This is a project I'm starting. This is the planning and proposal page for the project.
Every now and then I get lucky and get to be involved in a project that's unique or at least a little different.
This is one of those.
The project involves about two hundred and seventy feet of pipe fence with a gate. There will be an automatic operator of course with the keypad etc.
The customer went online and found a gate I'd made and wanted one like it. Slight problem. I really try to not make two gates just alike, character flaw, no one's perfect.
He decided to turn me loose.
What we're going to have is a six inch pipe overhead with elbows here and there. The gate will be four and a half rail four inch (4 5/8" O.D.) pipe. It will weigh about seven hundred pounds before we put in the rock. It also will have no mitered corners, all elbows.
The rock. I'm not much for steel silhouettes. Anyone can do them and machines do them best. So I figured we'd use a rock to make our statement. I'd never seen a rock in a gate so that's reason enough to do it.
Customer agreed. There was some doubt in his eyes when he agreed, but he agreed.
So today I picked up a five hundred and eighty pound piece of stone to see if what I thought was possible was, possible.
Here's the rock.
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This is not the rock I will use in the gate. It's about three quarter scale and a test bed for technique.
After a couple of cuts
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This is after a couple of more cuts.
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Another view
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The real rock will appear to be floating inside a frame of pipe. In the middle of the rock will be the letter D in an antique french style. It will be a positive image.
By positive I mean the letter will stick out instead of being cut in. It's more difficult but I believe the sun has more fun playing with the positive image than it does with the negative ones. I guess the sun isn't much different from us.
I've never tried to do this before. So not being the smartest cracker in the pack I've used the same techniques I'd use if I was doing it with wood and power tools.
I'm after a couple of things with this gate. One is for the rock to appear natural in the company of pipe. I don't want the rock to appear to have been cut out with a machine. I don't want anyone to think for a minute that it has been done by waterjet or a computer even got near it in production. If what I want to happen does it will appear that mother nature worked over some eons or two on a stone and it came out looking like a map of Texas with a "D" in the middle.
And we found it.
I'll keep you posted.
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( I was just thinking how it would feel to be down to the finishing touches on that rock and have it fracture on you.)
That thought has crossed my mind also. In fact when the customer did a big gulp over the price that was one of my explanations. Not all my dreams are pollyanna-ish, sometimes reality strikes.
This rock will probably end up at the rock store with www.harveylacey.com on it. That was the customer's suggestion. It doesn't sound like a bad idea. That way people shopping rocks and ideas can get some.
( About what would a gate like that cost to get built?)
The cost isn't really out of line when you consider the construction and the fact that it's a one of a kind. I will not make another gate that looks like this one.
The overhead is being made with six inch new pipe with a three sixteenths wall. The gate itself is made with new pipe too, four inch three sixteenths wall. The pipe is coming from www.Nortonmetals.com out of Ft Worth and is preprimed.
The hinge side upright will be in a hole two feet across and eight feet deep. Latch side will be six feet deep by sixteen inches. The hinges are over a hundred dollars a pair and come with sealed bearings, never have to attack this gate with a grease gun.
The operator and equipment is all commercial rated etc. A gate like this installed and the customer happy starts around ten and goes up.
That's a lot of money. But a gate isn't always just a gate. Most times it's a statement too
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This is sandstone. The rock shop calls it "riverbottom sandstone. It comes in large slabs.
Tonight I stopped by a bud's granite shop to talk shop and shop for tools. They've got the low down on who has what for the lowest price.
We called one of their suppliers and he's bringing a seven inch diamond imbeded cup brush. My four horse Bosch grinder will have more fun than ever it has before.
If you ever get in this situation again, working with the sand stone, you might consider some neat stuff I've found.
One, rocks. Not the kind we work on but the kind we work with. They come in coarse to fine grits and fit a standard 5/8 11 grinder. They don't live long. But they're the cat's meow for removing grind marks left over from the serious tools. They're about ten bucks each at a countershop supply.
Two, diamond imbedded grinder discs. They come in all kinds of grits. For the softer stones you want the coarser ones. They run from the seventy to two hundred dollar range depending upon quality for small angle grinders. The harder the stone the more quality you need for durability. The one I'm getting tomorrow will be about a hundred and fifty but I could spend three times that for the ultimate one. According to bud's shop foreman it should last me darn near forever.
