Tag: driveway gates

4 Reasons Why Your Home Needs Brand New Driveway Gates

4 Reasons Why Your Home Needs Brand New Driveway Gates

 

1. Adds a Layer of Safety To Your Home & Loved Ones

It’s okay to be exclusive. A driveway gate is one way to close off the outside world, which is especially appealing during these times. A closed driveway gate keeps random strangers from approaching your home in their vehicle, and your loved ones safer. They can also help to contain pets!

Ornamental driveway gates with flag themed dog design.

Other security add-ons include intercoms and camera systems to keep track of who’s coming and going.

2. Convenient

Driveway gates are convenient, especially when automated. They can be operated from the comfort of one’s own vehicle with a remote or from a keypad or even from home or far away with a cell phone app.

Gate opener remotes

Powder coated keypad stand for driveway gate opener.

 

Even if your gates are manually opened and closed, you still have the convenience of controlling who drives up to your home.

3. Adds Beauty

A well-designed driveway gate is truly a beautiful sight to behold. Especially when they hang from native stone columns.

Beautiful tree driveway gate with snow

The stately feeling one gets while driving through an opened set of entrance gates leaves a lasting impression upon all who pass through.

Custom driveway gates with worker at the job site.

A brand new custom driveway gate is the perfect way to make a statement to all who see it.

4. Adds Property Value

An attractive, customized driveway gate can add $50,000 or more to the value of an underlying property due to aesthetics and added peace of mind afforded by increased security measures such as automation. That can give your property an edge in the market if it’s time to sell.

Driveway gates with deer family at Tennesee driveway entrance.

About JDR Metal Art:

We help homeowners, farmers, ranchers and businesses from all across the US to secure and beautify their properties with driveway gate systems. We build custom driveway gates from steel and aluminum, of all different shapes and sizes. We have gates installed in over 30 states since 1999, as well as internationally.

Driveway Gates For Sale

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Ex. 12' wide x 6' tall
Ex.: Farm, Ranch, Residential, Simple, Traditional, Wildlife, Pets, Equine, Trees, , etc.

Custom Ranch Gates – Elegant 12′ Oak Tree with Whitetail Deer

Custom Ranch Gates

​12′ Dual Swing Oak Tree with Whitetails

Designed, Fabricated, Powder Coated & Installed by JDR Metal Art

with liftmaster la 500 commercial grade automatic operator System

These ranch driveway gates were a fun project from start to finish and will look great at their new home for many years to come.  JDR Metal Art designed, built, powder coated & installed this 24v solar powered automatic gate system.

12′ Driveway Gate Design

We began with the 12′ dual swing gate design (a modification of one of our other tree driveway gates). Four whitetail deer and three turkeys are gathered under an oak tree. We also ended up adding to it a 14′ tall overhead arch with our customer’s ranch name plasma cut in a neat and attractive font.

Here’s our initial design concept; each steel driveway gate panel is exactly 6′ wide at the frame. The total opening between the posts is 12′ 10″ which allows for hinge spacing and a center gap of approximately 1″.

Custom Gate fabrication

The frames for our steel gates are typically made from 2 x 2 x 1/8″ & 2 x 2 x 3/16″ tubing. These pickets for the inside of the frame are 1 x 1 x 1/8″. The joints are cut with miters and given a slight gap for maximum weld penetration.

Next we are locating and placing the gate opener bracket for the LA 500 driveway gate opener.

Once the LA 500 bracket has been welded to the backside. In this case it’s a “pull-to-open” gate opener installation setup.

After MIG welding the steel base plate to the posts…

This gate opener system is spec’d for Liftmaster LA 500 Gate openers

Our gate opener/operator of choice for this project is the Liftmaster LA 500 system. It’s a 24 volt DC commercial duty system which offers twice as much voltage (power) as the 12v systems. Liftmaster has become a household name over the years with great brand recognition, unsurpassed quality and excellent customer service.

For automating this ranch entrance we installed the LIFTMASTER LA 500 dual swing gate opener system. The gate opener and photo eye brackets were welded in place on the gates and posts prior to powder coating.

la 500 gate bracket

photo eyes

Building the stands for the photo eyes. The photo eyes play an extremely important safety role in this project. The holes in the stands are drilled and tapped for ease of installation onsite.

keypad stand

Custom built steel keypad stand is much better than the typical paper thin steel ones.

Locating the photo eye so it’s in line with the reflector on the other post.

