Photo Room Divider Tutorial - Step 1

Tools for this step:

Carpenter square        Tape measure                      

                                                                                  

   

Chop Saw

 

Adjustable Clamp            Welder                           

 

Wheel Rim                                             Drill  

    

  

Materials for this step:

3/8" metal rod (We used approx. 48' per section total)
        Per section for this step:
1 - 12'
2 - 19"
Welding Rods
4X8 sheet of plywood (This can be an old used piece)
6 - 2X6  pieces of lumber (each 12" -18" long, again, this can be scrap)
2" Screws


Let's begin.

Make 4 of these sections, or as many as you want
your room divider to be wide. Ours are each
approximately 19" wide by 5' 4" tall, so 4 are about
6' 4" wide.

This step takes two people. Mark the center of the
12' piece of 3/8" rod. Place the mark at the top of
the wheel rim and clamp it at that point. Now, while one person stands on the rim to keep it from moving, the other person bends the rod around the rim until the
sides are parallel. Be sure to OVER BEND, because
it will go out some when you let go. Remove the clamp  from the rod and place on a sheet of plywood.
Excuse the dirty clothes. We do not work in dress clothes.

Now you will make a jig or frame so that all your pieces
are uniform. Make sure you use the section with the
shortest side, because that will determine the height of
your room divider.
To do this, we started by screwing a 2X6 board square
to the top of the sheet of plywood. Bring the curved rod
to the bottom of this board and start working down one
side of the rod, screwing a board square to the side of
the plywood sheet.
A plywood sheet should have manufactured sides, so it
should be square. Do one more board on that side, then
move over to the other side, making your boards square
to the top board. Make sure the top boards are the same
distance apart as the bottom boards.  Finally screw the
last board across the bottom, in line with the bottom of the
shortest side of the rod. Make sure this board is square to
both the bottom side boards.

Next, measure the space just below where the rod starts to go straight and cut a piece of rod to fit between. Mark this place with a marker right on the plywood, square to the sides. If you've squared it up right, the space at the bottom should be the same.
Put the top rod in at your mark and weld. Put the bottom rod in up against the bottom board and weld. After the welding has cooled, cut off any overhang on the chop saw.

Here's a pic of my line on the plywood. In all subsequent sections, the top of the rod will be placed at the bottom of the line. This will make all the sections very close to the same.

So, this is what we have done so far. They look pretty  
even. The last one is on a different board, so it looks lower. We are well pleased with our project so far,

That's enough for step 1. The next step will be a lot of
cutting and welding.