Three, diamond cutting blades. I've got them from fourteen inch in the big Stihl to four inch in an angle grinder. I also have a seven inch one in a Dewalt worm drive.
There are so many finishes to play with on stone. On the big coffee table I'm going to do for this customer I'm going to use granite balls twelve inches in diameter for legs. They're allegedly hand chiseled. I suspect it's more like what they call thermal carving. The floor in the room will be hardwood. So we're going to put rubber padding under three slabs of sandstone with cups for the granite balls cut in them. I'll do cups in the bottom side of the top stone too.
I might be wrong but I believe having this massive slab of stone for the top, granite balls with a finished ring running around the middle of the ball, and sandstone feet for the balls will make a nice statement in a very large room.
The stone I cut last night has a home when I'm finished with it already. A bud saw it and wouldn't take no for an answer. I guess it's going to end up with his address across it and be by his gate entrance.
You know there are so many neat things to be made and just not enough hours in the day.
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( Looks good but that's not the shape of N.Y.)
I think you're starting to catch on
The rock ended up at the rock store after I cleaned it up a bit. I won't be able to do much to it for three weeks to a month so we might as well let it find folks who would want one like it.
Bud hosed it down. Somethings really really really look good wet. Rocks are about number two on my list.
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In the beginning
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After the beginning
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The post on the left is the hinge post. It's hole is two feet by uh, er, uh, see for yourself
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Here's the one man post hole digger at the beginning
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Here's it trying to get out every last crumb
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Three augers, one twelve inches, one sixteen inches, and big girl, twenty four inches
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I used the sixteen for the latch post. I also only went down seven feet with it.
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This is how a very old man places a very long very heavy post in a hole.
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RaT it would be nothing but a thing for you. I guarantee it.
But let's for the sake of argument say you might be a trifle nervous about your ability to draw.
I can relate to that. Life's a b-b-b-b-b-b-bear when you want to be an artist and can't draw.
Based upon what you've said about working with sandstone I'd suggest that. Let's pretend you have a computer with a printer. Then let's pretend you have an office supply somewhere in town. If you had those two things then you could find some clear plastic sheets. If you have access to the internet you can find a free clip art coyote with his head up, mouth open, in love, most likely. Print out your coyote clip art on the clear plastic sheet. Find a friend, bud, cop, fireman, city council person who has access to an overhead projector. Do your image final scale on something stiff and durable.
Transfer image to stone. Get after it.
A good source for stones, grinding discs, cutting blades, etc, all for 5/8--11 small grinders is www.granitecitytools.com Prices are great and they're nice people.
Let's say you have a three inch thick piece of stone. For the sake of argument let's say you drill two three sixteenths holes through the stone. You now have a method to index your drawing on both sides. A twenty dollar cutting blade on your angle grinder will allow you to cut in a half inch following your pattern on both sides. If your stone is sound you can now carefully hammer and chisel out your silhouette.
A sixty grit stone, about ten dollars, will finish out the chisel and cut marks muy bueno. Or if you want a really trick look keep the chisel marks and also chisel out your cut marks. Make it look like you not only knew what you were doing but you did it the hard way.
Heck I'm having fun just thinking about it.
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The one man post hole digger
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Mucho dirto later
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With a twenty one foot piece of six inch pipe in place
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Here's the gate in it's piece and parcel form.
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That was yesterday. But yesterday's gone.
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Here's a close up.
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Most of my gates have names. The tentative on this one was "rock gate". After twelve elbows I figured it had earned "octopus gate". Then a second look at the close up and it might be "bowtie". I wonder where I got that.
It's heavy tacked up now. I've got about four hours with a welder and the grinder. It might be fun but it isn't always easy.
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Another look.
Now put on your imagination and consider how this gate will look between those two posts and with a rock a bit bigger than the other one.
I doubt very seriously if there's another one similar within a mile or so.
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Here's some photos for you RaT.
First I take the quick saw (Stihl 510 electronic) and remove most of Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mexico, and the Gulf.
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A little closer look after the butchering. Notice that I've taken the angle grinder with it's four inch saw blade and marked out what I suspect is what Texas looks like.
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What I do is cut slots in the stone.
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Then I break them off.
Cruel I know. But necessary.
If you look you'll see a flaw I caught in time.
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Here's a shot of the gate heavy tacked.
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I'm not so sure you'd like my work on seeing this. oops
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I could blame it on New Mexico and Oklahoma wanting to have a more intimate relationship.
