My 4ft / 3ft x 15ft mini

I have a quick question............how much flat should I be looking at having?

I was thinking 8-10ft. What do you lot think? Think 8ft is enough with out being too short or is 10ft too much?

7 foot tranny's
4foot high

I don't want this to be too slow, but I also want to allow for enough set-up time.

[Carl Arnfield]

pm woody

did a quick search and found this.

http://middle-age-shred.com/phpBB2_v2/viewtopic.php?t=11809

.....I think that I'm going to stick with the 10ft...........it sounds about right.

I have the space and the wood is in almost 10ft sections, so that's a sign.

fuck I want to skate.

[Carl Arnfield]

"a sign" LOL

from the skate gods?

"a sign" LOL

from the skate gods?

oh fuck off...........

Don't diss the skate Gods..........they are the do all and end all........I have a 1/2 finished ramp in my garden when 4 months ago my wife said fuck no, get another hobby..............they must be respected.

shit I talk a lot of rott when allowed to roam free.

[Carl Arnfield]

yes you indeed have MASitus ....

ok im fucking off

twatt!!!!!!!

[Carl Arnfield]

^^^^ indeed my friend

10ft will be fine dude... our place has 10ft of flat, 8ft trans 5'6 high, works nicely....

[Carl Arnfield]

thing is, if the flat is to short like (tim walker's) womble ramp used to be (before he rebuilt it) you dont get chance to get ready for the next trick / coping.

and it ends up like a frantic mess of arms and lack of balance

you do get used to it, but it aint fun to learn something new.

a frantic mess of arms and lack of balance

Sounds like my skating

[Carl Arnfield]

LOL sorry didnt mean single you out or anything LOL

I found a use for the surfboard shaped cut-outs left-over from the transitions.

I'm managing to get 1.5 meter cut outs from each one which will give me the thickness needed for the width of the center sections, this is great because I now save wood on this as well as finding a use for them besides ghetto/hobo garden furniture.

(update 18-02-2009) This idea doens't work, the wood is too thin and flexes like a mofo. Majority of the strength of ply comes in the fact that it's in big sheets, cut it down and so goes your strength. All was ripper out.


Crushed rock went in last night and the screed layer will go on today. Should be good to at least rest the center sections and transitions tomorrow.

Back on track. Pics to follow after the weekend. Had 3 days rain and the Carboneum is working a treat........

An Update: 16-02-2008.

Ran into some troubles. Rained on Friday, rained on Saterday, gorgeous day on Sunday, so I sent the wife out shopping and I pulled out the power tools. Cut myself 20 odd beams as well as the sides for the flatbottom.

Managed also to get the last crushed rock and concrete layed for the foundation, so at least that is out of my hair now.

I had the one flat section done within an hour, so I'm hoping to do the rest after work this week, so I can stay on target for starting the platforms over the weekend. Then paint the whole thing again with 2 coats of carboneum and then piss off on leave for two weeks. Then Surface.



I had to keep this lot wet as we had a serious bit of heat just after we layed it. Ended up mixing 15 wheelbarrows of crete for the top of this thing.

1 of four flat bottom sections in, (missing one beam, cause wife came home early).



I was surprised how fucking heavy these flat bottom sections were, I'm glad that I decided to split it up into 4 parts, otherwise doing this by myself would have been a joke.



Now I've started the search for a decent surfacing material, I cannot for the love of God get 11mm ply wood, we have two choices, 6mm which I have 6 sheets of and 18mm, which are waaaaaay too thick.

Or try and make something else work. Any suggestions?

[Carl Arnfield]

... so it's still NOT finished .... tut tut

... so it's still NOT finished .... tut tut

*shuffles feet*....erm nope.............

I should have started this thing in winter, at least then I wouldn't of had the rain to deal with.

[Carl Arnfield]

no rain in winter ?

thats so not england LOL

no rain in winter ?

thats so not england LOL

No rain, no snow, no nothing..............not much cold as well.

2 sheets of 6mm per layer might be ok if you can whack down a base layer of crappy ply, 2 on their own might just be a little to flexy...

2 sheets of 6mm per layer might be ok if you can whack down a base layer of crappy ply, 2 on their own might just be a little to flexy...

Only downside with using 6mm ply is that it's about £40 a sheet and I need 8 just to do 1 layer..........I can't even get crappy ply over here, we don't get it in SA.

