| Dog Gate and Dog Lounger Construction |
From "Barkitecture"
episode DBAR-201 |
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Today is the big day for Isabel. It's time for Kenny to build her a new dog gate and lounger.
Dog Gate and Dog Lounger Construction1. First, begin with the gates. Start off by cutting all of your metal pieces needed. You will need four pieces of 1" square steel tubing cut to 24" long and then mitre cut at 45-degrees on both ends. You will also need four pieces at 36" long with 45-degree mitre cuts at the ends as well. Make the cuts using a chop saw designed for cutting metal using an abrasive metal cutting blade (figure A). The width of the gates will be 72" combined. 2. Layout the cut pieces in the shape of the frame. Use two of the 36" pieces, one each at the top and bottom, and then 24" pieces for both sides to create the frame for the gate. With the mitre cuts they should fit right together (figure B). 3. Weld all four corners of one of the gates using a fluxed core welder (figure C). You can rent a welder from your local building equipment rental house. To make the welds, clamp the grounding clamp to a piece of metal that you are welding. Pull the trigger on the welder, which creates an arc and completes the circuit, melting the wire that welds the metal pieces together. Weld the four corners and then repeat for the second gate.
4. Once all the welds are complete, use an angle grinder with an abrasive grinder wheel to smooth all of the welds of any rough spots (figure D). Hold the grinder so that the wheel is perpendicular to the metal. The speed of the wheel and weight of the grinder will do most of the work for you, so hold on tight and get all of the burrs off to make a nice finished weld.5. Now on to the decorative scrolls. The easiest way to bend the 1/4" round stock is to create a jig, to do this; drill a 1/4" hole about an inch down from one end of a 6" piece of 1-1/2" steel tubing. Clamp the tubing into a vice as tight as you can, so that when bending it will not move around. Cut 1/4" round stock into 14" lengths (You will need about 60). Put one end of the 1/4" round stock into the 1/4" hole on the jig and bend the stock into the desired scroll shape (figure E). Bending it tight around the jig will create a smaller scroll whereas, bending loosely around the jig will create a larger scroll (figure F). Repeat, repeat, repeat!
6. After you have made all of the scrolls, it is time to fill the frame and weld them in place. To get the scrolls centered on the width of the 1" frame use a piece of 1/2" plywood set within the frame. Layout the scrolls within the frame making sure that they touch other scrolls or the frame at three points (figure G). Once the frame is filled with scrolls, start welding them into place with the fluxed-core welder (figure H). 7. Finish the gates by spray-painting them with outdoor grade paint (figure I). It is recommended that you use at least two coats to protect the metal from the weather.
8. To install the gates, use a grinder and remove the paint on one side of the gate where it will attach to the wall, and attach the hinges (figure J). If you are using metal hinges then weld them to the gate. Paint the hinges to match the gate.9. Next, weld the 3" sleeves for the locking pin on the inside end of one of the gates. The sleeve is the tube that the locking pin will slide into and then into the ground to lock the gate. If you are using 1/2" steel round stock for the pin then the sleeve should be larger than 1/2" in diameter. Attach whatever locking mechanism you have chosen for the gates. 10. Drill pilot holes onto the brick posts and mount the gates using the hinges that were welded to the gates (figure K). Last, drill a hole into the concrete for the locking pin (figure L).
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