Project # 8 from Worntorn- another driveway gate setup

[worntorn]

I built and installed this set of gates and posts for a customer awhile back.

I find driveway gates to be an interesting job to do, some metal fabrication & welding,some painting, some carpentry, lots of electrical with the motor drives, low voltage controls, security, lighting ,intercom and safety beams. The only part I don't do is the Masonry. I prepare and pour the base and let the Brickie have at it.

The worst thing about gate jobs is pricing them. A complete set like this including masonry and all the bells runs about $12,000 installed. This job required all wiring to run back 300 feet to the house in conduit, so there is a considerable cost involved in trenching plus electrical materials& labour just to get the necessary services to the gates.


I find that with automatic driveway gates I price about five jobs to get one. Most of the time I find out that people who want auto gates expect to pay about $2500 for everything, so it is a complete waste of time to even look at these jobs. Now I try to suss out the approximate budget before looking at the job. If the budget is $2500 and my bare cost without my labour is about 8,000, then it isn't going to happen!

Glen

[geezer]

Interesting build for those that can afford it, have you ever thought of a Portcullis made out a garage door opener and track, lots of them have sensors etc. which would make some of the motor drives and other mechanical parts simpler, only problem is clearance. The garage door panels could be replaced with iron art work.

just a thought.

[worntorn]

Hi Geezer

For my own two sets of driveway gates (see project #2 from Worntorn) I made the original drive units from garage door openers. These lasted about 12 years with a bit of repair here and there. I ran chains from the garage door openers to 90 degree reduction gears. A heavier chain then ran from the reduction gear to a sprocket attached to the bottom of a 1" rod which ran thru the gate pivot bearings. Turn on the garage door opener and the 1" rod turns which opens or closes the gate. When the garage door motors finally were worn out I switched to Italian made screw type gate openers. They were expensive but they have been trouble free for almost ten years now.
Incidentally, I reused one of the old gear reducers from the gate setup. It is now on the homemade weld positioner which I posted on this forum somewhere.

When building and installing gates for customers I have always used either the Italian made units or German FAAC units, both expensive and both more reliable than my home built openers were. It seems to work out best to have people pay the big bill up front and then get years or decades of trouble free use.
My homebrew setup put a fair bit of strain on the final drive chain, so frequent adjustment of the chain tension was needed. The average homeowner doesn't want to have to deal with frequent adjusting of things. When the chain would get slack it would skip a tooth and then the gate would shut off in the incorrect postion. This meant the chain had to come of to get things in sync again.

The biggest problem I had with the home built openers came from slugs getting inside of the unit and committing Hari Kari on the main circuit board. Invariably this cooked the circuit board.

The dedicated Gate openers have the electronics sealed up such that slugs and other bugs cannot get in.

Glen

[geezer]

Never thought much about slugs & bugs, but I will remember and keep it in mind if I have circuit boards in any of my builds, good to know these things.