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ramp build, a rough guide. |
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RAMP BUILD, A LOOSE GUIDE ON HOW TO.
Following is a rough guide on how to make a ¼ / ½ pipe as cheaply and quickly as possible, it is not necessarily the best or most professional way but it is without doubt the easiest and cheapest, Firstly I must add the following disclaimers.
1, if you use these instructions to build yourself a ramp and fall off it and hurt yourself this is your fault and you need more practice (I accept no responsibility)
2, site theft is a crime for which you will be prosecuted. (But only if you’re caught so look out for all available shuttering ply and scaffold tube) Ok formalities dispensed with, so on with the build, the ramp in question was built for my mate’s son (any remarks on this giving away my age will be totally ignored) for his birthday, I think the total cost was about £60 but this includes borrowed/reclaimed items, all the metal work and the paint / wood stain etc. I’ve not listed sizes of materials as I go on through the build but will put a list at the end of the article.
First job is transition; I’ve heard lots of argument about the perfect transition and seen a lot of plans for such, all math’s and measurements blah blah and so on and so on. It’s all a load of bollocks, the right transition is the one you want. It’s your ramp so who apart from you can say it’s wrong. To achieve your transition all you need is your first piece of ply and a pencil.
Lean the full sheet of ply against the wall take a bendy length of anything (wood, metal, plastic) and bend it to the shape you want. You will need help with this as you can’t bend and mark at the same time, (see first pic for real time transition marking). My criteria was to match the ramp to the left of the door at our local skate park, I know this ramp so no problem. Take as many attempts as you need, we had three before the transition looked right.
Now you have your transition and your basic ramp size, (use the full sheet of ply as it will make both the ramp and platform). Cut out the basic shape using a jigsaw. If you can, get your hands on a quality jigsaw clamp two sheets of ply together and cut them together to get both sides the same, otherwise cut one then use it to mark out the other side.
Once you’ve cut both sides its time to decide how wide you want it for this one it was five and a half feet this was purely because I had one and a half foot of ply left over from another job so it meant only buying the other four foot. Cut a couple of cross members at the desired length stand up your sides and fix them together using the cross members, positioning of the cross members is not important at this time (just get the sides up) you can always move them later.
Right now we’re frying with fossil fuel, cut a shit load of cross members (or as many as you need) measure the gaps between them (around 200mm is good) and fit them in place, be sure at this point to measure corner to corner of both sides to make sure your baby is nice and square. Also at this point your ramp can go one of two ways you can either fit the cross members flush to the top of the ply sides or measure down the depth of your ramp facing wood so it sits flush inside the sides, the first way you will have to get the jigsaw cut perfect or you will have gaps where the ramp face meets the sides, but this way will be stronger, the second way means you can cover any gaps with a strip of metal (or some other trim) as this was going for a birthday we opted for the pretty way.
Note at this point the larger different colour cross member at the bottom, this is because ply wood was not designed to be bent out of shape and as you get to the bottom it will put force to the centre and if the cross member is not big enough it will warp and make the entry section bow. The reason it’s a different colour is because it is pressure treated, you do not have to have this, but remember it’s touching the floor, under pressure, and will collect water, so if it isn’t it will rot and warp very quickly.
Got everything in place, good. Now comes the need for help (be careful who you choose as they will use it as an excuse to use your ramp for eternity), take a full sheet of ply (for this ramp we use a double skin) of whatever thickness you’ve got for your face and fix it to the top cross member and almost touching the coping rail, get all your helper monkeys to help you bend it down whilst scewing/nailing it to the various cross members, when you get to the bottom trim it to size and add any further bits that need to make up the space (see pic).
Ah wallah we have a ramp, providing you don’t want to use the platform, which is easily dealt with, when you make your cross members add a few more to the cutting list and fix them across the top, this will give you a frame to fit your platform to, nothing ever works out perfect (especially if your using any reclaimed wood) so use an over size piece of wood and simply lay it in place and mark round it rather than try to measure it.
Now you have a basic ramp, on this one there was only two of us building it so we went for a double skin 6mm face rather than trying to bend something to thick on our own. Also it is wise to board across the back section as this will add untold strength to the ramp, we left off the back as the recipient was only 9yrs old and it looked like it might make a cool den when it rained.
After we added the next facing layer (no need to show this) it was just a case of staining the ramp and fitting all the metal trim which is simply screwed into place. Now you have a ramp well a ¼ pipe anyway, following is how to build a ½ pipe.
Make two of these and put a ply frame between them!!
Sorry but what did you expect rocket science?
Additions
1, Coping Rail
When we cut the ply sides we also cut the profile for the rail to sit in, this is not always necessary as you can fit it between the sides and simply screw it to the top cross member or add a cross member purely for this purpose,
2, material size.
