The install of the Zia starts by drawing three circles
centered on the panel. The two inner
circles are the inside and outside of the center Zia circle. The outer circle is my reference line for
setting the 16 bars or rays around the center circle.
I started the Zia install with the four rays shown in the
top rendering. The bottom left photo has
the cross piece and guides set in place that were used to draw the center
line. The red arrow points to an added
¼” wide spacer that’s highlighted. This
spacer is used to locate the first ray in the bottom center photo. Note the curved bottom of the ray is set to
the outer circle drawn previously. Next
a ½” wide spacer is added to locate where the far-left ray goes, right photo. After this test assembly the rays are glued
and pin nailed in place with stainless steel pins.
Once the two sets of short rays are installed the long
rays are next following the same process as the short rays. The top photo shows two of the rays
(highlighted) along with the locating spacers (red arrows) that insure an
accurate repeatable placement of them.
Once all the rays are installed the center circle gets glued and nailed
in. The bottom photo shows the completed
Zia. One done and three more to go.
Here is what the gates look like with all four Zia’s
completed. You’ll have to take my word
that the back side is done too. 😊
Cleaning up the previously routed interior corners is
next. The red circle in the drawing
shows the intersection and the right top photo is a close view. To give an idea of the relative size of the
area worked on a dime is set next to the joint.
In the bottom left photo reference lines are added and a sharp chisel
has made a cut where the intersecting radiused edges meet. In the bottom center photo, the chisel has
been used to rough out the arc. Next a
small file is used to round and smooth the surfaces and last some 220 grit
sandpaper blends everything together while leaving a sharp intersection line
where the two curved surfaces come together.
The first one took about 15 minutes to do as I was trying different methods
to get an efficient process since there are 32 of these to do. After a little practice I did get it down to
less than 2 minutes each.
With all the radiused corners done adding a matching
radius to the outside edges is next.
It’s done with the same router and bit used for the inside edges which
had been set aside after the inside edges were routed.
At this point the gates are set in the existing wall
opening and using a lot of clamps, spacers, wedges and shims they are adjusted
to be plumb, level and square. To our
surprise the gates fit the opening with very little shimming required. There was a tiny bit of shimming needed along
the bottom jamb but that’s because they are a little bowed out of plumb
there. With the gates fitted to the
opening reference lines are added from the existing pockets to where the hinges
in the gates need to be cut in so they exactly align with the hinges in the
existing jambs. That’s done by using an
adjustable machinist square to transfer their location to the doors while they
were still shimmed in place. 
The owner decided to use stainless steel hardware to
prevent rusting and to match the brushed nickel used on the rest of the
house. He did run into a problem in
locating exterior hardware that’s actually made from stainless steel and not
just plated with a “stainless” looking finish.
Once purchased I used one of the new hinges to make a jig (top
photo). The small router along with a
top bearing bit cuts the width and length of the pocket. Adjusting the depth of cut so the face of the
hinge leaf ends up flush with the gate finishes the setup. The bottom photos are of the router and
bit. The red arrow points to the bearing
that rides against the jig whose outer edge matches the cutting edge.
Before cutting the pockets in the gate stiles, I used some
cutoffs from the project to do a test assembly using the new stainless-steel
hinges. Unfortunately, the gap between
the jamb and the stile was considerably less than with the original
hinges. This would have caused one of
the gates to hit the brick cap on the courtyard wall as shown below. 
Not wanting to try and cut the brick or do anything to it
the only other option is to move the gate away from the jamb. To do that instead of cutting a pocket in the
gate for the hinges they will be surface mounted which moves the gate the
thickness of the hinge leaf away from the brick. Using the reference lines penciled in earlier
for the top and bottom limits of the existing jamb pockets I used the jig that
had been designed to cut the pockets to mark the outline of the hinge for their
mounting locations. 
With that done the hinge can be clamped in place, pilot
holes drilled and the hinge installed using two of the four screws. If everything fits up when the gate is
attached to the jamb the other screws will be added. If not, then the gate can be adjusted and the
other two screws can be used. The
original holes would then be plugged and the screws reinstalled in their new
location. 
The gates are then mounted in place with the hinges set
in the existing jamb pockets and fortunately they all fit perfectly with no
relocation needed. When checked the
surface mounting provided a sufficient gap between the brick and the gate shown
in the photo below solving that problem.
With the doors in place, we checked the fit of the latch
throw or moving part of the latch (red arrow) and found it is too short to securely fasten
the door. This means that
the gap between the gates needs to be reduced.
To do that requires a thin piece of wood to be glued onto the jamb
edge of the left gate. Not the news I was anticipating at this point in the project.
Next Up – Adding Edge Extension, Installing Latch Assembly, Strike Plate & Astragal
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