Once I got the first hinge welded onto the bottom we welded up the frame of the gate. The gate sits inside the main frame with about a 5 inch gap on each side, just enough so it swings through without us having to worry about it ever hitting. We welded the top of the gate and the sides so we knew what it was going to look like, this way we could connect the gate to the hinges. This was easier than making the whole heavy gate all at once and trying to lift it and maneuver it around. Once we got the gate welded into the hinges at the bottom, then we will go back and put the supporting bars in the gate. Since I already welded on the first hinge we had to slide the gate in from the side and make sure the other hinge was attached to the gate because once I start welding there is no going back. We got both hinges welded up solid and then it was the moment of truth. I lifted the gate and swung it back and forth and it didn't stick or get caught! From here on it is going to be smooth sailing because that was the tricky part making sure the gate would swing.
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As a said last post the main part of my gate has to swing down, so where the gate meets the frame it is connected through a hinge like mechanism. We used just a regular piece of pipe for each hinge that was about eight inches long and welded them to the bottom part of the frame so that we could work our way up. Next we got pipe that was just one size smaller so that it slid in and out of our hinges on the frame with little resistance. We had to make sure it worked smoothly because if it caught while rotating that would be a problem in the future. Once we got the right sizes we started on the bottom of the gate working ourselves up. We started making the piece of the gate that was going to connect to the frame allowing it to swing up and down. This was tricky because all our measurements here had to be exact so that everything fit together just perfectly. This hinge part of the gate is definitely the most tricky and caused the most problems, but it was good that we had it all drawn out so that we knew exactly what went where and what sizes we would need.
My project is more of a four wheeler gate instead of a ramp. You don't go over the fence like some ramps allow you to do, you go through my ramp because it has a gate that folds down and you drive over top of it. There are springs on each side connected to the gate so once you are on the other side it automatically swings back upright. You pull right up on the gate and push into it with the vehicle's grill whether it be a four wheeler or a ranger. Then you keep pushing into it until it swings all the way down and then you just drive right over top. The gate swings both ways making it very useful in allowing easy access without having to get out and open a gate. This is a lot more convenient than driving over a ramp because if it ever snows or rains they tend to get very slick. This way you don't have to climb up a ramp, you just drive right through it. So working on the gate is a little tricky because we have to make sort of hinge-like things that allow the gate to swing in them without getting stuck. We have make sure the two types of pipe fit very close together so that they never slide apart from each other.
With the base of the ramp complete it was time to move onto the rest of the framework. We started from the bottom up making sure all of my piping fit squarely into each piece. Then we started welding to make sure they were all securely fastened together. When we reached the top pipe it was a little more challenging because I had to get up on a ladder so I could reach up there with the welder. This was also more time consuming because I could only reach small sections at a time so I'd weld what I could reach, then I'd have to crawl down and move the ladder to the next spot before I could continue. With the frame all put together and fastened I moved onto grinding it. I had to grind a few of my welds down to make them smooth along with a few of the sharp corners that were made. I couldn't leave any sharp corners on the ramp because there would be the risk of a cow catching the corner of frame and severely cutting itself so I took lots of caution and ground it smooth.
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AuthorThis is my journey throughout my Senior Project 2020-2021 Archives
April 2021
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