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Help me build my woody (or, you build, I pay)


Dizzy

6-Sep-2009
1:51:59 PM

Hi,

Earlier this year I started a post somewhat misleadingly titled "Anchoring a top rope at home" (sorry,
not sure how to link through to the post from here), which probably should've been called "I want to
build a woody and don't know where to start." Thanks to all who replied, pretty much every reply
helped me work out what I want to build.

I'm now looking to start construction and it's dawned on me that while I could probably build the woody
(particularly if somebody held a gun to my head and said "build a woody"), I would thereafter certainly
spend most nights lying awake wondering "did I do that right?" or "what if I didn't use the rights widgits,
will it collapse in a heap and crush the kids?" As it is, I haven't had much sleep over the last 5
months since kid #2 arrived, and I don't need another reason to stay awake at night.

So, I'm thinking I'm better off engaging somebody who knows what they're doing (such as a carpenter,
or somebody who really knows what they're doing and has built one of these things before). Before I go
out to the wide world of tradies, I thought I'd put it out to the Chockstone community to see if there are
any carpenters, or people who have built a woody and back themselves in to be able to build another
one that doesn't collapse and crush my kids, who are interested in a paying job to build a woody. The
woody will be a 3 panel (ie, 3.6m high, 2.4m wide) free standing vertical woody. I'd like to discuss
hingeing, or setting one panel at an angle, but in my plans for the woody I was going to build I settled
on a vertical panel due to my limitations as a builder.

PM me if you are interested in the job, or can recommend somebody who would be interested in the
job, and we can discuss $$$, availability, getting the bits and pieces together etc. I'm in North Fitzroy
and the job can be done any day of the week. Keen to get started sooner rather than later.

Hopefully somebody out there can help and wants the job.

Cheers,

Dylan.


arniearms

6-Sep-2009
4:58:19 PM

If ur looking for some idea's and know how, there's a book published by FALCON guides, How to Climb: Building Your Own Indoor Climbing Wall
by Ramsay Thomas. RRP about $15.


D.Lodge

6-Sep-2009
7:48:38 PM

Have done a few dizzy, not that hard, get in and have a crack it's good for ya


Phil Box

7-Sep-2009
8:04:04 AM

You could also post pics of your updated progress for us to critique and correct as necessary. You'll be fine, what could possibly go wrong.


evanbb

7-Sep-2009
8:18:59 AM

You can save money by using masonite, rather than expensive ply.

BTW, what mm ply are people using? I ended up w/12mm, but lots of spars supporting it. No trouble so far.

J.C.

7-Sep-2009
8:55:51 AM

I've built several climbing walls & woodies & I'd be happy to help out when I get to Melbourne in November if you're still interested. Email me at photosATjoshcaple.com

-J.


Pat

7-Sep-2009
9:10:43 AM

Built my own with a few tips from Phill Box and Boardlord. It was easy. Come and have a look at mine if
you want to get a look at how its done. I built something 4 times as big as your plan very easily. Happy
to help in any way to pass on what I got from this forum. What ever you do - do as Phil advised me -
don't over engineer it - just build it well for the job that you want it to do. PM me if you want.

One Day Hero

7-Sep-2009
12:55:22 PM

Yeah, I've always found building woodies to be heaps more fun than training on them. In either case you won't get anywhere on your own, the motivation provided by mates is vital to building and training. If you don't have a crew coming over to train, you will never use the thing and there's no point building. If you do have people psyched to train, involving them in the planning and building process will promote a feeling of shared ownership (and they're less likely to bitch about the design, angle, holds)

Paying another man to build your woody is much like paying someone to cook your meat on your bbq........it might lead to a better product but you'll miss out on a good experience and be perceived by your friends as less of a man!

mikl law

7-Sep-2009
1:38:23 PM

WARNING, WILD GENERALIZATIONS TO FOLLOW-
Generally wooden structures have unacceptable deformations long before they break. If it doens't flex too much, it will never break. You can always reduce flex by tieing them back to the walls more, either with old rope, or with an extra beam. Having largish beams helps, 30 x 70 mm would be the minimum, the depth is the critical dimension (I would prefer 90 mm).

The real issue is how strong are the walls you are tieing the structure to ? If it's in a garage you can also tie into the ceiling beams. If you live somewhere "floppy" you might even need to make some bracing on the outer edges of the woody, like an A frame.
Push the wall hard and see what happens.
The ceiling genrally supports the top of a wall well for side load.
Don't expect a few dynabolts to hold well in old houses, the bricks can just pull straight out of the wall, if you need to dynabolt to the wall, bolt a longish beam to the wall, and tie the structure back to this, or bolt through the wall to a beam on the outside to spread the load.


vwills

7-Sep-2009
7:42:43 PM

Building a woodie for dummies:

As it seems so simple can we go to step one (before getting ply):
if I have no tools, what power tools do I need to procure to construct a woodie?

devlin66

7-Sep-2009
8:10:01 PM

A drill and a circular saw would be handy.

Chipbutty

7-Sep-2009
9:13:32 PM

I say have a go, I built one with no prior experience or carpentry skills, I even used a hand drill. I found that the whole thing evolved from my original idea to become slightly more complicated but much better. I beggged borrowed and was donated the ply which saved alot of money, the rest I figured out as I went along, took me a while but was well worth it. A friend is thinking about getting someone to build him one but I reckon he will miss out on the journey!