I was told to try using 18mm ply cut into stips of about 10cm and attaching them vertically and then covering with a layer of 6mm as a final cover........I'm going to try this with 1 or two strips and see if it bends enough.

2 sheets of 6mm per layer might be ok if you can whack down a base layer of crappy ply, 2 on their own might just be a little to flexy...

Only downside with using 6mm ply is that it's about £40 a sheet and I need 8 just to do 1 layer..........I can't even get crappy ply over here, we don't get it in SA.

I was told to try using 18mm ply cut into stips of about 10cm and attaching them vertically and then covering with a layer of 6mm as a final cover........I'm going to try this with 1 or two strips and see if it bends enough.

Yeah we were lucky when we built our new place as we had a shedload of of stuff from our old ramp.

If you can get the 18mm to work then its should be fine....good luck with it!!!

2 sheets of 6mm per layer might be ok if you can whack down a base layer of crappy ply, 2 on their own might just be a little to flexy...

Only downside with using 6mm ply is that it's about £40 a sheet and I need 8 just to do 1 layer..........I can't even get crappy ply over here, we don't get it in SA.

I was told to try using 18mm ply cut into stips of about 10cm and attaching them vertically and then covering with a layer of 6mm as a final cover........I'm going to try this with 1 or two strips and see if it bends enough.

Yeah we were lucky when we built our new place as we had a shedload of of stuff from our old ramp.

If you can get the 18mm to work then its should be fine....good luck with it!!!

Lucky Sod, I was telling Carl that everyone over here builds with steel or concrete, no wood used, so it's hard to score old stuff.

I hope it works.

Got my other flat section done yesterday, only two to go now.

Also found out that you can use 18mm plywood for surfacing. 10cm wide bent with no problems, noises etc. So I went 20cm wide and it still worked with no issues. I wasn't going to go any wider than that. What's great about this is that one person can lay all of the surface and bend everything no problems, plus also no issues with missing the beams and marking lines when attaching it.

This is great news as now I can use 18mm ply as my surface, treat it with Carboneum, then once it's all on, I'll do the final covering in a specially treated 6mm plywood for final cover that will be sanded to be super smooth.

6 more beams needed as well as 6 sheets of 18mm ply and I'll be up to final surface. By Friday afternoon if it doesn't fucking rain, I'll be done with the framing. Stay tuned.

I'll do the final covering in a specially treated 6mm plywood for final cover that will be sanded to be super smooth.

Personally i'd try and leave the natural grain unspoilt dude, you'll lose any grip you may have else... Just a thought...

good work on the 18mm stuff, lodged that in my memory for any future builds, you'll have a proper solid ramp for sure.....

I'll do the final covering in a specially treated 6mm plywood for final cover that will be sanded to be super smooth.

Personally i'd try and leave the natural grain unspoilt dude, you'll lose any grip you may have else... Just a thought...

good work on the 18mm stuff, lodged that in my memory for any future builds, you'll have a proper solid ramp for sure.....

The treatment has a blend of sealant and something else that I've been told to try. They reckon it's got the same finish as tempered masionite. I'm going to try a small section and see if I like the finish.

On another update, I got in 2 hours last night only to find out that my money saving techniques on the side flat sections didn't work as the 18mm ply bends too much, so I undid 2 days of work and started new flat sections, 3m long x 1.5 wide. I couldn't bring it upon myself to do the whole lot and then once resurfaced pick up problems with it.

Did 4 new side sections, drilled and started countersinking, only to have my drill go on me, so I carried on with my dads 1969 black and decker museum peice. 1 speed, no reverse. Did 5 holes and that too started smoking. Begged the wife and at least after work today I can go buy a new one. I wish I had two drills, or at least a drill and a cordless screwdriver.

Expect serious picture updates on Monday, I want all of the framing done and treated, top and bottom. With the coping on, ready for surface when I'm back from my holidays.

Update:

Wasn't able to do any work on Friday afternoon as the waterpump went on my car and I had to trek to Johannesburg to get it sorted after work. So that meant give it all horns on saterday. In order to stay on schedule, I HAD/ HAD to finish all framing and painting by the end of the weekend.







One middle section done, layed the second section on top and started nailing that one out. I found out much to my dismay that once everything was bolted together, 2 beams had HUGE knots in them and I suspect that they'll eventually break, so they've been marked and I'm going to double up on them before I surface.



