A gate can make a BIG difference if people are stealin yer stuff! It took a week of welding to make mine, 2 1/2 days to make the spider
No. I knew what I wanted so I got graph paper and drew it to scale and got started. The spider was a bigger problem than the gate, but that gate is incredibly heavy The center of the spider web is a 1933 Ford V-8 hubcap.
It's a good thing my wife doesn't weld or all my parts would end up as yard art. she wanted to make the brake and clutch pedal ***embly from my 51 F1 into a cricket, and an old WWII helmet into a ladybug. I also caught her playing around with the extra grill teeth from the 51 F1, I told her to leave them alone!! I'm just jealous that she is more creative than me.... LOL
The Frame is two pieces of 2 1/2 X 3 angle iron, $80 each and 200 feet of 3/8 rod for the rays of the web and 1/4" rod for the curves between the rays. About $275 total cost and I had the wrought iron pieces on the ends. I think they were someones porch supports. I cut the center out of a rotten 1935 Ford rim so the hubcap fits properly. I also had all the pipe for the hinge post and the striker post. In these pictures the gate is sitting on the ground. I hope to get it hinged and swinging soon. The spider has a bolt in each foot with a clip and a wingnut. This makes it easy to detach the spider and move him to different poses on the gate. I am happy with the way it came out. The gate is stiff enough, but if I were to do another I would consider 2X6" angle for the frame.
The body of the spider IS a barbecue grille like this one http://www.barbecuegrills.us/barbecue-grill-486.jpg great shape, just like a big fat spider
A buddy of mine has a long drive and lives out in the country. He's kinda a ***** about people showing up un-announced so he put a motion detector at the gate to his drive and then linked it to a all-weather speaker about half way up that when activated by the motion sensor, starts sounding like an M-16 firing away. We've had alot of fun with the close up pics and camera footage of their faces. That thing is loud too!! There is even a ricochet or two in there to make it sound like it's hitting your vehicle. The UPS guy was hilarious, hit his brakes so hard his load of packages shifted. But the DHL van was much better. He pissed his pants. He didn't speak much english. But he knew the sound of a machine gun. Mott