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Sam built these DIY garden bed cages to protect their crops from deer, squirrels, and birds. The enclosures are made with off-the-shelf electrical conduit and Maker Pipe Connectors. In this article, we'll break down the design, materials, and techniques so you can recreate the frames and protect your garden and hard earned crops!
Building with EMT Conduit and Maker Pipe Connectors is easy because you can cut and assemble custom steel frames with simple hand tools. This build also utilizes some accessories that will require you to do some drilling. Below is a list of tools that you'll need and a link to a tutorial if applicable. Before cutting conduit, I'd recommend that you watch from 3:32 and on in this video to learn some helpful info about making a cut list.
Frames made from electrical conduit and Maker Pipe Connectors are surprisingly capable especially when you reinforce them with bracing. That's why we created the 45 Degree Structural Connector. It functions similarly to the T Connector in the way that the top puzzle pieces interlock together and clamp around a piece of conduit that can run continuously through it.
A piece of conduit terminates inside the bottom half of the connector at a 45 degree angle. This simple bracing technique is a great way to reinforce the cage and keep it intact when bad weather rolls through! Sam added five angled braces throughout the frame with this method. You can put them in the same position or change them around depending on how comfortable you are with the frame and its rigidity. There's also an additional support that runs from the front to the back. This is simply done with two T Connectors as pictured below.
The goal with this garden cage is to keep out unwanted pests and animals but that doesn't mean you won't want or need easy access inside. The good news is you can fully customize the framework to your needs. This other builder even made it so the entire sides flip up and out of the way! Sam took a more traditional approach by creating a double gate on the front of the enclosure.
Sam framed out their gates by adding a crossbar that is connected to the rest of the frame with two T Connectors on the ends. They then added two pieces of conduit that connect to the crossbar and travel downwards to grab onto the bottom of the frame with more T Connectors. As you can see there are two gates but you could customize the frame to only accommodate one!
Doing this step before building the gates will make it easy to figure out the measurements that you need to cut for them. The Drill Jig from NorthWoods Engineered makes it really easy to drill holes through conduit. You simply clamp it around the conduit and drill a pilot hole through both sides of the conduit using a 1/8" drill bit. Remove the Drill Jig and size up your drill to a 1/4" bit and drill through both of the conduit walls again.
Use a 7/16" wrench or socket to bolt the hinges in place. I'd recommend bolting the hinges to the main frame and then also installing the gate side piece of conduit as well so you can get the measurements easier and build the rest of the gate off of it.
The gates are essentially just two dimensional rectangles made with T Connectors in the corners that act as elbows. By installing the hinges first, you can just build these gates off of the piece of conduit that is attached to them which makes it a lot easier!
Next, you'll want to secure the frame to your garden bed if you haven't already. This can be done pretty easily with EMT Conduit hanger straps (we have them listed as mounting straps). You'll use some screws to secure them in place and then clamp them around the bottom horizontal pieces of conduit. It looks like Sam used four of them but you can add more if you like. Next, you can add your enclosure material of choice and secure it to the frame. I like to use metal zip ties for these kinds of things. Next, you can add a gate latch to secure your gates when they are closed. Sam didn't seem to include any in theirs but no worries, we have a roundup of eight different ideas that you can get some inspiration from!
Please don't hesitate to reach out if you're feeling stuck or if you have any questions about this build or any other ideas! Below is an inspiration gallery so you can see what else is possible with EMT Conduit and Maker Pipe Connectors. Thanks for stopping by and happy building!
