# Making tube Gates- Worth the effort?



## PaMike

I am kicking around making some of my own gates. Just cant decide if I should do it or not.. Keep in mind I have a full fab shop at my disposal including a power feed tilting bandsaw and cad software to draw up any jigs I may need to have laser cut...

I priced out 50 lengths of NEW pipe (1 1/2 sch 10) pipe at $1.23/ft. Thats my wholesale price, and its a pretty decent price. At that price, making my own gates doesn't pay. I called an outfit that sells surplus/defect pipe. Guy claims he is shutting down his yard and can sell me the same new pipe for $.30/ft. It is stored outside so I am sure it is rusty. Might have a little bow to it, or something...The pipe is the same size two local guys use for heavy gates, and it works well...

I can get a 16 ft heavy duty powdercoated gate for $375. I can build a 16 ft gate for $30 in pipe and $160 to powdercoat it, so $190 in pipe and powdercoat. Of course my consumables, time, and other misc expenses arn't included in that cost.

What do you think? Is it worth building my own? At this point I have 3 gates that I need right now, and I am sure I will need more in the future... Thoughts?


----------



## 8350HiTech

I bought a painted 10' gate made of schedule pipe for $90 a few months ago. I wouldn't want to get out of bed for that but there's a shop near here that for whatever reason is willing. Powder coat is nice but my cows have never told me they cared what my gates look like.

Is the 16' heavy gate you're pricing retail made of heavy tube or schedule 10?


----------



## somedevildawg

Buy it.....


----------



## deadmoose

From a money standpoint, buy gates.if you have some extra time to burn, make em.


----------



## somedevildawg

deadmoose said:


> if you have some extra time to burn, make em.


Right there's ur answer....I ain't never got none of that


----------



## PaMike

8350HiTech said:


> I bought a painted 10' gate made of schedule pipe for $90 a few months ago. I wouldn't want to get out of bed for that but there's a shop near here that for whatever reason is willing. Powder coat is nice but my cows have never told me they cared what my gates look like.
> 
> Is the 16' heavy gate you're pricing retail made of heavy tube or schedule 10?


The heavy gate I am pricing is a Paul B/CK stalls gate. It is schedule 10 pipe. That would be 183 lb in 16 ft. I cant see making gates any heavier than that..

I like the powdercoat cause it lasts long and looks good. We are kinda fussy here when it comes to looks.

I guess I just have a hard time turning down a project...


----------



## somedevildawg

Buy that one and powdercoat it....project done . Two birds with one stone


----------



## 8350HiTech

PaMike said:


> The heavy gate I am pricing is a Paul B/CK stalls gate. It is schedule 10 pipe. That would be 183 lb in 16 ft. I cant see making gates any heavier than that..
> I like the powdercoat cause it lasts long and looks good. We are kinda fussy here when it comes to looks.
> 
> I guess I just have a hard time turning down a project...


Oh yeah, I have an 18' schedule 10 my local shop made me and you better have solid anchor points. I'm pretty sure my gates are painted by an Amish child with a brush, but after at least five years the only part of them that isn't green is what is covered by manure. If you want to build your own, hit them with some tractor paint with hardener and get your cost way down.


----------



## PaMike

8350HiTech said:


> Oh yeah, I have an 18' schedule 10 my local shop made me and you better have solid anchor points. I'm pretty sure my gates are painted by an Amish child with a brush, but after at least five years the only part of them that isn't green is what is covered by manure. If you want to build your own, hit them with some tractor paint with hardener and get your cost way down.


Yeah, I was kinda thinking that too. That newer paint with the hardener lasts really well and gates don't take that much paint...

Hmmm...decisions decisions.. I really don't need any more projects but...

Maybe I should just sell the pipe in lanc farming for .60/ft, double my money, then buy the gates. Maybe that's the winning answer...


----------



## Thorim

PaMike said:


> Yeah, I was kinda thinking that too. That newer paint with the hardener lasts really well and gates don't take that much paint...
> 
> Hmmm...decisions decisions.. I really don't need any more projects but...
> 
> Maybe I should just sell the pipe in lanc farming for .60/ft, double my money, then buy the gates. Maybe that's the winning answer...


I think we have a winner lol


----------



## PaMike

So, I was going to listen to everyone's advise, but the owner of this pipe started bugging me. He really wanted to move it. Being that I cant pass up a real good deal I grabbed the neighbors trailer and drove the 1.75 hrs. Turns out the guy really was liquidating his yard full of pipe. He had 4 more days to get it all cleaned up. He was selling pipe for $.18/lb to customers, $.12/lb to a wholesale buyer in NY, and anything else went into a steel dumpster that he got $.09/lb. He took a HUGE pile of pipe (probably 10k lbs) and set it on giant sawhorses. I picked out what I wanted. Everything else they just threw in the dumpster. It killed me to watch brand new 2" sch 40 pipe go in a dumpster, but I couldn't buy it all.. Filled the trailer up fairly well. 102 pcs of 1 1/4 sch 10 pipe, 53 pcs of 1 1/2 sch 10, and 4 pcs of 4" sch 40 pipe. A little over 6000 lbs, all for a grand total of $720 bucks...What am I going to do with it all? I have no idea. Build a bunch of gates and fence I guess..


