Driveway Gates for Horse Farm

JDR Metal Art builds driveway gates for horse farms and ranches nationwide. These 14′ dual swing driveway gates are going to an equine farm in Ocala, Florida.

These gates designed & manufactured from marine grade aluminum by JDR Metal Art.

Custom Aluminum Driveway Gates

Artwork Plasma Cut from 3/16″ Thick Aluminum Sheets

Here are some nice and shiny looking  6′ x 8′ sheets of 3/16″ thick aluminum that we’re using as the canvas for our metal art project. The sheets will be welded into a 2×2″ square tubing frame a little later.

Plasma Cutting Driveway Gate Designs:

The gate design is going to be cut out on a plasma table.

Plasma cutting is a process that we use to turn stock metals such as steel, aluminum or iron into intricate shapes for decorative driveway gates.

Not only will these gates be decorative, they will also be very durable since we are using 3/16″ thick aluminum which is much thicker than a typical  boat hull.

Plasma Cutting Aluminum

In this video clip you can see what it looks like when we’re cutting aluminum.

The light from the electrical arc in the plasma torch is very bright and hot, many thousands of degrees of heat and swirling plasma gas creates a clean cut directly through the metal.

Framing It Up Prior to Welding

These are dual or double swing gates. Each panel is 7′ wide. They are also 5′ tall on the ends and 6’4″ tall in the center. The gate frame consists of 2″ square tubing, 3/16″ wall thickness.

All the ends of the aluminum tubing are miter cut to a 45 degree angle, then beveled prior to welding for maximum strength.

Aluminum is very lightweight compared to steel, not a huge amount of strength is needed at the weldments to ensure these gates will never bend or sag under their own weight.

Everything is welded together using an aluminum spoolgun, which is one of the more challenging welding process to become proficient with. With aluminum fabrication it is important to clean the metal prior to welding in order to achieve the highest strength. Any oils in the weld puddle can create porosity in the weld and poor fusion of the metals.

More to follow..