I don't want any drill holes or any places where water can pool, so I slightly slanted the ramp, it's ever so slight and you can't see it with the naked eye or any other eye, but it's there.



The 3rd transition went up without issues and thanks to a mate for the use of his hands for all of 5 minutes, I was at least able to start framing it, so that it stand on it's own.





That is basically where Saterday left me, I was itching to get a move on Sunday and at least treat the wood that had been assembled on Saterday. So I said screw the rules and decided to at least paint what I've done on Sunday.

Sunday Morning I was up early and after the family was fed, I was outside with brush in hand and was painting like a mofo.



This is the stuff I use. 70% creosote, evil smelling, they reckon that it doesn't have good penetration, but this stuff is a dirk diggler when it gets going. All in all the frame will have 5 coats on it.



Nice and cheap, costs about a fiver. I've used a five litre bottle of the stuff and it's done about 80% of the ramp.

My dads old black and decker, this is like circa 1960's and still tugs on. I use this just for screwing in screws as it's drilling days are over. I think it's 230 watts at best.



I was seriously considering using joist hangers so that I could slot the beams in as it's near impossible to get this done yourself. But I came out with an idea that worked a treat and allowed me to knock out the final transition in all of about 15 minutes.





I did this because there was no ways that I was going to pay £2 a joist hanger and I needed about 50.

Working on the last transition in the corner, because I was alone, i couldn't move it if I worked on the slab by the cars like I had done with all of the rest.



Man it got cramped in that corner. Last transition is in and it's painted about 80%, I was knackerd, I still replaced 120kg of pool sand as well. I was fucking shattered. I think that this ramp rocks, when funds allow, I'd love to extend it to it's full 4.5 meters. At least to do that is pretty easy.





I should easily be able to do the last of the painting today and tomorrow and then a mate is giving it another over the weekend and then when I'm back from my holidays the week after, I can surface.

This was the poxy weather that I had to deal with on Saterday and Sunday.





I picked up a great bronzy, but SHIT I was tired, I tried to get most of the work done in the morning because we had a barbie in the afternoon, didn't happen that way though.

[Carl Arnfield]

well bloody done

Cheers....

I was thinking, fuck I could leave this and do it when I get back, then I thought, shit but then Carl will be there to give me a right bollocking, if I go in with a lame update, like I put in this beam or summit.

You should become a motivational speaker.

[Carl Arnfield]

so our saying i bullied you into working on from thousands of miles away ?

are you sure ?

snigger

looks like a great backyard ramp

all you need now is some mates to skate it with

Looking good old chap.......nice height/whippyness combo.....gonna be a lot of fun to ride

so our saying i bullied you into working on from thousands of miles away ?

are you sure ?

snigger

looks like a great backyard ramp

all you need now is some mates to skate it with

lol........................yup, So far it looks like myself and my nephew for a while.

Looking good old chap.......nice height/whippyness combo.....gonna be a lot of fun to ride

Cheers

I'm glad I went with the 10ft of flat, that with 4 foot high and 7.0ft trannies should result in a nice ride. I can't wait to ride this thing.

I see the surfacing with the 18mm ply taking no more than a few hours.

I really enjoyed this picture of a drill. Got any more?

More pictures of the drill????

Or another drill. I'm easy.

Or another drill. I'm easy.

Thats what the rumour mill says

lol...............................erm, no not on me.............

That my friend is a piece of history.........

Looking good....can't wait to see it completed.

Back from my holidays (yes I know the grass is long) and I was itching to get some work done.

So I've now coated the whole ramp with Carboliuim. When it's all done and surfaced, I'll probably give it another coat. I've had two beams warp that were always suspect anyway, but luckily they have only warped sideways and it's not going to effect the strength at all.



Attached the last of the lower beams as well as attaching the last of the transitions onto the flat.



I've got to pick up some decent cement blocks tonight, but at least the height is now right and the ramp is level.





View from the garage side platform. The platform by the way has been constructed from steel lip channel, welded and will be bolted into place once the coping is back from the coater...........nice galvanised coating is going on.



After all of the endless shimming and spacing and bolting on L brackets for the shimmed sections. There was only one thing more to do.



I started with the first surface last night, I've cut about 20 strips of 10cm wide, I tried 15cm on the first one, but it was making a LOT of creaking sounds and I wasn't willing to risk having them split under pressure.