NMcKinnon

8-Sep-2009
2:01:53 AM

I think One Day Here has it down. A home woody is boring unless you have some mates to train with. In North Fitzroy there must be a woody in every 2nd backyard anyway. Just look over your back fence and see how your neighbour built her wall.

One Day Hero

8-Sep-2009
11:00:11 AM

On 7/09/2009 vwills wrote:
>As it seems so simple can we go to step one (before getting ply):
>if I have no tools, what power tools do I need to procure to construct
>a woodie?

Cordless drill/driver is your number one friend.......without even bringing woody construction into it, how can you consider yourself a man if you don't own a drill?

I've built three woodies without a benchsaw, but it would be handy......the first one was done with a me-powered saw (trad woody, not recommended!)

My favourite woody tool is a bench mounted disc sander. It allows really fast shaping of holds from pine and MDF (wear lots of dust masks). Most woody makers take the soft option and pay for holds, but wooden ones are heaps better when well made and rounded off on the trusty discerator.


evanbb

8-Sep-2009
11:14:00 AM

I've just finished the extension to my woody, and used 2 drills (one for holes, one for driving things into holes), a circular saw, a hammer and a ring spanner (for coach bolts). Also used an electric plane, but it was hardly necessary.

widewetandslippery

8-Sep-2009
11:31:26 AM

Dizzy, Vanessa

ODH & Evan have given good advice. You want to have 2 drills. A strong cordless with posidrive and hex bits for fixing screws and a larger drill that has hammer as I'm sure in most cases some fixing into masonry will be needed.

Circular saw good idea, A drop saw is handy to, you can hire these things. Be ready to buy a new blade. For wooden holds, belt sander is great but a disc on a drill in a vice works. Make sure the drill in this case is a bunnings cheapy because you will cook it.

Bits and bolts. You will need drill bits that suit the bolts you by. By new bits with your bolts. In the grand scheme it won't add up much more, particuarly avoiding the emergency hardwere shop trip.

If you buy screws make sure you have the appropriate bits for the driver. Phillips and posi are different. Having the right bit will save heart ache at the end of the day.

Have hands on deck that are happy to stay out of the action until needed. Too many cooks etc. but screwing a sheet of ply onto the frame solo is painful.

Oh and a big hammer. They fix everything.

canbedone

8-Sep-2009
4:14:05 PM

Just thought I'd jump on board here. I'm about to build a systems / boulder board that I need to be able to fold up and out the way after every use. This also has the added advantage of variable angles to train on. I'm basing my plans of the Moon Board, so same size.

My problem is how to hinge it to the top of the kick board. There is quite a lot of weight so I’m thinking 2 sets of Gate hinges apposing. These are then bolted, not screwed to each section.

Will it work? I bl**dy hope so.

Have anyone else done soming like this?

8-Sep-2009
5:24:18 PM

yep i did this in my carport. when pushed up against the wall it only takes up about 30cm of the width of the carport - including the thin hard foam mats strapped on the front. so car can go in & out as normal. can be climbed on at any angle between vertical and 40 degrees. a kickboard adds unnecessary complexity imo. mine is just a big panel sitting on the floor via hinges. actually the hinges are screwed into bits of 2x4 which are bolted into the concrete floor. I just used domestic door hinges (heavy-ish duty) and ~50mm wood screws. they have been going fine for years. the attachment point to the wall at the top is via chains - you really want this point to be strong because the sideways forces are pretty huge when you drop it down to 40 degrees and start swinging around on it. you could literally rip the wall out.

I have considered some sort of swinging struts (~2m lengths of 2x4 would probably do) mounted to the board via some sort of axle at the top, with the bottom end hitting the floor and becoming load bearing legs when it's in the 40 degree position, to give the wall a break in the highest load position. haven't actually done it yet though.

like everyone else said, you'll hardly use it if you don't have mates come over

canbedone

8-Sep-2009
10:45:35 PM

Great thanks for the feed back. Yes the boys and girls are all coming over to train, and build.
My Garage floor is not quite level so I think adding the kick back will help square it all up. Need the tools for the job, Circular saw and hammer drill.
T nuts ,where can I buy them in bulk? What’s the standard size they use in gyms?

Freemo

10-Sep-2009
3:13:31 AM

Sounds like all woody builders encounter similar issues. I'm using 45mm x 70mm treated pine covered with 12mm ply. I'm making two panels, each consisting of a 30 x 180cm kickboard that'll be dyna-bolted to the back wall of my (rental) house transferring the load into the concrete path. Hinged to this using five 75mm hinges will be a 200 x 180cm panel. The upper panel will also be bolted to the wall - but when unbolted - will hang about 15 degrees out supported by chains into the roof trusses. I plan to use some posts set into the garden to support the woody when on more steep angles as I don't trust the chain-to-roof setup. One panel set is complete and is certainly strong enough so the design is good. I have some photos I'll post when I return to Oz in a fortnight. (Yep - I'm at 'work' in the US and have found an internet connection, fantastic).
I borrowed a mates circular saw and cut all the timber at one go. Other than the saw I've used a cordless drill as the frame is joined using 75mm 8-10 gauge screws. The hinges are attached with 50mm 10 gauge screws and the ply with 35mm 8 gauge screws. Another issue I discovered in the need to seal the ply as it absorbs water like a sponge (I used CD ply, not rich enough to buy marine ply). The water based sealer was pretty crap so I'd recommed a cheap polyurethane.

Cost = approx. $300 for timber and this gives 3.6m wide x 2.3m high climbing area

Cheers

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