Securing wooden I fills to gate

[Powermyster]

Hi.

I have made a steel gate with bars on top and want to put wood on bottom half. It's all 40mm box on the bottom. I was planning to use 20x20x3 angle but its a sliding gate and the top rail in lapping onto the underside and the box there I want to put my wood so I haven't the room for 20x20 angle on top. I'm finding it hard to source any angle that's smaller.

I was thinking using some flat bar but I only have 8mm there and need to drill about 64 holes minimum.
I also considered tacking on washers to just screw the wood to.

Obviously there are loads of options what do you guys normally do to fix the wood.

Can I just take the lazy way out and use some kind of bonding???

Darren

 

[the snooper]

post a picture of the gate and im sure you'll get some ideas

 

[Powermyster]

I'll try get something on later tonight

 

[Welderpaul]

Whenever i did wood infills, i used to stitch weld a flat bar on the inside of the frame, top and bottom. Something like a 30x6 flat.
Small washers tend to disappear into thin air when you try to weld them on and won't be particularly robust.
Or..self tap a small timber battern on the inside of the frame then you just need to screw the infills onto it, rather than drilling a shed load of holes through the flat/angle.

 

[Powermyster]

Cheers welder Paul I was originally planning on putting some 40x8 top and bottom like you said, As I have some there in the shed.

Any tips on drilling 64 holes in 8mm steel, lol. That's what was putting me off this technique

 

[Welderpaul]

Any tips on drilling 64 holes in 8mm steel,

Why not get a fabricator to punch it for you? Dead easy with the right kit, save you hours. Probably get it done for a decent donation to the brew fund.

 

[Powermyster]

Don't think I'll have time at this stage. Want to try get it all finished this weekend. Thi I have about 4 or 5 4mm HSS bits there

Might see how I go

 

[Dev]

It might be worth it to pay the couple of pound for a length of thinner metal to make the drilling easier.

 

[wrinx]

Do you have a pillar drill, if so 64+ holes would be easy enough and setting up a small jig would ensure accuracy?

wrinx

 

[Powermyster]

No pillar drill unfortunately. I must buy one!

 

[Hitch]

Dont buy a cheapy £40 one like mine though, might as well put the drill bits in a cauliflower.

 

[gordon stephenson]

With a good sharp quality drill bit and electric hand drill it will take less than 30 minutes.I don't mind hand drilling holes as long as its small diameter into mild steel that is nice and thin like yours.

 

[Powermyster]

Got messed up with time the weekend as I had to go to the uk on Saturday.

I am considering sandwiching the wood between two 20x3 lengths of flat as the people I ordered the wood off cut it for me. Problem is I would have cut it better with a hand saw. The vary between 600mm which I ordered and 590mm

Sandwiching will hide the discrepancies, any objections or reasons for not doing it this way.

Darren

 

[steeo]

Send the wood back if they cut it wrong.