosphate primer, then finished off with a black gloss metal paint. It took ages for the gloss to dry, several days in fact as the weather turned a bit cold. I did the final coat in the workshop so I could leave them all week to dry.





So, off to mothers to install it...

started at 8.30 on a nice Saturday morning, marked up where the posts would go and used a stone cutting disk in an angle grinder to break through the concrete. It was only about 2" thick as expected, no problem. Unfortunately there was another 4" of concrete a couple of inches below this and I couldn't get the grinder in.

So off to HSS to hire a hammer-chisel/drill thing...absolutely amazing piece of kit, knocked through three holes in about 40 minutes. We had to get the drill thing back to the shop before they closed at 1.00pm or we'd be charged for a full weekend so we did that and stopped for a bite of lunch...before we knew it the clock had drifted to 1.30pm!

I'd hoped to get everything done in one day!

Anyhow, I dug the clay out of the holes and managed to get the posts about a inch too low despite carefull measuring, plus I now found out that the holes in the concrete were about 2" further back (into the garden) than they should have been. But I mixed up the concrete and got the posts fixed in, at least they were in line. The end post near the drive isn't quite vertical as you'll see in the final photo and the bottom of that panel is pretty close to the ground as the concrete slopes up there! I'd planned about a 2" gap all the way along...

I couldn't get back the next day as Bobbie (the wife) had a rare Sunday off and we'd planned to go out for the day together...for some reason she didn't fancy installing fence panels together. Funny lot these women!

So it was the next Saturday before I could bolt everything together and find out that it almost fits as I'd planned it! I ran some weld between the bolts and nuts so the panels can't be nicked and touched up the paint...





All in I reckon it was bloody hard work and I've gained extra respect for the guys that do it every day. It's heavy stuff once you get even a small panel made up! I guess it'd be easier if I had a bench in the middle of the floor so I could walk all around it. Having to keep lifting the panel and turning it round to get at the other end, and then to flip it over and then spin it again is a bit too much for me.

A couple of people in the street stopped to chat with mother and she hinted about getting me some business but TBH I don't fancy it. If I was made redundant I might be interested though, I've learnt a lot from this exercise and maybe next time I could get it right.

Regards
Peter

 

[fl70]

Nice job on the panels.
Looks good installed.

 

[andypocock]

Cracking job.

I'm glad my Mrs doesn't come here. She's got no idea that you can make railings and I'd like to keep it that way.

Andy

 

[Hitch]

Not a bad little job Peter

Sometimes with small installs like that, its as well to bolt it all together, put a minimalthickness packer underneath the high end, then block up the other untill its all level. Clamp or wedge it into position, then chuck the 'crete in the holes.
Postmix is a bit dearer, but so easy and goes off a bit quicker

 

[Hitch]

With ref to the post, its a shame youve welded the nuts, you could very easily have undone the top one and pulled it out so it looks better.

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

thanks for the tips.

I was more than a little concerned about the weight of it all. It's bad enough trying to shift one panel, I'd hate to think of what could happen if the whole lot fell over! Especially as people were still using the path as I was working there!

Something to keep in mind if I ever have another go though, thanks.

Regards
Peter

 

[Sanny]

Good Job Peter
Not bad at all for a first time
On dimensions, dont you just love it when people give you sizes in imperial and metric, used to confuse the hell out of me as I have allways be used to metric.

Sandy

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

that's not really a problem for me as I learnt Imperial at school and metric later, and I tend to mix and match depending on what's easiest for the particular aspect of the job.

My sons have a real problem sometimes as they have little idea what an 'inch' is, so I have to switch to metric for them.

I have no problem saying that something is 50" long by a metre high...I'd hate to measure and mark-off the height in inches!

Regards
Peter

 

[drivewasher]

Good Job Peter
Not bad at all for a first time
On dimensions, dont you just love it when people give you sizes in imperial and metric, used to confuse the hell out of me as I have allways be used to metric.

Sandy

Yep! Asked my mate to measure up for a run of copper tube. 10 meters 8 inches came the reply!

 

[knoba]

Nice work! I really like the bobbins & balls feature and the way you've painted them. Nicely explained post too. Well done mate!

I bet you're mum loves 'em.