----------



## bbos2

I have considered building gates. It would be a wash, or little more expensive to build your own but much stronger. Especially if you know it won't move for a while. Bet yours will last longer


----------



## woodland

PaMike said:


> So, I was going to listen to everyone's advise, but the owner of this pipe started bugging me. He really wanted to move it. Being that I cant pass up a real good deal I grabbed the neighbors trailer and drove the 1.75 hrs. Turns out the guy really was liquidating his yard full of pipe. He had 4 more days to get it all cleaned up. He was selling pipe for $.18/lb to customers, $.12/lb to a wholesale buyer in NY, and anything else went into a steel dumpster that he got $.09/lb. He took a HUGE pile of pipe (probably 10k lbs) and set it on giant sawhorses. I picked out what I wanted. Everything else they just threw in the dumpster. It killed me to watch brand new 2" sch 40 pipe go in a dumpster, but I couldn't buy it all.. Filled the trailer up fairly well. 102 pcs of 1 1/4 sch 10 pipe, 53 pcs of 1 1/2 sch 10, and 4 pcs of 4" sch 40 pipe. A little over 6000 lbs, all for a grand total of $720 bucks...What am I going to do with it all? I have no idea. Build a bunch of gates and fence I guess..


Too bad I wasn't a couple of time zones closer as we have a hard time with that "NO" word as well when an opportunity or deal shows up. If you got the time build some and slap some paint on them and see how it goes. Most stuff we built here is rust brown and the boughten gates with powder coat aren't doing very good at keeping their paint anyways. Some sort of rust paint is what we use if we get the desire to "pretty it up". ????


----------



## Three44s

WTG!

That is a great lick!!

Three44s


----------



## Coondle

A BARGAIN: and you do know the definition of "a bargain"?

"A bargain" is something you d not need at a price you cannot resist 

And Thanks PaMike some-one that post a picture that make sense to me!


----------



## somedevildawg

Ya, id have probably went and got a bigger trailer


----------



## Vol

somedevildawg said:


> Ya, id have probably went and got a bigger trailer


No doubt....I would have had to buy enough pipe to make a fence along the highway.

Regards, Mike


----------



## azmike

We don't fish mouth pipe anymore. We bought an Edwards iron worker and flatten pipe ends easy stronger welds faster! We use oil field 1 7/8 or 2 3/8 for heavy duty gates.


----------



## hog987

azmike said:


> We don't fish mouth pipe anymore. We bought an Edwards iron worker and flatten pipe ends easy stronger welds faster! We use oil field 1 7/8 or 2 3/8 for heavy duty gates.


I dont like the flatten ends. Actually have one gate that has a curve to it cause every flatten end has a slight bend to it. Yes it welds faster that way but not the strongest joint.

Another option is to use channel iron in place of the saddle (fish mouth ) joints. Faster than notching the ends welds nice and still have a nice strong joint.


----------



## PaMike

I think I am going to buy one of the Williams low buck notchers. They are a shear type notcher.

I can also buy shear type notching tooling for the ironworker at work, but that would run me $700, and thats too much...


----------



## mlappin

PaMike said:


> So, I was going to listen to everyone's advise, but the owner of this pipe started bugging me. He really wanted to move it. Being that I cant pass up a real good deal I grabbed the neighbors trailer and drove the 1.75 hrs. Turns out the guy really was liquidating his yard full of pipe. He had 4 more days to get it all cleaned up. He was selling pipe for $.18/lb to customers, $.12/lb to a wholesale buyer in NY, and anything else went into a steel dumpster that he got $.09/lb. He took a HUGE pile of pipe (probably 10k lbs) and set it on giant sawhorses. I picked out what I wanted. Everything else they just threw in the dumpster. It killed me to watch brand new 2" sch 40 pipe go in a dumpster, but I couldn't buy it all.. Filled the trailer up fairly well. 102 pcs of 1 1/4 sch 10 pipe, 53 pcs of 1 1/2 sch 10, and 4 pcs of 4" sch 40 pipe. A little over 6000 lbs, all for a grand total of $720 bucks...What am I going to do with it all? I have no idea. Build a bunch of gates and fence I guess..


Damn&#8230;too bad its way too far away. I need either a bunch of pipe or angle iron to build a firewood tumbler. I think angle iron would be a tad more aggressive with the corner instead of round.


----------



## azmike

hog987 said:


> I dont like the flatten ends. Actually have one gate that has a curve to it cause every flatten end has a slight bend to it. Yes it welds faster that way but not the strongest joint.
> 
> Another option is to use channel iron in place of the saddle (fish mouth ) joints. Faster than notching the ends welds nice and still have a nice strong joint.


I have never had a gate or panel bend but they weigh lots! We have a steel jig table that has the placed bars level and straight. If you weld a bend into your gate it should be bent?

Do you use "pipe" or "tube"?


----------



## hog987

azmike said:


> I have never had a gate or panel bend but they weigh lots! We have a steel jig table that has the placed bars level and straight. If you weld a bend into your gate it should be bent?
> 
> This is not a gate I built. One the oil field used. Two inch tubing 16 foot gate. Crushed upright joints. From top to bottom the gate is C shaped. Its a heavy enough swing gate either taking two men or a jack or tractor to mount. But not as heavy as the two inch coil tubing I have been building free standing panels from.
> Do you use "pipe" or "tube"?


----------



## hog987

I guess cant type on phone with cold fingers properly


----------



## 8350HiTech

The gate is a C more than likely because it was bent or not welded on a flat surface or welded fully and then flipped and welded on the other side causing a buckle. Not sure how the style of joint could be to blame.


----------



## hog987

A cow backed into the gate and put the C shape bend in it. Yes the type of joint does make a difference. Think if you put a gusset on a joint. Do you put it in the middle or edge of ssquare tube?To get maximum strength put the gusset on the edge. Same idea with a saddle joint on round tube. A crushed end weld just in middle of tube is easier to bend than a saddle joint on round tube


----------