But the truth is some dumb son of a sorry sheep chasing cowboy went on a long trip with the rock in the back of his 2003 C5500 pickemup.
There was this bump.
Don't ever never carry a rock like that flat on a steel bed over a bump of much size.
Oh well, the worst thing that could happen did. So with that behind me we'll start having fun again.
Here's a success story to make me feel better.
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Don't ever suggest I don't make good concrete!
Or another title for that picture might be "in every life a little rain must fall."
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It took about an hour yesterday morning for me to pull nine posts that I had set the night before. My son in law had came over to feed the concrete mixer.
He still works for MCI after all the cutbacks. And occcasionally he likes to work with me. So Wednesday evening he came to the job and put eleven mixer loads out. Each mixer load is one third of a cubic yard.
Now he could have went to the gym and not spent near the energy, not had any of the great conversation, "you'll get your second wind in a minute" and have paid instead of have gotten promised to be paid.
He fed the mixer while I set posts. It was a good two and a half hours work after work.
A little explanation is due.
Most people see a fence as just a fence. And if they're done right and in most situations that's true. But if you try to do the kinds of fencing I do each one is a statement. As a statement a fence has to be darn near perfect. If it isn't it stands out as wrong as well, say a politician in his acting like a coward in his youth and then in his old age sending others off to war.
One of the problems with this job has been property pins. Survey was last done in 73, 1973. For me that was a real problem. I'm putting in a very involved fence and it has to be in the right place. I don't want to drive by three years from now and my fence is completely out of whacks with the neighborhood.
I found the two front corner pins where the plat said they would be. I laid it out so the corners would jive with any neighboring fence in the future. I altered the radius for a couple of reasons. One was to put the power pole outside the fence.
Another was to go through a double trunked tree instead of cutting off one trunk or the other.
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That was looking west from the big gate. Here's looking east and south.
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I don't know if you could see it in the picture but the far corner was set Wednesday evening. I took these pictures yesterday morning before the survey crew showed up.
Survey crew?
Yup, survey crew. I pointed out that I had found the pin they couldn't. They let me know that old plat and the old pin was in the wrong place.
In this photo look at the base of the tree. That yellow dillywhacker is the property pin in the right place. If you look over to the last hole that I'd dug you'll see a wood stake. That stake is where the old property pin resides.
So my fence was over into the neighbor's by nine to ten feet. It was also into the property about five feet.
To make it right. Have to make it right, not like there's another option, I had to pull the posts. This morning I'll redo the radius modifying it hopefully to where no one will ever know except us, you and me.
When you look at the fact that I bent severely four posts, wasted a yard of concrete, half day's labor installing the first time and another half moving it. That's a pain. But not near as painfull as driving by and seeing a mess from now on.
Here's a good shot of the bucket I made for the tractor to replace the wheelbarrows. It holds a half yard of concrete and is pretty well splash resistant. It allows me to pour the concrete in the holes without much hassle. Love that "not much hassle." In a fenceman's life property pins can do enough of that.
Like most of my tools it's able to many tasks. Here it's doing post pulling one oh one quite nicely thank you.
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The picture with the old and new property pins.
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Carnage after a massacre.
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Grrrrr! Well, what else could you do?)
This
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If you look at that photo closely you will see three things.
1. Little blue flags fourteen feet away from the bubbling post hole. The little blue flags are where the rocket scientists from the local water company said the main ran.
2. Sixty psi combined with a four inch water main does bubble up something pretty like if you're in a real perverse mood.
3. The very last hole dug in the new adjusted fence line.
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The two boys, well, young guys, boys, in more ways than one, that did the repair left me the carcass on the gate post after their repair.
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Customer wanted the fence to split a forked tree rather than cut off one branch or the other.
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This is the way some jobs go. I mean if it was easy everyone would be doing it, right?
The repair is their nickle. They were not only almost impossible to work with, they didn't do their job at all.
I'm used to working with professionals. One of the problems with the locators is most of them are kids making next to nothing with everyone expecting technology to make up for their ineptitude.
This situation involved company employees who aren't worth shooting at or with. Part of the problem was me. After three calls to DIGTESS I finally went to the office and confronted the manager.
She showed me a workorder signing off the locate. The boys had lied to her. Then they lied to me. Folks just don't go around picking up just that company's flags.
My wife says if I don't like someone it's like a billboard across my face. We might say it was a neon one by that time.
