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Locking it down fits to a T

This quick project was about locking a gate with a unique setup. The easy solution was wrapping both sides of the gate with a strong chain and padlock. We selected Abus Padlocks with re-keyable Schlage lock cylinders.

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Looking more closely at the situation, the large rolling gates had metal plates welded to them that should be more useful.

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Our solution was finding some t-shaped steel bar, which exists and was ordered online cut to length. We don’t usually work with metal and lack tools for it.

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A drill press and 1/2” twist bit was used to bore the hole for the padlock shackle. Then we hit all the edges with a coarse Dremel sanding wheel to remove any burrs.

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Here’s a test fit of the steel piece through the gate plates.

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We flipped it around to the operating position and installed the padlock.

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Results

Overall, the solution is very clean and we’re happy with this version. The fit makes using bolt cutters on the shackle awkward. They’d have to get through 1/4” cold-rolled steel with a grinding wheel to free the lock which is loud and throws showers of sparks.

Improvements

  1. The raw steel needs painted to protect it from the elements

  2. The t-bar should be secured to one side of the gate with a chain so we don’t lose it or drop it while working the gate.