The idea is now to lay 30 strips per side and then carbolinium the whole surface with about 3 coats and then do a final 6mm sheet of either temperd treated masionite or a sheet of treated 6mm ply over the whole thing. I should have one side and most of the flat done tonight.

I want to be on it by the weekend.

Well last night showed some nice weather, so I was out in the garden again, bought out my 10 planks and bent the first 2 no problem, a lot of creaking, but everything still worked fine, until plank #4, snap.............oh fuck, maybe a one off, try the next one, snap...............I almost cried.

I'm sitting with 8 sheets of 18mm ply that can't be returned and that I can only use for the platforms if this doesn't work. I look at my options of carrying on with the 18mm and wondering just how many I'm going to carry on breaking.

I looked at doing the 3 layers of 6mm and wrote that off as that alone would be about £600 on it's own without final layer. And that would take me ages to save for.

So I did something that the yanks on ramplans.com said doesn't work, I tossed 3 planks in the pool for about 10 minutes, layed them on top to bottom, weighed them down with 3 and then 4 bricks and had my dinner, in about 30 minutes they had sagged about 30cm with NO stressing or creaking, I pushed it down a bit soaked them with a sponge and went back in the house.



Didn't sleep well last night, too worried that the schedule is now going to take months to finish.

I was out at the crack of dawn to see if it had sagged some more or if I had got all the bending that I was going to get the night before.

Good News!!!!



It dropped about another 20cm and still looks good. I guess it payed off to buy the decent ply wood afterall. I wet it with a sponge again, pushed it down a bit further and pranced into the house a fucking happy camper. By this afternoon, I should have them dry enough to paint both sides with carbolinium and then screw them down. I can now make the sections wider at about 15cm, because I think I'm loosing some of the strength the narrower I'm cutting them. The wood now has about 2cm to go and I don't even need it to go that far as that last little bit I can push, but I don't want to take any chances.

Going to soak another 20 planks tonight and get them laid tomorrow hopefully. And yes that is part of the flat that's on there............all the flat has been layed.

[Carl Arnfield]

wow, i would have just nailed the fuckers down and skated it

it's hard not to just do that...............I'm itching to ride my ramp. But the more time I spend on prep, the longer it'll last I guess...........at least I fucking hope so.

[Carl Arnfield]

not listening ......

whens it finished then

I'm hoping to be on it with copings, but the platforms not done 100% by Saterday.

Why you planning on popping over?

[Carl Arnfield]

I'm hoping to be on it with copings, but the platforms not done 100% by Saterday.

Why you planning on popping over?

LOL dont tempt

might be in SA next year, so ill skate it then

You know SA is a bit bigger than the UK right?

What area?

[Carl Arnfield]

is it ?....

around joburg area

sarky tosser.

Kewl, Jhb is about 45 min drive from me. Make it happen Carl.

I'm still coming to the UK in June.

[Carl Arnfield]

ill try my very best

anyway i have to head to the airport to get to the alps .... so chat when im back

have fun with the build

i look fwd to seeing it FINISHED next week

laters dude

strips? i've never heard of a ramp being done that way!?
how thick is the wood again?

i assume the bottom layer is fairly thick, and the top layer wont be so thick.. and laid in 4 foot widths?


tues night we finished my mates indoor mini... around 3ft high, 10ft wide.. 18 ish long i think... double skinned with the top layer done diagonally.. its taken under a month with them working i'd estimate there have been 3 people working on it 2 to 3 nights a week average.

having more hands certainly makes laying the ply easier.. and if i'm ever going to be involved in a ramp project i'd want a proper cutting bench! expect there'll be some footage soon.

strips? i've never heard of a ramp being done that way!?
how thick is the wood again?

i assume the bottom layer is fairly thick, and the top layer wont be so thick.. and laid in 4 foot widths?


tues night we finished my mates indoor mini... around 3ft high, 10ft wide.. 18 ish long i think... double skinned with the top layer done diagonally.. its taken under a month with them working i'd estimate there have been 3 people working on it 2 to 3 nights a week average.

having more hands certainly makes laying the ply easier.. and if i'm ever going to be involved in a ramp project i'd want a proper cutting bench! expect there'll be some footage soon.

Oh cock n balls, my whole reply just went down the toilet.

