Saturday I started work on a gate to keep my miniature dachshund Katie on the deck and my neighbor's dog off of it.
As always I started with a drawing. The plan was to use 1" square tubing for the main frame and 1/2" EMT for the spindles. The lower portion would have spindles closer together because of Katie's small stature. The upper portion would have half the number of spindles, thus twice the spacing.
I started by cutting all the components to length using the bandsaw. Components cut:
Marking the holes for the spindles:
Drilling the pilot holes for the spindles:
Here I've started cutting the 9/16" holes using Rotabroaches. I love these things and they are made in the good 'ole USA.
I decided to build my own hinges using some 1/8" plate. As you can see I countersuck the holes so the screw heads would sit flush:
Components for the hinges welded together:
Once the hinge pin is welded in place the hinge assembly is done:
I didn't take pics of the assembly, but I welded the frame together with the EMT spindles slid into the holes. I added a little detail using some 1.5" DOM I had laying around also. Next I welded a pair of stainless steel washers to each hinge point to act as a bearing surface. I added a off-the-shelf latch to the gate and deck post, did a test fit to get all the holes drilled, and final adjustment done before paint.
After fit-up, I primed all the metal with self-etching primer, and top coated everything with Rustoleum satin black. I let the paint dry for about four hours before final installation. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The boss was happy with it as well, but now she wants me to replace all the deck railing! Here's the final installed pics:
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