Urban Screen Door
There's a neighborhood legend about the security door that was on my house. It involves a BB gun, a broken window, and an angry grandson. I've heard it told a couple different ways, but all the versions end with one really big guy trying to get at somebody through that door. And so the door wasn't really straight when it became mine. The ten or so coats of latex paint might have been weighing it down a little too. Worst of all, the bars kept the angry grandson out, but they let flies in.
I wanted to make the urban equivalent of the New England summer screen door--a way to keep out the unwanted, while letting the fresh air in. So, I started with cheap-ish security door from Lowe's, and then modified from there to add a little style. I chose the simplest door I could find, and cut away the additional decorations, leaving simple bars behind. The new "screen" is perforated steel sheet. The holes are large enough to see through, but small enough to keep flies out. I used Solidworks to draw the letters and had them laser cut from steel. To get the kerning/leading right, I made a 1:1 printout of the CAD as a layout guide, then glued the letters in place with metal-reinforced epoxy. Unfortunately, the build-up pictures were lost in The Great iPhone Crash of 2014, but here's the final result.
FWIW, I'm on good terms with that particular grandson. He gave the new door his approval. There's some neighborhood pride here on Alabama Street.