Yup, it's strips, 18mm they're cut with a normal circular saw and each piece is marked so that if there are any irregular cuts, it'll make no diffs because the peice next to it will be the opposite shape. It's an almost perfect fit.

I've never seen it done like this before, I got the idea from the guys building wooden hips and bowls, and it resembling the way that boats used to be made. The whole surface will get a final sanding to make sure that the joints are perfect before a 8mm section of mass mixed with resin will be added. They use the stuff over here to make outdoor signboards, totally untested of course. It comes in 3m x 4m sections, 2 sheets should do the whole ramp.

We don't get 12mm ply over here and using 6mm would mean 3 layers and £600 later.

I've done this thing 99.999% solo and it's sucked. I started December and should have it 100% done in the next week. I've waiting on a lot of things from rubble for the fill to a balls up with my wood order.

I reckon a weekend would of seen it done if I had 2-3 guys to help.

Looking grand there, my experience of building our place is that 2 people is the minimum really to make a build easier, the fact you've done it solo is fucking great. Props....

Re:- Drill.

That my friend is a piece of history.........

You sure?

Looks like a Black and Decker to me.

DTB

Oh cock n balls, my whole reply just went down the toilet.

Yup, it's strips, 18mm they're cut with a normal circular saw and each piece is marked so that if there are any irregular cuts, it'll make no diffs because the peice next to it will be the opposite shape. It's an almost perfect fit.

I've never seen it done like this before, I got the idea from the guys building wooden hips and bowls, and it resembling the way that boats used to be made. The whole surface will get a final sanding to make sure that the joints are perfect before a 8mm section of mass mixed with resin will be added. They use the stuff over here to make outdoor signboards, totally untested of course. It comes in 3m x 4m sections, 2 sheets should do the whole ramp.

We don't get 12mm ply over here and using 6mm would mean 3 layers and £600 later.

ahh so you've got a really sturdy base with the thick ply bent.. makes sense now.. more work, but will be solid.. and easy to re-skin down the line if necessary!


hope that sign board stuff will bend ok!

I've done this thing 99.999% solo and it's sucked. I started December and should have it 100% done in the next week. I've waiting on a lot of things from rubble for the fill to a balls up with my wood order.

I reckon a weekend would of seen it done if I had 2-3 guys to help.

you've done fantastically for a solo effort! and with your resource limits!

sickening to think my mates ramp only cost him one pack of screws and many cups of tea.. the swine!.. hoping to get my steel framed ramp out of the garage next week and cover it with a tarp for a few days before packing it away again

Re:- Drill.

That my friend is a piece of history.........

You sure?

Looks like a Black and Decker to me.

DTB

yup........back when B&D made things to last

ahh so you've got a really sturdy base with the thick ply bent.. makes sense now.. more work, but will be solid.. and easy to reskin down the line if necessary!

hope that sign board stuff will bend ok!

you've done fantastically for a solo effort! and with your resource limits!

sickening to think my mates ramp only cost him one pack of screws and many cups of tea.. the swine!.. hoping to get my steel framed ramp out of the garage next week and cover it with a tarp for a few days before packing it away again

Cheers Bud

Yup, the base with just that 3 strip section is rock solid, it has no give and at the end of the day that's what I'm after. Plus like you said, if I have to reskin, then it makes it easier as I can just pulled the damaged strip/s. Plus the slight gaps between the wood will act as drains IF/IF any water gets through.

Much more work, 2 screws per horizontal slat, 4 at the double slat = 24 screws per strip, then times that by 36 strips per side, so now you can see why this is taking so long. I'm going to try and soak 15cm wide strips to cut down on the amount of screws needed.. Speaking of that I need another box of 2000 screws soon.

This ramp without the final surface has cost me about £440. All new materials and all pressure treated.

The resin/mass stuff is very flexible........

Re:- Drill.

That my friend is a piece of history.........

You sure?

Looks like a Black and Decker to me.

DTB

yup........back when B&D made things to last

Oh, I thought you meant 'Piece of History' were the manufacturers of the drill.

Attention to details, very important y'know

DTB

Re:- Drill.

That my friend is a piece of history.........

You sure?

Looks like a Black and Decker to me.

DTB

yup........back when B&D made things to last

Oh, I thought you meant 'Piece of History' were the manufacturers of the drill.

Attention to details, very important y'know

DTB

haven't you been banned yet???