It isn't over. I've seen the original subdividing plat. It shows the original fence line as the correct one. So I have two different surveys. It's almost to the point of needing a third one to see who's right.
I also have the situation where the customer wants to put the fence along a line that will highlight the trees.
So there will be more locates by my boys at the water company. There will be more fence holes. So I will work at everything else and give this section a little time to simmer and settle.
The other side, the gate, overhead, all that is coming along fine. Today I got some fence welded up and it's what I want.
I don't know if everyone can understand but on a project there comes these moments when one isn't just working but actually becomes a part of the package. Maybe if I explained it as being like part of team, say in school, baseball, and it's all about you and none of it's about you but about itself.
It's what I work for. I like it. They're the moments like in a bicycle ride after a long hill where you get to coast and enjoy. It always seems the stiffer the hill the sweeter the coast.
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Thanks guys. But that didn't come from anything but sweatology.
You see most evenings I try to get home before dark so that Miss Glenda and me can climb on our old Schwinn Cruisers for a butt peddlin' session.
We have some gentle hills that'll make the legs burn and the lungs scream for air. But the real thrill comes from the reactions of the kiddos who go gaga over the Santa riding with no hands!
BTW we want a tandem. I'm not really sure how it'll work. About half the time she slips in the mind reading capability and turns left when I've decided to go right. Even though every other time I've went left.
We've had some fronts go through I do believe. The old carpul tunnel and plain old joint pains have been doing more than their fair share on my attitude today.
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I was wondering if you had the same "getcha for that gotcha umpteen years ago" feelings I was.
It was sprinkling lightly. Enough to cause me to roll up the welding leads but not enough to cause me to pause if I was setting posts. After it passed I looked around and decided to get back out and weld some more. Then I looked down at the watch and and since it was five thirty I decided I had put in a day.
I drove about a block and ran into a wall of water. Who says being lazy doesn't work out some days?
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I guess we'd better get back on topic.
Peddlin' butt can be fun but unless you're first name is Lance it doesn't pay the bills.
Now I suppose most folks figure I do more typing on the internet than working. Not so. I occasionally do work.
Besides welding in the pipe fence at "the gate".
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I've also fabricated up the overhead piece.
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Ready to place up on the posts. Note my little boom all stuck out there.
I called son in law over, he's a gearhead, loves Iris, toot, but my daughter loves him, and he does what he's told, most days. Anyway he's operating Iris on this one.
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Hooked up and ready to lift.
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Up, up and up
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Almost there
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Close, but, that only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and STD's
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Hadn't noticed until you pointed it out Don. I think you're right, trifle big, but.......a neighbor came over with a beer and the observation that it looked like a longhorn.
Wonder about the beer.
We had some fun. It was three eighths of an inch off width wise and we had to do some tuggin' and pushin' but then I got to use the hot glue gun to make it permanent.
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The whoop in the middle isn't there just because I could. I figure maybe somewhere someplace someone put a big rock shaped like the great state of Texas in a pipe gate. So to give me a better chance of having the only one around here I decided I'd put in a boulder in the middle of the overhead with a five point star coming out of it..
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I got the gate hung today.
I had to use a piece of chain to keep it closed. The wind causes it to move in and out. It would make me ill if someone ran into it. So the best way to avoid that is to have the thing closed.
They can use the construction entrance for a day or two.
Hopefully Monday I'll start the rock work.
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This is rock number three. One was the three quarter scale to see if the concept was plausible. Two was the one that broke, darn it's hide.
This is number three. btw it and the star stone that goes in the overhead weighed out at seventeen sixty, one thousand, seven hundred, sixty pounds for the number crunchers.
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Son in law came by and took some pictures of yours truly at work.
Some of those who are considering such a project might find the following interesting. Wanting to see a finished project will mean skipping them.
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At this point in time I've already taken off most of the non state stuff with the Stihl 510.
I'm using a Bosch small angle grinder with a cut off blade.
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Still
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What I'm doing is cutting into my guide line with the angle grinder. Then I use the mason's hammer to break off the small pieces.
It's tedious.
It's hard on the back.
There's a lot of dust.
Here's what's sick. The doing it is more important right now than what it will be like in the end. I'll enjoy it when it's done. But each cut has it's own personality. Each stroke with the hammer causes a different affect. There are hard and soft spots in the stone. That makes it even more interesting.
