"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
news:U9lHj.110$gS1.11@trndny07...
Trying to make a spring latch for a recently finished gate. Gate needs to
swing both ways. I made a striker plate for the post. Striker has the
typical "ramp" on each side so when you swing the gate the "spring" will
slide along the ramp and come to a stop in the middle detent.

The "strike" or "keeper" is available at King Architectural Metals and
other ornamental metal sources. However the spring latch part is not.
When I talked to "King", they said "make your own".

Okay, spring will be a 3/4 inch strip with about 5-6 inches unsecured.
The unsecured part needs to spring about 1/2 inches back and forth. What
gauge metal should I use? ASCII drawing below.


|
|
| Springy part of spring (about 5 inches)
|
|
| Secured part of spring (about 2 inches)
|

All advice appreciated.

Thanks,

Ivan Vegvary

Most of the ones I seen were made by these companies, and made out of 1" x
1/8" hot rolled flat bar (the least springiest cheapest one). The top piece
looks like a wishbone, or a V with a flat bottom across where the point of
the V is, has a loop on it for a lock, has the two top ends of the V wrapped
round, and a tail that is about a foot long. Is that the one?

I was googling, but can't come up with a picture. Is this the one that fits
into a slotted piece of angle iron welded on the gate post? It has a notch,
and two holes drilled in it for locking?

I may have an extra in all my stuff, and they are available lots of places.
You must be somewhere that they don't have a large selection.

Steve