Window Security bars

[Highway_Star]

We have one window that is easily accessible by ne'er do wells. It's also single glazed and not easily visible from the street, it's recessed by maybe 18" into the wall.

So I plan to put some bars over it, but in an aesthetically pleasing way

First off I'm going to make a frame, to fit inside the recessed stonework, the bars will be welded to said frame, they won't really be bars in the traditional window bar sense, made to look like a tree or something similar, the important thing is they make it impossible for someone to smash the glass and climb in, yet don't make it look like a prison.

Now, the frame, I am thinking of 15mm box section or thereabouts, obviously it's square at the corners, which is where my question comes.

I can simply butt lengths of box together using my recently aquired SIP clamps, it will work and will be straightforward, but will leave open ends of box for water to get in, also it's not going to stretch my cutting and measuring skills much.

So, I was thinking if I were to cut the ends of the box at 45degrees, clamp and weld I'd have a sealed frame, slightly more aesthetically pleasing (although to be honest I was planning to grind the welds down and paint anyway), but also it's more challenging and requires more accurate measuring and cutting.

Anyone think of a good reason not to cut the ends at 45 degrees?

 

[pedrobedro]

Cut two pieces to the height and two to the width then mitre the ends and you should have the frame without too much of a challenge. I made something for a local pub years ago and used round bar for the design. An arc in the corner and some lines radiating out to the frame and you have a rising sun, not too complicated and not like prison bars and if you use different colour paints it can be a feature.

 

[the snooper]

So I plan to put some bars over it, but in an aesthetically pleasing way

if you want it to be as un noticable as possible why use 15mm box when you could use 5mm flat bar for the frame ?

 

[gordon stephenson]

Yes, flat bar will look best, something about 1"x1/4" or 11/2"x1/4" for the frame and then the tree idea sounds good to me,

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

cut the pieces one at a time and the 45 degrees that you've just left from cutting the first piece, when you rotate the steel through 180 degrees, forms one end of the next piece. Less cutting and less wastage.

If you can get some bright round steel to go inside the box then if someone tries cutting the box with a hack-saw the round rotates inside and stops the blade from working...or at least, reduces the effect and makes the job take much longer.

You could use tube and round for the bars to give a similar effect.

Regards
Peter

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

Use long anchor bolts and weld the heads to the frame so as to stop people using the depth of the recess as a lever point to lever out the frame.


I have seen a good rising sun as a window frame security screen .
In my friends home in Cyprus , Arthur has a metal tree with copper fruits and some copper leaves on it as a security door over his veranda

 

[Highway_Star]

Flat bar, why did I not think of that?!

Peterd51, it's going to be as tight as possible to the glass/window frame, so there's no room to get a hacksaw in to cut the frame. The less cutting/less waste angle appeals to my tight ersed Scottish nature.

Pidgeon chit welder, I was thinking along those lines, no point in doing the neds a favour!

 

[greg_is_here]

All the window bars I've seen around our industrial estate use flat bar (say 5x30mm) or you could use 40x40x5 angle, depending on your anchoring points. The electrical place over the road from us has windows frames filled with intricate scroll designs like you see on gates, but you can also buy twisted bars of about 15mm which look a bit different.

Another option for a box section frame would be to cut the vertical lengths for the frame, then cut the horizontal lengths to fit inside. Then cut some blanks to weld onto the ends of the vertical lengths.

 

[Robotstar5]

I put a robot in to run a weld cap over tungsten on prison bars, they showed me how effective it was by turning a grinding wheel to dust trying to cut it!

 

[Lewis Medlock]

If looks are more important than price you could make the frame and give it to a profile cutting company with a lovely design of your choice for the 'bars'.

Then weld and fit.

All the best, Jim

 

[mart]

Flat bar, why did I not think of that?!/QUOTE]

I guess its just a matter of thinking outside the box.

 

[Robotstar5]

Flat bar, why did I not think of that?!/QUOTE]

I guess its just a matter of thinking outside the box.

Shouldn't that be "thinking outside the frame"?

 

[Hitch]

How big is the window in question...?

 

[Highway_Star]

Hitch,

The aperture in the stone work is 600mm x 1228mm.

The aperture formed by the wooden surround is 570mm x 1159mm.

Amazingly it's all square, despite being built 120 years ago, even with the inevitable settling these type of houses have (there's no real deep foundations in the modern sense, just piles of stone they put the 3 foot think stone walls on top of) it's measurably square. Craftsmen they were in them days, oh yes.

 

[Hitch]

I was going to suggest not bothering with a frame, just put a few 20mm square bars, on the diamond, resined staraight in to the wall.

 

[Highway_Star]

A bit prison like though Hitch?!

 

[Hitch]

I suppose so, depends on what style your house is...

Hows about some of them bars with the knots in, done in the same way with the resin...

 

[Highway_Star]

Hmmmmm,

That might make it past the planning dept.. aka Mrs Highway_Star.

Cheers Hitch

 

[Hitch]

16mm ones i reckon.... Just drill a nice big deep hole, put in place, lift up then a clamp to stop it dropping while the resin goes off... The randomness of thoose bars would let your holes be not exact to each other which is ideal!