Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Step 4Cut and Drill the Cross-Braces
You may come up with a better idea than this, but here's what I did....
I took a length of one-by-two wood and cut two pieces an 8th of an inch shy of 10 inches, the width of the hole I have just made in the gate door. An experimental and adventurous person could cut it wider, and then dremel out the ends so that they're concave and will slide in-between the bars. I thought of that only after I used something else to secure the cross-braces to the outside bars (in the next step).
using the ends of the cut bars ON THE GATE as a guide, mark the 1-inch side of the board to drill some holes. The pipes in this gate are 1/2" outer diameter, plus a few 64ths of an inch. I would recommend tapping a nail or screw into the center points where you would like to drill, so that the drill bit itself doesn't slide along the surface of the wood before it bites. It's not bad if they're a little off-center but you don't really want them too far off.
When the holes are drilled, use a piece of scrap pipe from the last step to test-fit the hole. I used a 1/2" twist-bit to drill a hole about 3/4" deep (since a 1x2 is really only 1.5" wide). The holes were just a smidgen too tight, so I used a drum sander bit on my dremel to widen them ever so slightly. After a few minutes' work, the holes were a good fit.
When you're done, test-fit the bracers into the gate door itself. It may take a little work but it should pop right in and hold pretty tight.
I took a length of one-by-two wood and cut two pieces an 8th of an inch shy of 10 inches, the width of the hole I have just made in the gate door. An experimental and adventurous person could cut it wider, and then dremel out the ends so that they're concave and will slide in-between the bars. I thought of that only after I used something else to secure the cross-braces to the outside bars (in the next step).
using the ends of the cut bars ON THE GATE as a guide, mark the 1-inch side of the board to drill some holes. The pipes in this gate are 1/2" outer diameter, plus a few 64ths of an inch. I would recommend tapping a nail or screw into the center points where you would like to drill, so that the drill bit itself doesn't slide along the surface of the wood before it bites. It's not bad if they're a little off-center but you don't really want them too far off.
When the holes are drilled, use a piece of scrap pipe from the last step to test-fit the hole. I used a 1/2" twist-bit to drill a hole about 3/4" deep (since a 1x2 is really only 1.5" wide). The holes were just a smidgen too tight, so I used a drum sander bit on my dremel to widen them ever so slightly. After a few minutes' work, the holes were a good fit.
When you're done, test-fit the bracers into the gate door itself. It may take a little work but it should pop right in and hold pretty tight.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
 |
Add Comment
|
