Some recent stuff

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Shane Warnick
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Some recent stuff

Post by Shane Warnick »

A few pics of some recent projects.

These gates were a pair, both identical except one was left hand one was right hand swing. Pickets on the inside, smooth on the outside (alley side of the fence). Made it all except the lock enclosure. Bent the top profile with my swag offroad bender, powder coated copper vein.
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This is a 32" brand I did for a local fence and gate company. 1/4" mild steel plate, with a 1/4" x 2" piece of flat strap wrapped around it, welded all the way around the outside and the inside, they were going to have it powder coated.

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This sign is 5' x 10' 1/4" steel, with a 2"x2" x 1/4" angle iron frame around it. Powder coated copper vein. It got rained on and I wiped all the dirt off with a glove, that is what the streaks are. Looked a lot better after I hit it with some glass cleaner.
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This was a 32" wide, 1/4" steel yard sign I made with a swinging address plaque underneath. It is on 3/4" round stakes with drive heads on the back. Again, powder coated copper vein. (Poor picture but it was the only one I have of it finished).
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A small stair railing we did for a local contractor, this is going in front of one of the large office buildings downtown. It too was powder coated copper vein, but I don't have a picture after powder. Don't know why, it sat in the shop for a week waiting on them to pick it up.
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Shane Warnick
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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by Shane Warnick »

This was 1/4" mild steel, almost 8' long. Going above the entrance to his roping arena.
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With one of these on each side, 1/4" mild steel.
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Also made two of these for his front entrance, 1/4" mild steel as well.
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Stay safe and have a great weekend. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am READY for spring to get here. I am sick of the cold overcast days. I have motivational issues when the weather is dreary.

Shane
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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by DXF »

Real nice work. Does the copper vein powder coat hold up to sunlight?

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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by AnotherDano »

Copper Vein (or Penny Vein) is one of my favorite powders. It is, however, a metallic and should be topped with a UV stable clear coat.

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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by SeanP »

Some nice jobs there Shane!
Can I just ask did you get much warping with the welding on that 'J' circle? I have something along those lines to do as well.
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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by Shane Warnick »

We have some stuff that was coated several years ago, and it still looks fine. Sits outside 24/7. That having been said, I am sure it will fade some over time, and if I was to hold something up to it that was just done it would probably look worse than the new stuff. I had a few things clear coated, and they looked just like the rest of it within 6 months. Problem we have is, well, it's the desert here. So it gets really sandy. It's not THAT the wind blows all the time, but WHAT the wind is blowing. Its bad enough that it will even sandblast the sides of your house. I know it holds up way better than paint does, and I don't really think anyone that lives here would have a realistic expectation of something lasting more than 10 years or so. I don't have anything that has been outside and is coated for that long yet, but it is looking promising so far.

As a disclaimer, I don't powder coat, I have that done. They tell me that it is UV stabilized but it will all fade eventually. Don't know if that matters or not. I don't know what mfg or brand of powder they use.

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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by Shane Warnick »

Sean,

I rolled the flat into a circle with my tubing roller, then cut it to the exact length with about 1/10" gap. I rolled it a little tighter than it OD of the circle, then it would hold itself on. I opened it up, let it snap back down, marked it and took it off and trimmed it. I opened it back up and it snapped itself down onto the circle, and I just started at one end and tacked it about every 6-8 inches. I used clamps to hold the J and the ring down onto the surface of the welding table, and went all the way around. Then I flipped it over and tacked it in between where it was tacked on the other side. I flipped it over again and welded it up between the tacks, skipping every other gap, flipped it, welded where it wasn't on the other side, skipping every other gap, flipped it welded the remaining gaps, flipped it and did the same. Basically alternated where the heat was applied. The ring stayed lined up square with the face of the "J" and I didn't have any warping at all. All the material was 1/4" thick, and I kept it laying on the surface of the welding table so it would act like a heat sink. The table is 1/2" thick, and it was warm to the touch by the time I was done but not too bad. The worst part of the whole deal was grinding the outside edge back flat after it was welded. Wasn't hard, just boring. I hate chasing all that grinding dust afterwards as well, it gets everywhere and I have to bust out the floor sweep and gather it all back up.

The customer was going to take it and weld it into the junction where two big gates meet in the middle of a driveway, then cut the ring where it needed to be cut so it would open, and look right when closed. I told him I was concerned about it springing open some (or a lot) when they cut it. Haven't heard if it did or not.

NOTE: I just realized I forgot to add, if you are going to weld it flush with face of the middle piece, make sure you bevel the edge on the face side as well as the edge of the strap. That way, when you grind it back down, there is weld left and you aren't grinding down into the crack or space between the pieces. Otherwise, you will chase that damn crack all the way around the piece. It will either look like a crack, or there will be porosity as you won't get adequate penetration into the joint with it on there real tight. It doesn't have to be a huge or real aggressive bevel, just enough to give you deep enough penetration to be lower than the surface you want to grind back down to. It only takes about 3 minutes to do, and will save you a ton of frustration later.

Shane
Last edited by Shane Warnick on Sat Jan 31, 2015 12:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by AnotherDano »

Shane,

Thanks for the background on the clearcoat requirement. I've often wondered if it is really necessary.
We have the wind problem up here too, along with the abrasives it carries.
Laramie has a nickname of 'the gem city'. Diamond dust will really eat away at stuff.

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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by muzza »

Thanks Shane, some great looking work.
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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by Shane Warnick »

Dano,

When I was looking into maybe doing my own powder, I seem to remember that most of the powders are polyester, and should give a minimum of 5 years outside before they start to fade. I think there was one that was better, like a fluoro polymer or modified polyester or something, that was the best you could get. Seems like it was good for 10 years minimum, but as I recall was pretty cost prohibitive.

I do remember, though, that every person I spoke with including one of the factory reps told me to STAY AWAY from the epoxy based powders, as they have excellent chip resistance and wear characteristics, but absolutely ZERO UV stabilization. As a matter of fact, the factory rep said the epoxy would turn whitish and "Chalk Up" even indoors, as there was enough UV in fluorescent lights and coming in through the windows to break it down and oxidize the surface. I swung a deal with the local guys shortly after that and now I can't justify the expense of getting into it myself, so I left it at that.

Shane
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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by tnbndr »

Nice projects. Copper vein, I sense a theme here:).
Just out of curiosity what do they charge you to powder coat one of those gates or the stair railing.
I outsource my powder coating to one guy and probably not steady enough that I can strike a deal with him but it is nice to compare.
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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by AnotherDano »

Thanks Shane....

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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by Redneck »

DXF wrote:Real nice work. Does the copper vein powder coat hold up to sunlight?

Dave Hanks

We use copper vein powder by Diamond Vogel......they say it does not need a clear top coat. Been ok so far for us. My 2?.
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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by Shane Warnick »

Thanks for the compliments guys. As far as the color it's just one of the most popular. I like it a lot as well, and apparently so do our customers.

I believe the gates were $125 each and the rail was $70. Solid stuff like the gate is charged by the square foot, railing etc are by the linear foot.

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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by Power Stroke »

Nice detail on the team ropers and their horses. Would you share the file?
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Re: Some recent stuff

Post by Shane Warnick »

I would if it wasn't one I paid for. I think it came from freedxf.com . If you can't find it and really want it, let me know I will look and see what the name is on the file.

Shane
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