On Sat, 29 Mar 2008 20:17:56 GMT, "Ivan Vegvary"
wrote:


"Don Foreman" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 29 Mar 2008 06:17:24 GMT, "Ivan Vegvary"
wrote:

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

The ones I've seen are not springs. They're just flat bits of metal
pivoted on one end, relying on gravity to fall into the notch.


Don, I know of what you speak, BUT, mine, out of necessity, is a vertical
application. I.e., it's has to be a vertical piece strip of spring metal
that will swing with the gate (gate can be opened both ways) and catch on
the stationary latch attached to the post. What you speak of typically
works with a swing in only one direction unless I install it in the middle
of the gate edge. In that case I would have to slot my vertical 'gate edge'
member (1" square steel) and let your horizontal pivoted metal pass through
and allow gravity to do it's thing.

Too complicated. I thought a springy thing between the stationary post and
the 'gate edge' would be a simpler solution.

Now that you mention it, I even had one like that on a wrought iron
gate inside the house. That was a loooong time ago. I think the
springy part was longer than you describe, at least a foot and perhaps
18". I think it might have been 1/8" thick and about an inch wide.
Mild steel will spring a little without permanently bending. 1/2" in
6" is less than 5 degrees, might be OK. I tried some odd bits in the
vise. For 6" length, I'd use .090 or so -- but I'd go longer if
possible.