Plasma cut turkeys hanging out in the grass.

 

Overhead arch for “take a chance ranch”

Lettering is cut from 3/16″ sheet steel, welded to a rolled 2x2x1/8″ square tube. Will be welded to top of the gate posts with fluxcore/gasless welder.

custom plasma cut Ranch brand

One of several signs we cut from 3/16″ steel for our client to put up around the ranch.

posts & small parts racked for powder coat

Here are most of the smaller parts required for this job, hanging from the powder coating cart.

 

powder coated driveway gates

Our favorite black powder coat – 60% gloss – is a “super durable” grade powder coat made especially for high UV outdoor exposure. It looks great for many many years without the typical premature fading and/or peeling of a liquid coating.

Wet vs Dry Painting

Traditional paints are generally known as wet paints. Powder coating is called a dry paint because it is applied in the form of a dry powder and there is no need for industrial solvents to dry and is thus green friendly.

Once the powder is applied to the parts, the parts go into a propane fired powder coat oven where they bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. As the parts heat up a chemical reaction occurs and the powder turns into a gel at first and then fully cures into a tough finish as it cools.

A powder painted finish is much tougher than liquid painted but without the extended cure times which liquid coatings suffer from, generally weeks to a month or more. Whereas a powder coated gate is fully cured upon baking; liquid coated gates are often still far from fully cured during the time of delivery & installation, thus leading to easily scratched and rubbed off paint finishes due to handling parts with a yet uncured finish.

Driveway Gate Installation

Time for driveway gate installation. We begin by laying out the dimensions with a tape measure and marking the areas we’ll be working. We need holes for the gate posts and a trench between the two posts for the electrical and control wiring.

Gate post holes And Trench

Holes have been drilled 40″ deep with a 24″ wide auger. The dummy base plates have been set in place with the threaded rods in their final resting place.

Setting Template for Overhead Posts

The posts for the overhead arch are 14′ tall. It’ll be easier to install a template for threaded rods which will be buried in concrete to support them.

pouring concrete

Before pouring the concrete it is necessary to fasten the rods in place so they can not shift while the hole is being filled.

Once the concrete is sufficiently set the posts will be secured to the threaded rods via galvanized nuts.

 

 

Driveway Gate Installation Costs

Driveway gate installation costs were about $3,500 for this project.

liftmaster la 500 photo eye

The photo eye is a safety device which monitors the entry opening for obstructions in the pathway of the gate during the open/close cycle. Like a garage door, it reverses the course of the opener when an obstruction is sensed in the pathway of the gate. This newest model also has an onboard thermostat and heater.

 

  

          

 

Ex. 12' wide x 6' tall
Ex.: Farm, Ranch, Residential, Simple, Traditional, Wildlife, Pets, Equine, Trees, , etc.

Aluminum Driveway Gates | Custom Florida Keys Project | Palm Trees & Fence Design by JDR Metal Art

Driveway gate with palm tree design at residence in Marathon, Florida.
Florida Keys Palm Tree Themed Custom Driveway Gate.

Aluminum Driveway Gates – JDR Metal Art

Custom Florida Keys Entry Gate Project

Palm Tree & Fence Design

Driveway gate with palm tree design at residence in Marathon, Florida.
Florida Keys Palm Tree Themed Custom Driveway Gate.

Two driveway gates with palm tree design in front of residence.

These unique dual-swing, marine-grade aluminum driveway gates were custom designed, plasma cut, built and powder coated by JDR Metal Art.

They were then crated and shipped via FedEx Freight to our client in the Florida Keys.

Plasma Cutting The Artwork

Here is the plasma torch.

Plasma cutting palm tree from aluminum sheet metal.

Plasma cutting uses an electrical arc and a stream of air to cut through the aluminum.

Plasma cutting sparks from aluminum sheet.

The CNC table is a computerized machine that the plasma torch is mounted to. The table follows the cut path exactly how the designer created the file. Once the design is programmed into a file, the file with all necessary parameters is loaded into the plasma table.Aluminum being plasma cut on a CNC plasma table.

Plasma cutting a section of fence for Florida entrance design.

Once the plasma cutting program has completed it’s course then the silhouette is removed from the table and cleaned up with a grinder and zirconia flap disc to remove the slight amount of dross that formed on the back of the metal while it was being cut.

Silhouette of palm tree plasma cut from aluminum.

Framing The Gate Panels Up

Laying out the frame on the back side of the plasma cut palm tree/fence silhouettes. The design hides the frame so it won’t be seen from the front by passersby.

