Turnbuckle System for Small Dog Gate

We have two Miniature Schnauzers who love to greet whoever rings the front door bell. However, most of the time we would like to keep them down the side hallway and away from the front door. I installed an open rail gate in the hallway (see http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/h...dog-gate-37959 ).
I recently added a homemade turnbuckle for additional support to the 58” X 22” gate. The turnbuckle system is made from 0.125” dia. 316 stainless steel rod and C360 brass rod.

Attachment 11289

The knurled turnbuckle is approx. 3/8” x 2” and threaded with right hand and left hand 6-32 internal threads for adjusting the rod tension. I normally do a much better job when knurling steel parts but not so with this brass knurling. I don’t have but could use flood coolant or spray misting system to carry the fine brass dust away so it does clog the knurling.

Attachment 11290

The turnbuckle rods with 6-32 threads are threaded into swivel caps. The swivel caps are attached with 8-32 hex cap head screws to ½” dia. X 1.5” brass rods and these are attached with #6 x 1” wood screws to the gate frame. The brass caps allow the 0.125” dia. stainless steel rods to adjust to the correct angle while the turnbuckle is tightened.

Attachment 11291

Attachment 11292

Below are photos of making the turnbuckle, connecting rods, and swivel cap connctors.

Attachment 11293Attachment 11294Attachment 11295

Thank you for looking,

Paul Jones

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Thanks Paul Jones! We've added your Dog Gate Turnbuckle System to our Miscellaneous category,
as well as to your builder page: Paul Jones's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

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Very nicely done, I find it amazing that when you see a knurled piece it gives it that 'manufactured" look. I like it
brian

Brian,
I too like the look of knurling and then jazzing it up with machining some thin grooves that expose a clean surfaces. I use the NIKCOLE Mini-Systems™ to do the grooving (the turnbuckle grooves 0.051" wide). NIKCOLE sell all types of grooving, cut-off and radius carbide inserts that fit in their tool holders. The best part is the AR Warner HSS AISI T-15 inserts also fit the NIKCOLE tool holders and these can take a lot more abuse. The T-15 inserts are super tough for machining extreme materials like titanium alloys, Inconel, and Waspalloy. One drawback with the NIKCOLE inserts is to remember to start cutting the groove slowly feeding in before speeding up the in-feed or risk chipping the tip (the carbide inserts are not cheap!). Thanks for the feedback.
Paul