Yes. I'm having fun.
No. I don't want to trade places with you.
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A bud came by and asked when I was going to get a water jet for cutting the rocks.
Son in law thought that was a great idea.
I'm not at the point in my life where I want to share the experience of doing with a computer. And I think it would be so hard to make it imperfect like I will unintentionally, intentionally.
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Besides making the rock state it would be nice if others saw how really easy it actually is to do something with stone because of this series of posts.
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Lots and lots of dust
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I also made the turning table to make it easier today.
Tomorrow we'll have the state of Texas in stone and maybe a "D" in the middle.
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It took all morning but I finally got all the hangers on away from Texas.
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Then I started removing all the brush and stuff so that my scratch made "D" would show up.
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It doesn't freeze much down here. The Oklahoma sandstone isn't hard like stone but it isn't the softest stuff around either.
I will be using a sealer. It's the same stuff I use on stuff around fountains. The reasons for using the sealer is a fear of moisture finding a fissure and freezing--expanding or just weakening a section.
The stone is pretty solid with no visible fracture lines. So I am comfortable with it's integrity.
Around here we have soft limestone. Every now and then you'll see a newbie want to use it for landscaping. About three years later after repeated freeze--fracture-powdering they'll have a pile of dust. So I am aware of what you're talking about.
I once noticed a limestone boulder about the size of a car out in a pasture after they'd went through with a large water line. I asked the farmer why he'd allowed them to leave it. He explained that it would soak up water, freeze, break apart, soak up water again, refreeze, break into smaller pieces. In no time at all he'd have limestone which he'd plow into the field and all would be well.
The stone is done and ready to be installed into the gate. I'll be doing that later in the week. We got really lucky on it. When you see it I'm sure you'll agree.
I'm serious about getting lucky. Lucky is different from being good. Good only takes effort. Luck is like on the rock when I accidently turned it over moving it around and found the underside is the side I really wanted to work with. Luck is taking the cutting torch while doing something else and burnishing a scrap piece of the gate rock. Luck is a good thing!
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Tomorrow looks like rock fitted into gate day.
Here's the rock on a pallet ready for installation tomorrow.
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There was a couple of hours spent figuring out how to transport this monster. It's heavy. It's sensitive. And it can break!
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Backside view. Note the mounting studs.
The fit is so tight into the gate frame that I have to place it in from the front and then attach the mounting plates to the rock. Then I get to weld the mounting plates to the gate frame.
I'll be as nervous as double tailed cat crossing the dance floor installing this one.
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( I can imagine. How'd you get the mounting studs fastened into it?)
I used Redhead three eighths by three inch concrete anchors. I also "lubed" them for ease of installation with an expoxy they use for granite countertops.
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We got lucky.
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While I was prepping the gate, grinding welds, painting. I had a bud make a wood assistant for placing the rock in place.
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Prepped gate
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Iris, wood assistant, bud, and me working like a tabernacle choir.
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It went in like grass through a goose, big grass, small goose
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Note the shims and the strap while we "adjusted".
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From a different angle
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A view from the rear after it was bolted in place.
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It is a big rock.
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In perspective
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( Something tells me that's adding up to be a pretty heavy gate. What are you using for hinges? Hate to see the longhorn state sagging over the years )
The hinges are sealed roller bearing rated for two thousand pound gates. This one is probably twelve hundred or so.
The reason the gate is blocked up on the latch side is three days ago I cut a hole in the back of the hinge post about six feet off the ground. I filled the post up to that point with five thousand psi concrete. I vibrated it down and I'm not taking any chances of fracturing the concrete inside the post.
That's a little insurance in case six inch pipe decides to give a little over time.
If you've ever opened a large walk in freezer door or had reason to operate the door to a walk in safe you have an idea of the action and feel of these hinges and gate.
It's smooth. A half horse operator motor will handle it with ease.
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It's like this Doug. Think along the lines of your investment in the love of your life. You don't look at time spent as time invested.
Here's a shot of the blue granite rock after our break up, it's separation.
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Heart brake (pun intended)
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Here's the star stone almost done.
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It will be hanging above the gate in the overhead.
I'm setting posts now. We finally got the property line defined. The surveyor that put in the new pins has come up with the theory that his survey is correct but there does seem to be this no man's land between his survey and the one for the neighbor. And my customer might as well fence it in and claim it as his own.
We might call that diaper stuff.