Dual swing aluminum driveway gates 16' wide during layout of frame.

Plasma cut metal art palm trees and fence design.

Aluminum gate panel laying on welding table.

Palm tree driveway gate with fence accent design.

Aluminum gate frame prior to welding on fab table.

 

Aluminum metal art palm tree gate panel after welding.

Fabricating The Gate Posts

These dual swing gates will be hanging from aluminum gate posts. We build our own gate hinges. The hinge tabs are welded to the gate posts and the hinges are ready to bolt onto the posts at the time of gate installation.

Aluminum 4x4 gate post with hinge tabs welded on.

The gate posts are 4×4 aluminum with 1/4″ wall thickness. The hinge tabs are plasma cut from 1/4″ plate aluminum and welded to the posts by spray arc with an aluminum spool gun.

4x4 aluminum driveway gate post with hinge tabs.

Powder Coat Finishing

These gates are built from marine grade aluminum which, after fabrication is first de-oxidized  and conversion coated, then given two coats of a super durable grade white powder coat finish. The second coat adds several mils of thickness to the finish, bringing the total finish to between 6 and 8 mils thick which is much thicker than paint. Perfect finish for resisting corrosion in a salty environment.

Aluminum gate panel after it was powder coated white by JDR Metal Art.

 

Palm tree gate panel after white powder coat finish was applied.

Smooth white powder coat after it has been applied and baked at 400 degrees.

White powder coated aluminum plasma cut metal art.

Side shot of the gates and posts after powder coat finishing.

Side view of white powder coated aluminum drive gates and gate posts.

Thanks for reading our blog post. If you need a custom gate JDR Metal Art definitely has your solution, no matter if you’re located in the Florida Keys or anywhere else. Please don’t hesitate to reach out for a quote!

Driveway Gates Ocala Florida – Aluminum Horse Design

Horse farm driveway gate with plasma cut horse and fence design.

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.

Aluminum sheet for custom farm gate in Ocala, Florida.

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.

Horse farm driveway gate with plasma cut horse and fence design.

 

Ocala driveway gate with aluminum horse and fence design.

 

Aluminum driveway gate on welding table.

More to follow..

 

Oklahoma Driveway Gates – 15′ Single Swing Elk & Turkey Theme

Driveway Gates for Oklahoma City Elk Ranch

These Oklahoma City driveway gates were custom designed and handcrafted by JDR Metal Art for an elk ranch just a few miles north of Oklahoma City. We built three 15′ single swing gates with an elk and turkey gate theme that goes great with the client’s ranch property.

Elk Gate Design

We began with the customer’s design concept. After several drafts we finalized a design that the customer was comfortable proceeding with.

This is a driveway gate with an elk and wild turkey design.

 

Sawing & Plasma Cutting the Material

Once the design was complete we began cutting material. Here’s a clip of the square tubing frame being mitered on a horizontal band saw. Miter cut parts are significantly stronger when welded and transfer force more efficiently than overlapped & welded parts.

Plasma Cutting 

In the picture below the 15′ sheet is loaded on the table, indexed and ready to plasma cut.

Turkeys

Below we’re cutting the turkeys. These silhouettes are cut from 15′ long, 3/16″ thick steel sheets. 

 

Finished Plasma Cut Decorative Sheet #1

Here’s one of the 15′ sheets once plasma cutting has been completed.

From Plasma Table to Fabrication Table

Using a forklift to move the sheet to the welding table to be welded into a gate frame. It takes some creativity to make it happen with parts this size.

Fabrication of Panel #1 Complete

This gate panel is welded into the frame and ready for sandblast & powder coat.

 

Gate Installed in Oklahoma

This is the main entrance to the ranch. The client installed the gates after delivery. Two other gate panels are installed elsewhere on the ranch. Gate is hung from 6×6″ square tubing post and hinges are adjustable roller bearing hinges custom made by JDR Metal Art.

Elk and turkey design on metal farm gate in Oklahoma.

This was really a fun project to do…the customer was fantastic to work with every step of the way.

If you need a custom Oklahoma farm or ranch driveway gate be sure to get in touch with us! We make them any size, and design and deliver nationwide. We look forward to making your gate project a big success!

Ex. 12' wide x 6' tall
Ex.: Farm, Ranch, Residential, Simple, Traditional, Wildlife, Pets, Equine, Trees, , etc.