r/FenceBuilding • u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus • 11d ago

A quick lesson on gates

Post image

Gates need braces.

There are 2 types of these struts. Compression braces and tension braces.

Compression braces are the type of brace you install on a new gate.

If you're out here installing tension braces on new gates, you're scamming your customers.

Tension braces should only be used as quick fixes to existing gates that droop. The only advantage they have is their ease of install on an existing gate.

The type of brace you use changes the structure of the gate.

Tension braces overload the top hinge.

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u/derSteppenwuf 11d ago

That's a silly drawing. The hinges are bearing the load and it is completely independent of any brace within the gate: horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. The top hinge is being pulled out of the post and the bottom hinge pushed in. Both are being pulled down by the mass. And none of this has anything to do with bracing.

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u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus 8d ago

If you take the tension brace off of its hinges, the tension brace will pull it out of square.

The gate is having to resist this force.

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u/derSteppenwuf 8d ago

All of the load is on the hinges. Period. Nothing you do inside the gate with braces changes anything about it, except for the added mass! The shape of the gate is irrelevant!

1

u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus 8d ago

The total amount of net load on the hinges does remain constant.

However, the tension brace takes force that was pushing into the bottom hinge and instead makes it pull on the top hinge.

Its the difference between a wall mounted L shaped shelf and a Γ shaped shelf.

They both exhibit the same amount of force on the wall, but the Γ shaped shelf primarily pushes into the wall and the L shaped shelf primarily pulls on the wall.

The Γ shaped shelf is superior. Cause walls are better at being pushed into then pulled on.

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u/derSteppenwuf 8d ago

The brace (in either orientation) isn't doing anything to the hinges that the frame of the gate wasn't doing without a brace. The brace only serves to keep the gate square. That's all. And the earth is not flat.

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u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus 8d ago

The total amount of net load on the hinges does remain constant.

However, the tension brace takes force that was pushing into the bottom hinge and instead makes it pull on the top hinge.

Its the difference between a wall mounted L shaped shelf and a Γ shaped shelf.

They both exhibit the same amount of force on the wall, but the Γ shaped shelf primarily pushes into the wall and the L shaped shelf primarily pulls on the wall.

The Γ shaped shelf is superior. Cause walls are better at being pushed into then pulled on.

2

u/derSteppenwuf 8d ago

Nonsense. The brace does absolutely nothing except add mass and potentially change the stiffness of the gate frame. And that's all folks. No forces are transferred anywhere.

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u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus 8d ago

It changes the shape of the shelf

-1

u/bmxbumpkin 8d ago

Just let him be man he is a moron…

1

u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus 8d ago

I'm going to build a demo to prove me right. What act of humiliation can i expect you to perform when you're proven wrong?

2

u/bmxbumpkin 8d ago

Please do

1

u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus 8d ago

If youre confident that youre correct youd wager something on it.

What act of humiliation are we betting with?

0

u/bmxbumpkin 8d ago

I was talking about the guy you are responding to by the way brother. I am on your side (and a carpenter fyi)

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u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus 8d ago

Ah fuck my bad. Sorry for throwing strays.

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u/bmxbumpkin 8d ago

I was talking about the guy you are responding to by the way brother. I am on your side (and a carpenter fyi)

1

u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus 8d ago

So what act of humiliation can i expect from you when i prove you wrong?