And I found the water main again! But this time these real nice young men came out and did a good locate. I power dug the hole down two feet and then went down the rest of the way with hand diggers. I knew the bottom of the hole by the nice piece of pvc there.
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The star rock is ready to be put in.
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I know it isn't perfect in a mechanical looking star kind of way.
A character flaw of mine is I look at something like this from where it's going to be placed and how it's going to be viewed.
This will be seen from fifty to seventy feet away and about twelve feet below. From that perspective I think it will provide the affect I want.
I'm seriously considering placing the camera in the space between the star and the bottom of the rock.
My reservations are how it will look to have an obviously hand made carving interupted by modern technology.
The camera is a work of art in itself. I just don't know if it's place is in the rock.
It needs to be in the overhead. I just haven't settled on just where.
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When we're done, a visitor will send an alert via internet to the homeowner's tv or office computer. The homeowner will be able to see, converse, and operate the gate from same points.
On another thread I've mentioned a cabinet with all the power and electronics close to the gate but still about three hundred plus feet from the house.
The camera is in a beautiful billet aluminum housing. It's got it's own diode light source. And it needs to be in the overhead. I haven't decided if I want it in the rock or if it'll be a distraction.
What do you think of the pink tips on the star? I did that this morning because I could. Darn, I've heard that somewhere before, must of read it in a book I got for Father's Day.
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The hole in the bottom is for the camera. It, the hole, is two and half inches across and three inches deep. The camera is two inches in diameter and two and a half inches deep. In the back of the rock a rectangle is cut out for a weathertite electrical box. And there's a five eighths hole between them.
I've still got to color the star rock with the torch so it'll look like the Texas one. I was lucky to get it up before the water came down. The place is a muddy mess.
It was a little bit of a challenge to install it by myself. But Lucy was there and she's so willing and capable.
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I got the star up just before the rain came again--still. We're running at a rate to have number two June record for rain this year. At Bird's I'll bet they've already beat the 1928 record.
You gotta luv the mud. Of course it could be worse, it could be muck.
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( Anywho, the pink tips look great. How did you color them?)
I used a torch. I know it sounds silly but a cutting torch works great as a paint brush on sandstone.
*one of those factoids I've discovered all on my own* Don't ask.
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Here's the star after I "Painted" the surrounding surfaces and left the star out of the fun.
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The other day I ran the coax and power cable from the cabinet to the star. I used some liquid tite between the overhead where I'd welded on a nipple. And a weather tite box that I'd screwed and siliconed in.
Here's the north end of the southbound star.
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This is the southend of the southbound.
I had two bags of grout from tiling our bathrooms, different colors. A little of this one and a little of that one, some water, and I love being lucky more than anything. Don't ask me how but the color came out close.
What I did was use some packing foam to position the camera in the cavity. Then I grouted in the part that would show.
This way if there's a problem it will be easy for the security crew to chip out the old grout and free the camera.
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Here's a shot of the installation.
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And another.
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Leo wanted a better shot of the star. So I got up in the bucket and son in law made like an elevator operator.
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This particular installation involved the customer wanting to have his four wheeler activate the free exit. So I had it adjusted accordingly.
The Dane had a chain collar with numberous metal tags. When it laid down over the probe and then moved it activated the probe.
The customer was willing to drive his four wheeler over the probe versus beside it if it meant keeping the dogs in.
Here's the finishing touch on the job.
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That was the only carving done with a sandblaster.
It's really quite simple to do. First you freehand out your desired inscription on a sheet of aluminum.
Then you cut it out with the plasma torch. That is the template which is clamped to the stone of choice.
Blast it.
Remove aluminum template.
Drill two holes in backside of the stone and epoxy in studs. The studs are welded to the pipe fence.
This job is done.
It seems like it's lasted forever.
The highs for me were many. You see I get high on challeges.
It's a good one. There will be another visit to finish out all the trick stuff on the gate when the new home is complete. Right now I've got the power temporaried and the gates open and close only with transmitters and the keypad.
But in a couple of months we'll feed it from the new cabinet with all the computer controls and video feed
.
So until then this will be the last picture.
Bet you're glad for that.
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From buildings to baby boys, I'm bringing this back on topic. This is me, my eighth grandchild, Ethan, and a recently completed project.
Yes, I need a haircut and a beard trim.
No, it probably won't happen this week.
And yes, I'm a proud grandpa.
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