Attaching Baby Gate to Round Post

[Snap Marc]

I made three beautiful baby gates out of oak and iron. Two of the gates will mount to studs in walls, but one of the gates will mount at the top of a staircase. This is my challenge.

Due to the weight of the gates, I have wheels at the bottom so it rests on the floor. This removes all of the weight requirements from the round post.

The bottom of the post is a nice solid block, but the top is a tapered round surface which creates difficulty in attaching.

I have fabricated a nice solid block of oak to which the gate attaches with three 4" hinges. They're beautifully mortised, by the way

So all I need to do is attach the block to the post. The base seems pretty easy. I figured I use some large lag screws with washers. Or maybe even a through bolt.

How can I attach the top of the mounting block to the tapered round post? Can I drill a hole directly through the post? If I do that, the bolt or screw will be visible as the tapered post doesn't sit flush against the block.

Maybe I should fabricate some sort of split curved jaw-like wing-nutted clamp device that squeezes the post creating a flat surface which to attach the gate.

For now, here are some pics of the gates.....

[JimDantin]

I would fabricate a matching iron bracket that would mount to the underside of the railing. This would minimize permanent damage to the beautiful oak spindles. The bracket would be L shaped and flow around the round spindle top. Screws would pass through holes in the plate into the underside of the toprail.

Beautiful work!

[Snap Marc]

Thanks, however I'm not a metal worker at all. Cutting these iron balusters was about the extent of my blacksmithing skills.

Any ideas of how to use wood? Again, the weight will be on the wheels, so I basically just need to attach the gate towards the top. And remember, there is a mounting block that's not in these photos.

It's the block that will be attached to the post, not the gate.

Thanks for your idea, and speed to deliver it! This is a great forum!

[LCHIEN]

kinda hate to drill holes in the spindles which should outlast the utility of the gate by many years.

Your idea
"Maybe I should fabricate some sort of split curved jaw-like wing-nutted clamp device that squeezes the post creating a flat surface which to attach the gate."

is what i would do...
measure the diameter of the spindle, drill a hole in a piece of 1x4 right at that diameter or a hair smaller, Drill a couple of nearly thru holes smaller than your screws just outside the big hole thru the edges of the 1x4 then use a bandsaw and cut through the center of the hole to make a split ring with flat edges. You can round off the back corners.

Now those deep holes... drill the entry side big enough for the screw head about 1" deep. Then drill the rest of that side just bigger than the thread diameter. Now you can screw from the side and pull the halves together tightly. the screw will be hidden and it should hold pretty well.

[pierhogunn2]

round post adapter

here is what I would do



made out of the same stuff as your beautiful gate, with some sort of rubber on the inside of the round sections that are cut to match the curve of the post

I would also use some stainless steel pipe-straps ( painted black to match your hardware)

you could attach the pipe straps to the inside of the cut out pieces with some flat head screws

I would also use some sort of padding between the strap and that nice oak post to keep it from marring the finish.

but then again, I tend to over-complicate things

[scmhogg]

I have no new suggestions. But, your gates are beautiful. With dovetails yet.

Steve

[Snap Marc]

Hey, I have a 24" Leigh jig so I'm always looking for excuses to make some pins and tails. In this case, they're purely decorative, but at the same time it's a **** of a joint! Self squaring and strong as all get out! Leave it to the Egyptians!

I'm very happy with the gates. Making them was a lot of fun, but hanging them is a different story.

I'll post pics when they're up. Lee Valley has some killer hardware and the wheels are just awesome. Stay tuned.

[Snap Marc]

Thanks. Look at you! You made that in Sketch Up? I'm a computer guy, but haven't learned that yet. Looks amazing.

Thanks so much. I think I will create something along those lines.

[pecker]

Does the gate really need to be solidly connected at the top? If you had sliding wooden rods at the top, on both the front and back sides of the gate, they could capture the tops of the posts. The gate wouldn't exactly be attached at the top, but it couldn't be pushed in either direction if these rods surrounded the post top.

Or instead of rods that slid, they could be bars that pivoted from vertical to horizontal position.

[unknown poster]

When I had a similar situation with my kids I drove screws into the newell posts. This type of thing is why wood filler is made. The minor inconvenience of filling the holes in a few years is offset by the risk of the gate coming loose when kid is climbing over it.

If you're using this with dogs or other animals then Loring's clamp idea sounds pretty good to me. Dogs have better reflexes when the gate falls down, they have less risk of getting hurt.

[Snap Marc]

Mounting Bracket

So I went the simpler route and made a 1.5" thick mounting bracket to which the gate attaches. Then I just need to mount the bracket to the post.

Check out these picks. Right now it's secured with clamps, but a couple of bolts will do the job.

Now that the gate is on wheels and the bracket is attached to the gate, all of the weight is on the wheels. So I just need something to keep it anchored on the post side.

The clamps, right now, are not super-tight which shows me how I might have been over-thinking this.

I plan on driving a bolt through the square base of the post, and another 3/4 up the tapered post.

Thoughts?

Check out the cap I added to the top of the bracket. It's all about the details!

[pierhogunn2]

Thanks. Look at you! You made that in Sketch Up? I'm a computer guy, but haven't learned that yet. Looks amazing.

Thanks so much. I think I will create something along those lines.

yeah, I threw that together in about 3 mintues...

I figure if you make 2 of these adapters, you can put some sort of child resistant catch on one side, ( nothing is child proof)

and some sturdy hinges on the other side, also with 3 pipe-straps tightened down to within an inch of thier life, I doubt that even a 50 pound kid, rocking back and forth on the gate will bother it much

[phi1l]

Hmmmm.. It almost looks like that child can squeeze between those bars, or at least they are far enough apart to try. Is that just an optical illusion? (I hope)

[Snap Marc]

Funny, nope, I measure that first. His head is waaaaay too big!

[Snap Marc]

Gate Finally Mounted

Thanks to all of you fellow BT3-ers. Great ideas and quick response. Yesterday I finally mounted it after having an epiphany. I decided to use large lag screws driven directly through the mounting bracket. I needed to counter sink the bolts so the gate hinges could close fully.

Instead of leaving the bolts visible, I unscrewed the uppermost and lowermost hinges one at a time and used a 1" forstner bit to make a large enough hole to hide the bolt head, while still allowing the ratchet head to fit in so I could tighten it all the way. I used two lags at the bottom and one lag at the top.

The gate is rock solid now and after flipping the hinges back over the bolts, nothing is visible. You can barely see the threads of the lag screw at the top hinge, but of course I'm going to hide them with a small piece of oak that splits in two and surrounds the exposed metal.

The weight is on the wheels, so these three lags are more than enough to anchor the fixed side of the gate. I'm very happy with this.

Thanks again!

Here are some photos...