A new playset for the kids

[BD55]

Started on the swing hangers today. Struggled with tacks and getting things aligned. Then as I got in a good groove, I ran out of argon .

 

[BD55]

A more finished design

Got some floor support brackets on

Kiddos love helping out. Youngest has done probably a grand total of 3 tacks but now considers himself a pro welder and wants to buy himself some real welding gloves and helmet .


I also need to figure out this joint. I want the horizontal bar to be solid so I have good strength for it being cantilevered. Not sure what to do about the verticals. Ideas?

 

[BD55]

Ok, here’s what I’m thinking for the joint in question above:



This way I’m keeping the crossbar in one piece and the verticals in one piece.

 

[mike93lx]

Dude, you're killing it! Kids will use it for at least a few minutes


I jest, I jest. My kids are 8 and 10 and still use the swing set a lot. More than the tree house I spent tons of time and money on

 

[BD55]

Dude, you're killing it! Kids will use it for at least a few minutes


I jest, I jest. My kids are 8 and 10 and still use the swing set a lot. More than the tree house I spent tons of time and money on

lol thanks - I am curious to see how much use we get out of it. Either way, they’ve been helping build it, which is a win for me.

 

[BD55]

Got last of the major welding done. Felt pretty good about my TIG welds. Now to order nuts and bolts and some misc small welding parts.

 

[mike93lx]

Felt pretty good about my TIG welds

Rightfully so!

 

[BD55]

Made a couple jigs for marking holes in either the saddles or the tubing. Hopefully they’ll help keep things aligned!

 

[strength_and_power]

For kicks, id get a quote to sandblast and powdercoat. That’s a ton of material to wire wheel and then paint. Brushing will take forever and spraying tubing wastes a lot of paint. Powdercoat will look better and last a lot longer

 

[niget2002]

Right now the plan is to drill holes in the saddles for 7/16-14 bolts that will thread into nuts welded to the uprights (drill an oversize hole in the upright that fits the nut corner-to-corner diameter then TIG weld in place).

The concern I'm having is welding the nuts to the uprights and if that's an issue. Looking in a few places, it sounds like that's a no-no to weld nuts/bolts in structural applications, but I'd be TIG welding the nuts in place to minimize heat input, and even with Grade 2 nuts/bolts I'd have plenty of strength.

I looked into riv nuts to get around having to weld nuts in place (and would be faster too), but it sounds like they don't like being installed in curved surfaces.

Are there other solutions or will welding in place be fine? I'd assume there's more risk welding a grade 8 nut in place vs grade 2 due to the metallurgy difference.

Those tubes look fairly thick. Why not just tap the tubes directly.

 

[BD55]

For kicks, id get a quote to sandblast and powdercoat. That’s a ton of material to wire wheel and then paint. Brushing will take forever and spraying tubing wastes a lot of paint. Powdercoat will look better and last a lot longer

Great thought! I have been dreading all the paint prep and painting.

 

[BD55]

Those tubes look fairly thick. Why not just tap the tubes directly.

I thought about it but the tubing is only .135, so not really enough to get good thread engagement that I’d feel comfortable with.

 

[strength_and_power]

Great thought! I have been dreading all the paint prep and painting.

If powder coating is crazy expensive, another option is electrostatic painting which uses wet paint. It’s an impressive process with low waste and overspray

 

[Fixr]

My neighbor Karen wants to know if all of that will be strong enough. ROFLMAO

 

[Gopherboy6956]

I love that project. Props to you for all the steel construction. I'm a wood guy, and made something more basic a few years ago for the kids.

 

[rharman]

For kicks, id get a quote to sandblast and powdercoat. That’s a ton of material to wire wheel and then paint. Brushing will take forever and spraying tubing wastes a lot of paint. Powdercoat will look better and last a lot longer

Great thought! I have been dreading all the paint prep and painting.

If powder coating is crazy expensive, another option is electrostatic painting which uses wet paint. It’s an impressive process with low waste and overspray

For great protection, you might investigate "metallizing". We did that on our gates and rails a number of years ago and then powder coated over that. Still in great shape.

