I'm now in the midst of producing the components of my portable bison handling system and have settled on a relatively efficient construction process that allows me to produce three panels at a time.
Before discussing the panel construction process I will first describe the panels themselves. The basic free-standing panels (visible standing upright in the above photograph) consist of six 24-foot-long horizontal rails, two five-foot-long vertical end pieces, and two six-foot-long vertical legs.
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| A pile of panel legs with "ankles" attached. |
The legs are made from a heavier gauge steel than the rest of the panel because they bear the weight of the panel when it is standing upright. Welded to the bottom end of each of these legs is a short length of steel tube that is of a greater diameter than the tube used for the rest of the panel. I refer to this part of the panel as the "ankle" as, when a panel is stood upright, a six-foot-long piece of steel tube "foot" will be slid into the large diameter "ankle," which, connected to the panel legs, keeps the panel from falling over.
The following is a description of the panel production process.
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| The top and bottom rails for three panels clamped to the guide panel. Note the three end pieces below the guide panel. |
The first step in this process is to weld the top and bottom horizontal rails to the panel end pieces to form a giant rectangle. Using the
panel rack described in my previous blog post, I first position an already completed corral panel at the bottom-most level of the rack (the panel is laying down when on the rack). This completed panel serves as a guide for producing the other three panels, which saves a lot of time. When the guide panel is in position I next align and clamp three of the long panel rails to the top of the guide panel and three to the bottom (see above photograph).
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| These photograph show the end pieces for each panel being progressively attached. I forgot to take a photograph with the last end piece in place. |
The next step is to weld the end pieces to their corresponding top and bottom rails. Only the inside and outside seams of each joint will be welded at this point to avoid welding any of the three separate panels together.
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| In this photograph two of the partially built panels are visible resting on the ground to the left of the guide panel while the third panel is propped on the top of the panel rack. |
Once the end pieces have been attached, the next step will be to attach two legs to each panel. Before I can do this, however, I will need to place each panel in its proper position in the rack. Each of the partially built panels is lifted up and off of the rack and then placed back on the rack in the proper position. This is required because the rack was designed to hold the panels facing alternating directions for better balance. While this part of the process may seem cumbersome, it is definitely easier to do this earlier on in the building process when the panels weigh considerably less and can be repositioned by hand. Once completed each panel will weigh over 300 pounds and need to be moved with the tractor's front-end loader.
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| The panels properly positioned on the rack. |
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| On the day I was photographing panel production a V-22 Osprey flew overhead. I've never seen one of these fly over the ranch before. |
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| The panel legs clamped into position and ready for welding. |
After being clamped into position, the panel legs are then welded to the top and bottom rails of their respective panels.
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| The remaining rails being slid into position. |
Once the legs have been attached to the top and bottom panel rails, the rest of the panel rails are slid into place and then welded. At this point I'm nearly done with the three panels. The only things that still need to be attached are the gusset chain latches, which are easier to weld when the panel is vertical.
My current corral design calls for thirteen panels of this design and six panels of a modified design. There are also plans for eleven gates of varying sizes. I will post more on this topic as the project progresses.
