Haven't had chance to talk to my dad yet, he's the one with the (arc) welder...
I'm looking to pick up a cheap set of metal gates from Wickes / B&Q, and was thinking of getting some of the spiky railheads to stop the "locals" using them to sit on.
Given that these things are likely to be hard to clamp, how hard would it be to get them tacked on ?
(these are the sort of things i'm talking about)
================================== Welding the cappings would depend on the capacity of your welder. Welding might not be necessary because the cappings might be drilled and tapped to take a set screw. You would only have to drill the top of your gates with holes to match.
Magnetic welding clamps are readily available so holding the cappings shouldn't be difficult if welding is necessary:
Cic.
AFAIK (and without seeing any) they've got "holes" in the bottom to accept a steel rod, which you can then just drop through a suitably pre-punched steel strip (i.e. if you were making them regularly)
They wouldn't need to be "perfectly" welded to the correct depth etc, just tacked on to stop the little darlings sitting on the gates :-}
I don't have a bench drill, otherwise that'd be a good idea :-}
On 21 Mar, 11:30, Colin Wilson
not the usual iron potmetal.
Arc (manual stick) or MIG will do this easily. Bevel the ends of the rod first, then tack, then weld a good bead all round. Clamp with cheap magnet, or just by lying it down on a suitable wooden block.
I fitted a pair of double gates from Wickes a few weeks ago. They look alright, but are not very good actually. The steel is too thin. I fitted them, then had to go back the next day "as they wouldnt shut". The house owner, instead of lifting up the bolt, had just dragged it across the concrete when opening the gates, it had jammed in a divot, and he just used force to pull it open. The gate was bent back in one corner by 3 inches. It was easily bent back into shape. Another pair of 'old' gates I worked on last week were the opposite - they were probably 30 years old, covered in rust, but they were heavy and rigid, and once cleaned up, still looked good. So, if possible, have a good look round for some old gates, take the time to clean them up, and they'll last a lot longer than the ones on sale at B+Q/Wickes. Alan.
Cheers for that, they're only to keep the local scrotes^H^Hkids from=20 using the driveway as a goal, and we're planning on moving within a=20 couple of years, so they wouldn't need to be particularly heavy or=20 long-lasting :-}
Looking at the price of steel on the site I mentioned, if I had more=20 time (and could weld) i'd be tempted to knock my own up !
It's a real eye opener when you see mid-range gates going for =A3400 and=20 the bits to make it less than =A340 - sure, labour is the biggest cost,=20 but even that must be minimal given that the site does pre-punched=20 steel so all you need to do is a weld in each corner, and literally=20 drop the vertical rods into place !
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