Our Process — ZincNation

www.zincnation.com

 

[BD55]

Got nuts welded in one upright and did a dry fit to see how things come together and it’s looking good. I’m seeing the scale of this a little more…. It’s tall - the first platform is at 5 feet. The second one over the swings is at 8 feet and the third deck is at 11 feet… The kids are excited.

 

[Houdini5150]

I love that project. Props to you for all the steel construction. I'm a wood guy, and made something more basic a few years ago for the kids.

That's a nice yard, when they outgrow it, time to remove it or renovate it into a large playhouse

 

[Gopherboy6956]

That's a nice yard, when they outgrow it, time to remove it or renovate it into a large playhouse

Well, funny you say that - I'm working on the adult playhouse as we speak... Which is of course right next to the Adult RC track.



(Track, before the shop was started)

 

[BD55]

Last of the nuts welded in and started dry fit. Kids are stoked!

 

[BD55]

Weight testing the only way I could think of . Dialarc HF-P weighs around 500 lbs, plus the cart. I tested each swing hanger as well.

 

[no704]

Weight testing the only way I could think of . Dialarc HF-P weighs around 500 lbs, plus the cart. I tested each swing hanger as well.

Could probably hang 10x that!

 

[eviltwin]

Looks like testing a car lift with a power wheels

 

[Thirdyfivepickup]

where are you going to find an oven big enough to powercoat THAT?

 

[LeeG]

where are you going to find an oven big enough to powercoat THAT?

I‘ve seen one large enough to park a dump truck in. It belonged to a shop that repaired mining equipment.

 

[BD55]

Got the posts poured. We’re getting this done one baby step at a time

 

[gimpyrobb]

Nice project! What are your temps there? I figured you were somewhere south till I saw "northern Utah"!

 

[BD55]

Nice project! What are your temps there? I figured you were somewhere south till I saw "northern Utah"!

Thanks! Right now we're in the 40s during the day and 30s at night. I made sure to have some warmer weather in the forecast before we did the posts.

 

[niget2002]

Well, funny you say that - I'm working on the adult playhouse as we speak... Which is of course right next to the Adult RC track.



(Track, before the shop was started)

My son wants me to do a track like that in the field part of our yard. I need to figure out what issues there'd be with the fact the septic sprayers are also in that area.

 

[BD55]

Main structure is primed! I stamped each location (there’s a corresponding stamp on each upright). Now to wait for warmer temps to paint. In the meantime I’ll work on railings, ladders, misc hardware, etc.

 

[ipgenie]

Maybe consider some landscape expanding foam to seal up those wasp nest entry points when you assemble. We are going to do that with the playground we are building.

 

[loganb]

Looks awesome, nice work

 

[BD55]

Maybe consider some landscape expanding foam to seal up those wasp nest entry points when you assemble. We are going to do that with the playground we are building.

That's a great idea! I hate wasps and that's a great reminder; I was thinking about 3D printing some covers that snap in place but foam would be a quick first step (and will likely end up being the final solution ).

Looks awesome, nice work

Thanks!

 

[BD55]

Made a jig for doing the railing. 1 4’ section done out of 6!

 

[BD55]

Done with the 4 footers.

 

[odj]

I expected your kids to be a lot larger based on how goddamn beefy this thing is

Nice work man!

 

[casmurbax]

That thing is going to be awesome.

 

[BD55]

Got the two 8 footers done!

 

[BD55]

Made some progress - did the install of the main structure and got it bolted to the piers. I was pretty pleased everything was pretty much plumb and level as-built so I didn’t need to really add any washers underneath the baseplates. A friend is a professional painter and is going to spray it for me said it would be better to paint everything in place, hence the current ugly rust primer. We’ll paint it a teal-ish color when he’s available, so hopefully the next update will be a painted structure. We’ll probably paint the railings at the same time with the same color for the benefits of the heavy duty commercial paint, but I’ll probably paint over that with a contrasting color.

 

[vavet]

Ok, a few thoughts…

1. Really cool. This is what we should use the internet for.
2. Only one color? Seriously! What is this amateur hour?
3. Stop already. You’re making the rest of us look bad.
4. My son might want you to adopt him. I might want you to adopt me.