iron fence help

[jman]

I am building an iron fence for the first time and hope someone can help with a couple of questions I have. The fence is to go around a pool. First question is the iron I bought is covered in a black oily substance and i was wondering what the best way to clean it before painting is and if I should clean it before or after I put it up. the second question is if anyone has any good ideas for hinges and latches for the gates. The code is to have self closing and latching gates. I am building the fence out of 1.5 X 1.5 upper and lower rails with .75 in risers and 2 X 2 posts. all steel is .120 thick. I have attatched some pictures of what I have done so far. the table I made out of some aluminum wire rails that I got for free. thanks for any input you have. By the way I am using a mm210.

[MAC702]

I'll respond to this one; you can go back and edit, then delete the other duplicate post.

Paint thinner works extremely well to remove the oily film. Gasoline works also, but not as well.

You're making it out of some stout stuff. Should come out nice. Make sure there are no gaps greater than 4" on your pickets.

[MAC702]

Put your location in your profile. It helps to locate suppliers in your area, among other things.

Hinges and gate springs and latches are common items at my steel supplier, but they are also available online at places like Kings Architectural:

http://www.kingmetals.com/

[fun4now]

i gotta agree with them on the hinge and stuff, get it dont try to make it. and like mack said 4" max between anything. be shour to get them pic's up for us.

[fun4now]

The pics didn't make it through...
The best thing to do is to clean all the material before fabrication. It helps out during welding, and is a lot easier to do before fab as opposed to cleaning after it's all together. Many different cleaners can be used, petrollium distalates or alchohol based cleaners work well for packing greases use as an anti-corrosion coating. Look locally on-line for hardware suppliers. Hinges and weld-on parts are readilly available through most industrial suppliers.

Sometimes building your own hardware is less cost effective than buying it, only re-invent the wheel for your one-off projects, or, if you have the time, do it for the fun of it.
__________________
Jonny

Dynasty 300DX

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Last edited by JonnyTIG : Today at 06:27 AM.


i brought a coppy of Jonny's post over here so you could deleat the other one and only have one post. it will help keep every thing in one spot.
did you intend to put one post in the ask andy side ?? or just dubble post due to dial up problems, boy have i done that, i hate dial up.

[HMW]

Mac

Thats a good website for hardware Got all kinds of stuff

[dabar39]

I'm not sure what your local codes are but make sure you check them before you build this fence. In my area the code states that all railings need to be no more than 4" from the ground for bottom rail and minimum 42" to the top rail with maximum 4" between risers. As some of the other guys have mention King Architectual metals is the way to go for your hinges and latch assemblies. I clean all of my steel prior to assembly with acetone or at least some sort of paint thinner. Dave

[fun4now]

yep i found out the hard way if you just clean the weld area intending to go back and clean it all when you are done befor paint that it sucks trying to do it after. much easyer to do it first when its just a long strait pice of pipe/tube with no joints or corners. doing the cleaning first is the only way to go. if you are concernd it might start to rust befor you get finished and ready to paint you can primer it with weldable primer or even normal primer and then cleam off the primer befor welding. but clean and bare is best.

[Tex]

Is it possible for you to make a jig for the panels? Also, be prepared for warping. A friend of mine has been making fence panels and he's had to use the OA torch to try and straighten out the panels. GOOD LUCK!
Do you still have the ebay store? I tried the link earlier and it didn't work.
Matt

[fun4now]

Also, be prepared for warping.
he's had to use the OA torch to try and straighten out the panels.
i generaly just run a bead with the MIG to pull things back to square if needed, after its square again grind off the bead and no one is the wiser. works like a charm. twist it, tweek it, spin in tinto circles if ya need. a well placed MIG bead will do wonders.