pipe fence

[ecoslik]

In November, square posts cost approximately 30% more than the round posts. I was buying 24' sticks of square and round and cutting them into 8' posts.

Put another way, if each round post requires 3 saddle cuts for 3 rail fencing, then the price increase of square posts to eliminate the the saddle cuts equals about $3 per saddle cut or $9 per post. Additionally, we used 12' rails instead of 8'. I went this route to eliminate enough of the skilled work so that I and the guys I hired could reasonably do the fencing work myself/ourselves as a total beginning welder(s). Plus, total project time is so much faster cutting rails with a chop saw then custom cutting saddles.

 

[Shield Arc]

You can use a small piece of angle iron, lay it on your pipe and mark a straight line. Clamp your pipe in a pipe vice or regular vice, use a centering head with a tri-square, (when bubble in vial is center) to make sure the line is right at 12:00 O'clock then place your coping pattern / template accordingly. Or you can use a Flange Wizard centering head with center punch to find 12:00 O'clock on the pipe.

 

[Shield Arc]

Here is a better picture, (well not of quality) of how I was trying to explain how to use a centering head with a tri square.

 

[tglass]

Here is a better picture, (well not of quality) of how I was trying to explain how to use a centering head with a tri square.

Exactly what I'm looking for. Where can I get one??

 

[Shield Arc]

Well this isn't a Starrett but it's a lot cheaper! :laughing:
DELUXE 12 " COMBINATION PROTRACTOR TRI-SQUARE MULTI-PUR - eBay (item 230584929421 end time Feb-21-11 16:20:01 PST)

Amazon.com: Starrett C434-12-16R 12-Inch Combination Set with Forged and Hardened Steel Square and Center Head: Home Improvement

 

[tglass]

Well this isn't a Starrett but it's a lot cheaper! :laughing:
DELUXE 12 " COMBINATION PROTRACTOR TRI-SQUARE MULTI-PUR - eBay (item 230584929421 end time Feb-21-11 16:20:01 PST)

Amazon.com: Starrett C434-12-16R 12-Inch Combination Set with Forged and Hardened Steel Square and Center Head: Home Improvement

That's what I need. Thanks, will order one.

 

[SandburRanch]

According to some thermal expansion figures, a 40 degree increase in temperature will lengthen the rails on a one mile pipe fence about 16 inches. Is there a common method in the pipe fence industry to compensate for expansion and contraction so the rail doesn't snake.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I never use expansion joints. Mostly because we have expansive clay soils around here. The expansion of the rails isn't the reason the fences move. The soils move houses and swimming pools, buckle roads, and generally can't be trusted.

I have four lines about 11 hundred feet I see almost every day. Their movement is vertical and that is all about the clay. I have one in sandy soil that has a couple of five hundred foot lines that are almost ten years old and are still nuts on. I've built them a half mile long in southern California and never had a problem.

Most of the snakey fences I know of, they kinda catch my eye, are because they were made by welders instead of fencemen.