Driveway gate design

[Badger]

I thought a few of you might like this

So my boss enlisted me to build him a new gate for his driveway. He wanted to replace the current rod iron gate with a new one. After showing him some designs of what we could do I realized it just wasn't good enough. So I pitched him on a silhouette style gate. I quickly came up with a design and showed him, which he fell in love with.

The design incorporated his company logo(kind of) and what he does (excavation). The picture was sent out to a local laser cutter who cut the design out of two large pieces of sheet steel. The gate is going to be a solid piece that will be 18' long by 6' in the middle. It's going to be fully power with an electric ram that can be controlled with a garage door opener style controller.

Earlier last week we picked up the laser cut steel as well as the steel I'll be using for the frame and post that it will be hinged on. So today was the start of the build. After some 7 hours of cutting, welding, and grinding. I got the two piece together as well as frame pieces cut and tacked together. Now it's time to cut it off the plate to fully weld it and add a couple of other pieces to help stiff some areas. After that some paint and time to hang it.

As you can see the frame will be fully hidden from the front of the gate. The top was a bit of a pain following the mountains.

And thanks Carl for the help even though you didn't cut it you might still be asked to cut a few little items to add to it.

 

[blznnp]

thats sweet, will it be a rolling gate then since its all one piece?

 

[Badger]

It's going to be a swing in gate. We thought about making it a slide but it was just to involved with the new vinyl fence we put up last summer and the raised flower bed that is behind it. It can't be a swing up because of the power lines that pass in front of the house. The hinges I'll be using are designed to handle 1000 pounds and use bearings. The power ram is made to handle 800 to 1000 pounds. It will be hinged on the left side and be along the fence on that side when open.

Photoshopped to show him how it would look if done.

The sides that are still rod iron will be getting replaced with small blend panels to match the gate. The left side we still have to do the fencing that turns the corner and heads down the side of the property to the back of the yard.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Looks killer. I'll eventually need to replace my back gate (12' wide), the city paid for a vinyl two panel gate to be made but it isn't going to last a few more years and I'd like to do something with some flare.

Worried about it racking when hanging from one side? that is a grip of weight supported on one side. What size is that frame tubing?

 

[Badger]

The tubing is 1 1/2" by 1/8'. The hinge side will be getting plated in the hinge areas to help spread the load to a greater area. The post is a 4" by 3/16' and is sunk just over 3 feet into 1400 pounds of concrete. I figure if the post does show any defection I can always add two small kickers. As for the gate racking I don't see that being a problem. Once I welded the two sheets together it was great as far as racking it was the waviness from top to bottom that was a problem. Once I had the frame just tacked to the sheet steel it stiffened right up.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Right on, I'll be interested to see how you finish it off.

 

[Badger]

I told him we should skin the back with something thinner like spun polished aluminum then put LEDs into it to back light it at night. Also thought about making a second image only slightly fatter and putting that on the rear of the frame then adding LEDs to the back side of the front skin so it reflected off the second image. In the day time it would give it a 3D shadow effect. He liked that but it will either get sent out for powder coating or just get painted a flat black like rod iron. We also discussed using Cor-ten steel but it doubled the price of the steel and cut costs so that was dropped.

 

[I Lean]

And thanks Carl for the help even though you didn't cut it you might still be asked to cut a few little items to add to it.

No problem at all, it looks great! I'm sorry I couldn't help you more, but my table just isn't big enough to make it worth doing. Looks like you got it done with MUCH less welding together this way.

 

[Badger]

Well worked on it again yesterday. Added some more bracing and fully welded the frame. I still need to add some bracing in the lower corners and fish plate the uppers for some extra strength. He decided he is going to have it sand blasted then either painted or powder coated depending on price.

Ran out of weld-able primer

Got the frame fully welded and primered

Frame and skin tacked together one last time checking fit

toward the end of the day I rushed a bit and payed the price........

Grinder grabbed an edge jumped back and caught me good. Took 1 internal and 8 external stitches

 

[jeeper]

OUCH!

 

[Tonkaman]

Well that could have gone worse

 

[Kiel]

bummer on the stitches, gate is badass

 

[SAMI]

Nice gate! If you add LED's, toss some in the truck headlights and on the excavator; that could be cool.

I'd PC the gate. Paint just doesn't last like PC does.

 

[Badger]

Well it's getting closer. Got some more done on stiffeners and got it hung. Still need to get the latch and power ram installed as well as replace or do something with the old post on the right side. Then some side panels to blend up to the fence.

The gate is hung high for a reason. If you notice the side walk on the left side is high. When we did the fence on the right we matched the side walk so that way if township ever decides to put it in it's already at the right height. He also plans on redoing the approach to his drive way and bring it up to stop the rain water from running down the road and into his driveway.

 

[I Lean]

Looks good!

 

[blznnp]

Awesome looking gate. Any idea how much it weighs?

 

[Badger]

My boss and me have taken guesses as to how much it weighs and we should have taken it to get weighed but never did. The two of us could pick it up so I don't see it being more then 800 pounds.

Didn't get to work on it over the weekend so I spent today playing with it. Got the power ram wired and mounted. So now it functions for the most part. I also got a third hinge on there as well. Even though the two by themselves are rated for 1000 pounds. I still need to install the electronic lock as well as install a second post for when he wants to leave it in the open position. That way it can be latched with out worry of wind putting strain on the ram.

 

[Badger]

A quick video of it working along with the latch that got installed and wired today.

[video=youtube;UJZ0FXHC9vY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJZ0FXHC9vY&feature=youtu.be[/video]

[video=youtube;8IpmKZB0a0I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IpmKZB0a0I&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Trying to get him to rent a mobile sand blaster then to paint it with POR15 once it rusts a bit. This way if anything ever needs to be done to it it can just be painted again. If it was powder coated it would be a pain to deal with if something was to be added or if something needs repair down the road.