Fairly large 19C wrought iron garden gate. 5ft wide x 4ft high 50 Kgs (ish).
For various reasons this gate needs to be closed other than when in use and
it is used frequently.
Unfortunately, folk will leave it open and a closing spring was fitted.
This resulted in the gate slamming and repeatedly wrecking the 5x5in closing
post
Closing post now needs replacing again.

Any ideas for a soft closing mechanism that might do the job?
I have had a quick google but find nowt suitable so far.

Thanks,

Nick.

On Mar 28, 6:45 pm, "Nick" wrote:
Fairly large 19C wrought iron garden gate. 5ft wide x 4ft high 50 Kgs (ish).
For various reasons this gate needs to be closed other than when in use and
it is used frequently.
Unfortunately, folk will leave it open and a closing spring was fitted.
This resulted in the gate slamming and repeatedly wrecking the 5x5in closing
post
Closing post now needs replacing again.

Any ideas for a soft closing mechanism that might do the job?
I have had a quick google but find nowt suitable so far.

Thanks,

Nick.

correct adjustment of closing device?
rising butt hinges?

JimK

In article ,
"Nick" writes:
Fairly large 19C wrought iron garden gate. 5ft wide x 4ft high 50 Kgs (ish).
For various reasons this gate needs to be closed other than when in use and
it is used frequently.
Unfortunately, folk will leave it open and a closing spring was fitted.
This resulted in the gate slamming and repeatedly wrecking the 5x5in closing
post
Closing post now needs replacing again.

Any ideas for a soft closing mechanism that might do the job?
I have had a quick google but find nowt suitable so far.

Heavy duty door closer with damper?
Might need more than one.

The other option would be to make the closing post absorb the
energy without damage - e.g. allow it to displace on a strong
spring. Damping the gate is probably safer from the point of
view of trapped fingers, etc.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Nick wrote:

Fairly large 19C wrought iron garden gate. 5ft wide x 4ft high 50 Kgs (ish).
For various reasons this gate needs to be closed other than when in use and
it is used frequently.
Unfortunately, folk will leave it open and a closing spring was fitted.
This resulted in the gate slamming and repeatedly wrecking the 5x5in closing
post
Closing post now needs replacing again.

Any ideas for a soft closing mechanism that might do the job?
I have had a quick google but find nowt suitable so far.

Are any of these any good?

http://www.dictatordirect.com/noslamgateclosers.htm
http://www.gatecontrolgear.com/?Gate...r:Gate_Closers

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

On 28 Mar, 18:45, "Nick" wrote:

Any ideas for a soft closing mechanism that might do the job?

I once had an original Victorian soft closer of Cunning Design. It was
a falling weight that provided the power to close the gate (via a
tarred rope that smelt like Denso tape). As the weight hit the bottom
and the gate was almost closed, the spike end of this cylindrical
weight entered a conical cast iron cup, full of water. It finally
bottomed out with the gate still an inch or two open, the hinges being
tilted (in the usual Victorian fashion) to finally close the gate
gently against its stop. As the cup had a big lip around it,
rainwater was enough to keep it adequately filled.

On Mon, 29 Mar 2010 04:52:19 -0700, Andy Dingley wrote:

On 28 Mar, 18:45, "Nick" wrote:

Any ideas for a soft closing mechanism that might do the job?

I once had an original Victorian soft closer of Cunning Design. It was a
falling weight that provided the power to close the gate (via a tarred
rope that smelt like Denso tape). As the weight hit the bottom and the
gate was almost closed, the spike end of this cylindrical weight entered
a conical cast iron cup, full of water. It finally bottomed out with the
gate still an inch or two open, the hinges being tilted (in the usual
Victorian fashion) to finally close the gate gently against its stop.
As the cup had a big lip around it, rainwater was enough to keep it
adequately filled.

*sigh*

I read the original post and thought "how about a weight falling into a
liquid-filled receptacle used as a damper". Once again, all the good
ideas have already been thought of ;-)

I've seen plenty of gates that are closed via hanging weights - but
that's the first I've heard of a genuine damping mechanism toward the
extent of the weight's travel. It could be done (and obviously has
been!), although I wonder how maintenance-free it is/was (lots of
potential for the mechanism to rust, fill with debris, break etc.)?

cheers

Jules

On 29 Mar, 15:13, Jules Richardson
wrote:

I wonder how maintenance-free it is/was (lots of
potential for the mechanism to rust, fill with debris, break etc.)?

Needed to have the autumn leaves kept out of it, but otherwise it was
a hundred years old and still going (probably a fair few ropes in that
time). The only thing looking tired was the pulley, which I replaced
and re-axled.

I've seen plenty of gates that are closed via hanging weights - but
that's the first I've heard of a genuine damping mechanism toward the
extent of the weight's travel. It could be done (and obviously has
been!), although I wonder how maintenance-free it is/was (lots of
potential for the mechanism to rust, fill with debris, break etc.)?


A variation is to use, for instance, two weights, W1 and W2, separated
by a length of the cord. When both weights are in the air, the closing
force is according to (W1 + W2). When the gate has part-closed, so
that lower weight (W2, say) has hit the ground, the closing force is
then only according to (W1), giving a 'softer landing'.

By extension, you end up with a series of weights, on a chain, or even
a heavy chain itself.

I think this scheme, with a heavy rope, was originally used by hot-air
balloonists to help ensure a safe landing. Of course, tailoring this
to the desired closing force/decelleration characteristics required
might be a pain...

HTH
Jon N

On 28/03/2010 18:45, Nick wrote:
Fairly large 19C wrought iron garden gate. 5ft wide x 4ft high 50 Kgs (ish).
For various reasons this gate needs to be closed other than when in use and
it is used frequently.
Unfortunately, folk will leave it open and a closing spring was fitted.
This resulted in the gate slamming and repeatedly wrecking the 5x5in closing
post
Closing post now needs replacing again.

Any ideas for a soft closing mechanism that might do the job?
I have had a quick google but find nowt suitable so far.

Thanks,

Nick.


We have two timber gates - one home made at the back, a bought one at
the front. (Mind the effort of cutting it down to the size we wanted
almost qualifies it as DIY.)

They don't self-close but one problem we had in common with self-closers
was getting the latch to close. People would usually close the gate, but
somehow the latch just missed out on, well, latching.

So I drilled a hole in the post behind the bit that the latch latches
onto and popped in a couple of rare earth magnets. They provide just
enough pull to ensure the latch does. But not enough to stop it falling
down as it should.

I was chuffed that it worked as well as it did. And if the Victorians
beat me to it, at least they couldn't have done it with the neat little
magnets I had available. Worked well enough on the front for me to do
the same on the back gate.

--
Rod