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I Forge Iron

Driveway Marker Project Ideas


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Hey guys. I hope this is in the right place, and I hope you don’t feel like I am simply here on this forum for you to solve my problems and act like a sounding board.

But that is what this post is…

My family and I currently live in North Central Kansas on a rock road on the property of the church I am a pastor of. At the end of our driveway are two reflectors marking the width of the driveway so when it snows and is dark out, people don’t drive into the ditch. The markers are plastic pvc pipe with a reflector on top placed over some rebar stuck in the ground.

Early this spring someone hit a marker with the lawn mower and ever since, I have been dreaming of ways to use the tools and limited expertise I have to make something more elegant.

Recently, I came across some 3’ + lengths of 1 1/4 square bar at the scrap yard that I think would work well there! The only thing is: how to make this square bar reflective in an elegant way? 
 

Any and all thoughts welcome! Thank you!

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How hard would it be to get electricity to them? Is that an option? 

If not, i would design some sort of post in a shape. Maybe since it is a church 2 crosses for example. Get some reflectors and disassemble them so you have just the colored part. Attach those to the post. Since they are made of plastic they are also fairly easy to cut and different shapes can be made. A small bolt or screw can be used to attach them. Easy peasy, drill and tap a few holes. How many will depend on how complicated your design is. Use small bolts or screws and they would not even be seen in the day much less at night when reflecting light.  Forge some decorative elements like some scrolls and such that will only be seen in the day with one main element that will hold the reflectors.  

I would keep the design pretty simple. You want it to be a warning not a distraction. 

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Thanks guys! I had researched reflective tape, and even though it is used in heavy wear applications, like semi trailers, for whatever reason I felt like it would be too flimsy, or that it might get chewed up by rocks hitting it from the lawn mower.

But I hadn’t thought about disassembling or cutting reflectors to make the project work! Thanks Billy!

I had thought about crosses. Maybe it is because I am trying to reject what could be seen as cheesy Christianity, but that idea was thrown out of my mind pretty quick.

I am thinking of keeping it as simple as some kind of twist on the bar and the reflectors on top.

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Will, also, you can buy reflective paint.  I have seen it in white, red, orange, and yellow colors.  Try your local farm supply store.

In my experience these should be considered expendable because someone WILL hit them eventually.  I knew a place that was tired of having their mailbox hit and built one out of a heavy I beam and 1/4" plate set in about a cubic yard or so of concrete.  Within a few weeks a semi truck hit it and tore it out of the ground.  Really messed up the semi too.

G

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Attach springs to the bottom so it just lies down and them pops back up. 

The thing i have noticed, and this is just my experience and could have changed since, is that most reflective tapes and paints are no where near as reflective as an actual reflector. The reflection does not seem as much reflected light that is reflected at the vehicle. To reflect safety you need as much reflected light as possible to give the driver time to reflect on his chosen path and choose another.

We should reflect on that. 

(please read that in humor)

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16 hours ago, George N. M. said:

I knew a place that was tired of having their mailbox hit and built one out of a heavy I beam and 1/4" plate set in about a cubic yard or so of concrete. 

An argument in favor of having your mailbox on a rotating arm or suspended with chains from an overhead support.

On 12/4/2024 at 3:51 AM, BillyBones said:

Get some reflectors and disassemble them

The reflectors from the mudflaps of heavy trucks are a good option:

24 Inch Aluminum Reflector Top Plate Mud Flap Hangers

I picked one of these up from the side of the road and attached it to the rear basket of my bike, to good effect.

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Reflectors can be found in different shapes in hardware stores. They could easily be attached or incorporated into what you make. I personally would go look at them to maybe spark an idea on what to make. 

I like the spring base idea

If you found rectangular ones I don't think that cross shape reflectors would be too cheesy. 

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"An argument in favor of having your mailbox on a rotating arm or suspended with chains from an overhead support."

Back in the Paleolithic when I was an undergraduate there was a 24 hour cafe where folks would go after the bars closed.  The parking meter in front of the cafe was mounted on a big spring because it would get hit so often by folk who were impaired.

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I saw driveway marker's with solar powered walkway lights on top. They were very visible from a good distance and didn't depend on headlights hitting them. Should be easy to incorporate them with a forged marker post/pillar. The ones I saw were on brick pillars. 

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.~ Semper Paratus

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  • 2 weeks later...

Placement of the markers is important. Put the "retro-reflective" strips at the eye level of a driver in the low vehicle and extend it above pickup truck level. This will also put it at eye level of anybody pushing or driving a lawn mower. 

You can buy the red and white retro-reflective self adhesive strips John posted above at any auto supply, folks put them on anything they don't want backed into. You don't need to worry about debris thrown by a mower damaging these strips, mower flingage rarely gets more than a foot or two off the ground. Ricochets do happen but they aren't moving very fast after the bounce.

PVC pipe over a stake is a little wimpy but a 4"x4" looks impressive and will break away if you hit it with a motor vehicle and not do a lot of damage. Just don't sink it a couple few feet in the ground.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Off topic. I know it is rare but my neighbor was mowing his grass and hit a rock that came over my house and into my driveway. I am sure that he was mowing the ditch or somethin so that the mower was at an angle maybe but i saw it land in the middle of my driveway. It was also just a bit bigger than a golf ball. 

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