When it comes to material sizes it all comes down to what you can lay your hands on, ideal is 18mm marine ply for the sides and the same for the face with 75 x 50 (minimum) tanalised timber for the cross sections all topped of with galvanised steel entry section and rail??
BACK IN THE REAL WORD, all this shit is expensive so substitute whatever you can with whatever you can, shuttering ply has almost the same characteristics as marine but at a lower cost (this can also be rescued from your local site), but remember to stain or treat it as it will develop mildew, and no one wants a mouldy ramp. Scaffold tube makes ideal coping and can undoubtedly be rescued along with your ply. The cross members are a little less important although anything less than 50 x 50 is pushing for a disaster and 50 x 50 is living dangerous, but if all you’ve got is small add more if all you’ve got is large then ain’t you the boy, or a mix up is fine as long as its strong enough.
The entry section is more of a problem as flat plate steel is not readily available to the urban forager, best bet is to go around your local engineering firms, pick the back street small time ones, these blokes may look like Fred Dibbna on acid, but they have made a living on one off products and their own ingenuity, so once you tell them what your doing they will fall over themselves to help you (listening to their stories is all part of the process).
3, Fixings.
Screws and glue are without doubt the best as if you do make a slight error you can remove the screws and move the offending part (providing you notice it before the glue set’s). The cheaper alternative is of course the good old nail, but be warned, the only type of nail you can get away with using is a ring nail, these are nails with a barb like rings along the length of the shaft, the main problem with these is that once there’re in there’re in, if you try to pull one out it will destroy all the surrounding wood so be careful to get it right first time.
List of tools and wood
Wood & Fixings
- Sides, 2 sheets 18mm ply (marine, structural or wbp)
- Cross members, 50mm x 50mm (absolute minimum)
- Facing ply, 1 sheet 12mm or 2 6mm (minimum)
- Platform, 18mm or 12mm ply
- Scews, 1 ½ 10g / Nails 2’ ring sheradised
- Coping, scaffold tube or similar (2’ gas is good)
Tools
- Good jigsaw
- Circular saw (hand if not)
- Hammer
- Cordless drill/driver
- Tape measure (important)
Helpful pointers:
If you have never built a ramp before go with the 2 skin option when facing your ramp, as when you first do it anything that can go wrong will, but it doesn’t matter how much you screw up the first layer as the second will cover it and hopefully you wont make the same mistakes again. Unless you have access to an account at a wood merchants Wicks is the cheapest place to buy ply, bar none. If you are building a nice wide one it is advisable to cut a third side section, notch out where the cross members will go and fix it in the middle of the ramp for added support. If you have no luck sourcing the meal components give me a ring and I’ll send you out the sizes you need at cost price (eryc only).
As a final point I would like to add that I wrote this article over several late nights after a few glasses of vino tinto so I make no apologies for spelling mistakes, bad grammar or any non understandable instructions, good luck, ED. EdsRails.com |
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 7:27 am |
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Well i've already read this baby a few times, so i can say that it is infact a good read and very helpful.. so if you've just clicked on the link and are just reading through the comments... i suggest you go back to the top and continue back down, Slowly.
Excellent Article Eddie, not sure if i have it in me to make one though, so i'll just have to catch you on your coffee break and i'll buy one off you.
Want to buy an EdsRail product? here's what some happy customers have said.
"Hey, the rails here" - Daf.
"Cool" - Everyone Else.
Still not impressed? Try it yourself at EdsRails.com. Don't be a bender, Buy a grind rail that wont! (or ramp) |
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 12:59 pm |
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How much would I love a ramp in my garden? How much would I love a garden? How much would I love the pictures in Eddies blindingly worded article to work? How much??
A lot.
Nice one Eddie the Ed |
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| Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 3:08 am |
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| i might just try that for my house |
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 4:47 pm |
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| What.. to live in? Haha.. |
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| Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 5:11 pm |
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| sweet but i did what bam did i turned my house into a ramp house. |
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| Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 12:17 pm |
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| This is the best guide i have ever seen to making a ramp weather it being a quarter or a half pipe, brilliant work dude. |
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 8:38 pm |
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i cant remember... i think it was on a music video or something but there was this huge group of people and they turned this house into a giant skate-park-house-thing, and every inch of it had something to do with skating... either a ramp, the graffiti all over the place or an empty beer can with a passed out skater next to it... and an empty pool outside!! oh how i would love that for my house...
and i just remembered but couldnt be bothered to delete stuff... i think it was on extreme sports about a skate tour or on mtv.. about a skate tour...
i'll shut up now |
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| Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 12:42 am |
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| I'm actually thinking of putting a mini ramp in my bedroom, but I'm worried about the height. |
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