Railheads

[Welderpaul]

I nearly always buy in the pre punched flat bar, although we have the capabilitys to punch it, its just not worth the hassle. By the time its punched all the way along, its bent like a bannana, they you need to roll it flat again

Once made the fatal mistake - punched a bar all the way along, slid all the round bars in, then tacked them in all the way along - welded from one side. Gave me a lovely radius. Problem was it was supposed to be straight!

 

[Baz-Cem]

Wozz, DC Irons also do the ready made bars and £12 covers the whole delivery and if you spend more than £100 its free. Just remind them about it, you can normally get them to throw in some free paint brushes.

 

[Wozzaaah]

That seems a pretty good price Dave, parker steel is about 68p a metre incl vat. Thanks for the offer of the offcuts but it would cost me a lot in diesel for a few quid's worth of bar. Cheers Baz, gonna have a good look throught their catalogue tomorrow.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Once made the fatal mistake - punched a bar all the way along, slid all the round bars in, then tacked them in all the way along - welded from one side. Gave me a lovely radius. Problem was it was supposed to be straight!

That's my main concern, keeping things straight. Any tips other than welding both sides of the rail?

 

[Welderpaul]

That's my main concern, keeping things straight. Any tips other than welding both sides of the rail?

Jig it. I have various jigs made from angle. Clamp the puched bars top and bottom, slide all the bars in and tack. Tends to keep everything in place. Tack on the centre line of the flat bar.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Cheers Paul.

 

[irondarren]

I not so long ago did a 5.5 mtr long railing about 400mm high, i had a few to do at various length but all the same height. made a jig from 50x25mm box so it couldnt bend, all came out sweet. you got a nice bench to build them on wozzaah? if not bash up a couple of custom made tresels and tack a guide bar top and bottom to the tresels, so the railing fits nicely into the gap

 

[Wozzaaah]

My bench isn't long enough so I'll have to make up a jig. Got plenty of box section lying around so should be able to knock something up. If I get any more to do I might think about extending my bench.

 

[murex400]

woz try this place
https://www.artisticironsupplies.co.uk/index.asp

once you log in they have all the prices

 

[Baz-Cem]

I've heard from a local fabber that they have real quality problems. I've never used them myself though.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Thanks Murex, I'll have a look. Thanks all, plenty of info for myself or anyone else interested in making some.

 

[Rail_Head]

rail heads

I've used North Valley Forge components most of the time and they seem to be decent quality.

I made jig using punchd bar. Difficult to explain so 'i will post some pics when I get home (doing a sneeky look ont web from work !!)

sort of slotted out half way down the bar to the holes then weld some 'L' so to made the bar stand on edge at 90 degree. lay the bar on the hole so this way you get the all spacings roght.
Like i said a photo will work better !

 

[murex400]

Brundles and A.I.S both use Italian made stuff i tend to use brundles more only because they are just down the road , another one to try is grey rose http://www.grey-rose-products.co.uk/offer.htm used to be top notch stuff from there all the castings were clean etc but i aint used them for a while. Dont know if dave`s ever used them not to far from him i wouldnt think

 

[Gatemaker]

mmm i work for a credit card manufacturing company and do this as a part time thing at the moment. Hopefully it will kick off but it sounds like every ones doing the same thing and some really good work to.

 

[irondarren]

there are plenty of people bashing out old tosh using bought in bits from brundles etc. (including me till i sort the forge out) Far few making real quality stuff, which tends to be vastly more expensive, its not unheard of for a pair 6ft tall double gates about 10ft wide to cost more than £5000, but there are far fewer customers willing to pay that sort of money. Lucky enough there are few people capable of doing that sort of quality work to warrent the price, so it kind of balances out

 

[Welderpaul]

there are plenty of people bashing out old tosh using bought in bits from brundles etc. (including me till i sort the forge out) Far few making real quality stuff, which tends to be vastly more expensive, its not unheard of for a pair 6ft tall double gates about 10ft wide to cost more than £5000, but there are far fewer customers willing to pay that sort of money. Lucky enough there are few people capable of doing that sort of quality work to warrent the price, so it kind of balances out

a while back i bought a load of weldonables and gear from a bloke who was selling up after not manging to make it pay making gates etc. He had a pair on his drive - they were truly terrible, wish i had taken a picture. Really out of square, bars not at equal centres. worra mess.

 

[irondarren]

thats the problem paul, they all think they can do it, there is more to making a gate than just welding (nothing wrong with being out of square, i do it often if done right allows for it to settle), quality of manufacture has a lot to do with it. little silly things show quality, nice rounded off edges, counter sunk hole for any screws etc, no splatter

 

[Gatemaker]

The learning curve and getting it all straight and square , the best bit is making it all your self by hand.

 

[irondarren]

looks good (with a few exceptions lol, personally i prefer closer gaping on bars and the rose bit, i would have put higher up in the gate, but thats just personal choices on design) what sort of materials did you make it out of. bought in or self made scrolls? like like cold rolled ones, did you radius of the ends of the scroll?

 

[Welderpaul]

Nice. as Irondaz says, close the gaps up. Be aware there is also a building regulation that states that a 100mm sphere must not be able to pass thro any part of the structure. This stops kids getting their heads stuck. It's relevant to staircases, ballustrades, and strictly speaking, gates.