Build a sliding lift-and-pivot gate for easy access

摘要

Most track planners try hard to avoid duckunders, but sometimes we can't avoid them. Liftouts or swinging gates help, but liftouts can be clumsy to handle and stow, and swinging gates always present alignment challenges. Here's a simple self-aligning lift gate that my friend Lou Steenwyk designed. It's easy to operate and it stows conveniently, clear of traffic, against a table leg. This moveable bridge is fashioned from a side-mount steel drawer slide with a door hinge mounted across one end. The hinge is mounted underneath the bridge deck to create a right angle between the slide and the bridge. Opening the bridge is a matter of raising the hinged end so the free end of the span slides back, out of its landing pocket, and clears the benchwork. Then the bridge and the drawer slide can be lowered to their vertical stowed position against a leg, as shown in fig. 1.