Re-Welding Gate Frame

[Don52]

For security, my customer is going to install a 12’ wide automatic gate on the driveway of the house that his daughter is living, which is a nice section of the city of Detroit, called Indian Village. My customer’s daughter got mixed up between 6’ and 60” tall and ordered the wrong height for the gate frame from a company in Florida called Gate Crafters. This company sells all of the things you need for an automatic gate including brackets, hinges, electric latches and an electric gate opener. The cost for the gate frame including shipping was $350. The gate frame is made of 2” square tubing with a 1/8” wall. Typically standard fence sections are hung from the gate frame so that they will match the rest of the fence. The gate is hung on a 6” x 6” post that is sunk in the ground 5’, which is supported by eight bags of concrete.

My job was to take the frame apart and re-weld it the correct size. I only wound up saving one of the original welds, so we basically only saved the material. The original latch was intended to mount on the inside of the gate. We decided to add a riser under the latch actuator to avoid having to cut a 2-1/2” deep notch in the 6” x 6” latch post. We also added tabs with 5/16”-18 tapped holes to assist in leveling the fence sections so that the top of the fence sections was even with the existing fence. Last but not least we decided to weld in 1-1/2” bushings to support 5/8”-11 threaded rod, which was part of the hinge so that the 2” square tubing wouldn’t be crushed by the threaded rod or the weight of the gate.

The first three pictures are from SolidWorks to get you oriented.

Don

[Don52]

Attached are some close-up pictures of the welds.

[Don52]

And finally here is a picture of the tab that will be used for leveling the gate.

[Arizona Joe]

Exemplary Work!

And finally here is a picture of the tab that will be used for leveling the gate.

I take welding classes with a lot of young guys (I just retired). Some of them have real talent for welding but, unfortunately, often have weak computer and math skills making them incomplete and unprepared for the modern world, in my opinion. That you laid out your job in SolidWorks and then executed it so well ought to serve as a model for those seeking a career in welding.

[Don52]

My customer installed the gate.
Attached are the pictures of the installation.

[Don52]

And here is the last picture.

[Don52]

We had a lot of rain, which softened the ground and allowed the post to tip due to the weight of the wooden fence sections. My customer added guy wires to straighten out the post. The one anchor in the lawn is a 16" auger type. The other was attached to a concrete slab.