Welding Tips and Tricks

So this is one of those sliding gates, you have two poles on one side, (Gap between the poles is 30% of gate length) with rollers bolted to the poles.
So this gate is 24' long. It's all 1 7/8" by 1/8" wall.
So the main frame, and then I'll get all the internal crossmembers cut/coped/and smashed.

All I'm doing is building the gate.
The guy will get the poles driven in the ground, and the rollers bolted on.

Enjoy the pics.
~John



















































I'll get a pic of it installed soon.

Thanks for watching.

Captain Versatile strikes again!

Great work. So much variety in what you do.



Kym

nice trick flattening the ends of the cross braces!
craig

As always John - really nice build & excellent step by step photos - great scenery too. Now you've used the 211i a bit how do you like it - I keep looking at them myself - torn between that & an Rtech unit.

motox wrote:nice trick flattening the ends of the cross braces!
craig

I can't take credit for it.

All I did was lay it out, and weld.

Thanks.

noddybrian wrote:As always John - really nice build & excellent step by step photos - great scenery too. Now you've used the 211i a bit how do you like it - I keep looking at them myself - torn between that & an Rtech unit.

Thanks noddy.
I really like the 211i. Great for mig, and sticks decently as well.
Its heavy and has no handle to carry it tho.

I should write up a complete review someday.

MosquitoMoto wrote:Captain Versatile strikes again!

Great work. So much variety in what you do.

Kym

Hey thanks. Much more to come. Hopefully my phone doesn't run out of data storage.

motox wrote:nice trick flattening the ends of the cross braces!

I noticed that too, and I've seen it done in other applications. Do you flatten in a vice, or press?

You'll notice once it's installed, the flattened tubes are (or should be) intended to serve in tension. If these tubes were to take compression loads, the design would likely have called for them to be coped.

This is not universally true, depending on expected loads, but it's something to keep in mind when designing your own.

Another fine project, John! I do like the photo breakdown when you share a project.

Steve S

No doubt about you John. Your photos almost make up a detailed plan set.

Thanks for all the efforts. Looks like a very well put together project.

But wait! Where's the snow-capped mountains in the background???? C'mon. Can't fool us. Did you have to photoshop the snow out? ( )

BTW: How's the new truck going?

Trev

Otto Nobedder wrote:You'll notice once it's installed, the flattened tubes are (or should be) intended to serve in tension. If these tubes were to take compression loads, the design would likely have called for them to be coped.

This is not universally true, depending on expected loads, but it's something to keep in mind when designing your own.

Another fine project, John! I do like the photo breakdown when you share a project.

Steve S

I agree on the tension loads. This is adequate for this gate.

Coping would definitely look better and be much stronger tho.

Thanks!

Artie F. Emm wrote:

motox wrote:nice trick flattening the ends of the cross braces!

I noticed that too, and I've seen it done in other applications. Do you flatten in a vice, or press?

Just to clarify, I didn't do any of the coping or smashing. I just picked the stuff up from the fencing place.
He designed it to his standards. I'm sure he had a press.

TRACKRANGER wrote:No doubt about you John. Your photos almost make up a detailed plan set.

Thanks for all the efforts. Looks like a very well put together project.

But wait! Where's the snow-capped mountains in the background???? C'mon. Can't fool us. Did you have to photoshop the snow out? ( )

BTW: How's the new truck going?

Trev

We haven't had snow on the mountains for months.
We do have summer here, every now and then.

Truck?

Back in the 1980s I got into building these types of gates for fence contractors; my trick was that I would build them on site. As you indicated, there is a space between the gate posts, and the gate must reflect this 'storage'. Some of the gates that I built were monsters, with a length of over 60' and up to 10' heights. All built out of that galvanized garbage which makes me sick to weld. I had an expensive tube notcher with changeable dies for handling different sizes of tube. I needed lots of stands to keep everything level. But if I built them correctly, I could tip the finished product right off my stands and onto the rollers.

When I first got into this, I figured that to save weight on the longer gates, they would prefer a lighter tube; but the opposite is true. The larger the gate, the more structural material you want! Also, the knee braces would go UP from the bottom rail to the opening ... rather than the other way.

Funny thing was, I would charge as much for a 8' tall gate as for a 2' tall gate; as far as labor goes. This used to piss off the contractors, but if you look at it, there is the same number of welds!

I DO NOT miss doing those things!
Gary