"Dragon Gate" Built From Scrap Iron Parts

Dragon Gate Built From Scrap Iron Parts AG WORLD Paul Cassidy may have the most interesting driveway gate we’ve ever seen A 15-ton 50-ft long metal dragon opens and closes its manure hose reel wings with a solar-powered 12-volt DC motor operated actuator     “I wanted to have a gate that nobody had ever seen before The wings bifold – like a marker arm on a large planter – and you can open the gate with a keypad ” Cassidy says It took some planning He made a 1/40th-scale model and used counterbalance and springs from an old combine to make it work since the actuator can only handle 50 lbs     The dragon is a creative blend of scrap from tiling machines heavy equipment and farm equipment parts that the Eyota Minn excavator has accumulated     “The legs are tracks off a tile machine that are upside down That took some doing because they are not meant to bend that way ” Cassidy says “The head and snout is a traffic light; the crosswalk button is on the left side Eyebrows are rotary hoe wheels from a farm implement The teeth are excavator teeth The claws are subsoiler teeth Wings are made out of hose reels for manure hose The web of the wings is an old hay rake The tail is part of a tiling machine with added pieces of chain ”     Cassidy got into metal sculpture when he decided to teach his son Anthony to weld One project led to another and soon Cassidy was creating metal and granite furniture for his home and the dragon his first sculpture about 4 years ago The dragon sat in a field for a while until Cassidy decided to update it for a driveway gate     His second sculpture was a bee with 20-lb propane tank eyes and a head and tail made out of pressure tanks The body came from overflow tanks used for underground fuel storage and the wings are expanded steel     “Besides excavating I scrap things out and clean up farms That’s where I get scrap iron I scrapped a farm where the guy had five styles of tiling machines we scrapped out I kept the iron because it was so odd ”     As his excavating work has slowed down Cassidy has been doing more sculpting A lady expressed interest in a fish so he’s currently working on a 16-ft jumping fish It has a hook in its mouth with a lure that can be used as a swing     “I’m using old gold-colored galvanized sheet steel that has an iridescent look from old computer cabinets to form the body All the material I use is destined for the melting pot I don’t use anything new Even the bolts are salvage ” Cassidy says     He has plenty of project ideas and is open to other people’s ideas for commissioned work     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Paul Cassidy 7384 Collegeview Rd Eyota Minn 55934 ph 507 254-0815; paulcassidy68@gmail com

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