# Critique on snowboard drop in plans



## Frozen (Apr 21, 2012)

As you have it drawn there:

That ladder looking thing you are using to support the plywood drop-in ramp is going to buckle at the joint where the two parts meet. I think it will probably happen the first time you put your weight on it. You need to tie the lower section of the ramp into the ground underneath the joint. I would keep what you have but add some 2x4 framework underneath the lower ramp section. When you're done it should look like a big doorstop, if that makes sense.

A non-exploded view would be helpful too if you have one.


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## timmytard (Mar 19, 2009)

Ok, take your ladder run in ramp thing & connect the 2x4's so they are straight.

Here are a couple pics, one is how you have it drawn & the other is the way it needs to be.

Then once that is straight, finish it like your drawing, except don't add the plywood skin over top of the ladder run in ramp thing.
Leave spaces in it, just wide enough so that the front of your board doesn't get caught in the rungs, the fewer the better. Less drag.

Now you are ready to rock.

TT


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## Frozen (Apr 21, 2012)

timmytard said:


> Ok, take your ladder run in ramp thing & connect the 2x4's so they are straight.
> 
> Here are a couple pics, one is how you have it drawn & the other is the way it needs to be.
> 
> ...


That's still gonna break. If you want to go the route that I think Timmy is suggesting and take the middle transition out of the ramp, then make your ramp one piece. And be sure to turn the 2x4's that the "ladder rungs" screw to so that the longer side of the wood (the 4 inch length) is pointing downward, perpendicular to the ground. I like his idea about getting rid of the plywood. It's not needed and will save you money on this project.


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## snowklinger (Aug 30, 2011)

No no no, haven't you guys seen any of TT's videos?

You get your fucking gopros out and do what he fucking says. :cheeky4:


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## timmytard (Mar 19, 2009)

snowklinger said:


> No no no, haven't you guys seen any of TT's videos?
> 
> You get your fucking gopros out and do what he fucking says. :cheeky4:


That's right kiddies, Uncle snowklinger is right.
https://vimeo.com/13401589

Now if you read the best answer, it describes what I took a picture of.
As well as mentioning to pre-drill clearance hole s in one 2x4, the boards will pull tight together

How to screw 2x4's together? - Yahoo! Answers

Just like I explained to you in this post.
http://www.snowboardingforum.com/snowboarding-general-chat/48885-help-building-rail.html#post509867

I new you were a smart guy snowklinger:cheeky4:

But how did you know I was right?:cheeky4::cheeky4:

:cheeky4:TT:cheeky4:


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## glm (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks for all the advice. the reason I have the ladder thing there is because it was a bridge I built for my bike. I need the plywood on top because it is way too thin without it. the plywood would be 2 and a half feet wide whereas the bridge ladder thing is only 1 foot wide. But maybe if i just started from scratch on it I would spend less than the 25$ for the plywood... (the life of a cheapskate). 

I was thinking to prevent the bridge from collapsing, maybe I could put a notch near the middle then just prop something under it like a chair or something similar and then i could be able to change the angle of the slope with different sized objects propping it up.

here are the non exploded views Frozen.




























Thanks so much for all of your help, you guys are awesome!


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## timmytard (Mar 19, 2009)

Go buy a piece of ready rod(threaded rod) maybe 4 inches longer than the width of your ramp, drill through all the pieces of 2x4.

For each separate side of your ramp put (in this order)starting from the inside, 2 nuts tightened together so they lock & won't loosen, this is shortened up cause I type with 1 finger.

NN,W,2,W,2,W,2,W,NN. Make the middle 2x4 the leg, do that for each side.

If you do it this way, you will be able to fold it all up to the length of the longest section of the ramp. If you wanted too?

TT


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## Tarzanman (Dec 20, 2008)

First off:
I am not a carpenter and I have never built anything in woodshop more complicated than a soda-can lamp or a small 2 ft ramp for skateboard/rollerblades.... though I have helped build foam block spring floors for gymnasts

Having said that, I think that your drop in will break if it gets used regularly or has more than 2 people standing on it/using it.

Your braces (especially that bottom one) should have diagonal cross beams on the left/right and front/back to keep it from shifting to 'parallelogram' shape (sorry, don't know the term). You can probably get away without using one on the top frame, but I would put more beams under the platform that people will be standing on, and I would double layer the wood serving as the floor (making sure that seams do not align).

It might be a bit of overkill, but its probably better to over-engineer it the first time than break it mid-season and try to fix it in 30 degree weather.

Your 'ladder' supporting the ramp of the drop should be almost as wide as the ramp itself. No more than 4 inches of overhang on either side.

If you do not put a support in the middle of your 2-piece ramp (either wood, a dirt mound, boulder, etc), then it will move and eventually break. If it were me, I would build a four leg support at the top of the lower ramp section


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## glm (Aug 12, 2011)

*I've finished it!*

Well guys, it's been a long time, but I'm finally done! Thanks to everyone for your help, and Tarzanman your non carpenter's opinion was right, the joints were not strong enough, I had to add supports.

*NOTE: THE SAWHORSE IS NOT PERMANENT. I AM GOING TO BUILD A SIMILAR THING BUT TIP PROOF*

Here's how it turned out:

*building:*










*5 foot height* 










*7 foot height (pic taken earlier so a few things are missing)*









*With some perspective (without ramp part)*










Thank you all so much for helping me. I've had fun building it, and am going to have a lot more using it!


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## Frozen (Apr 21, 2012)

Dude I still like this but videos asap. The ramp is gonna fuckin' bust.


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## glm (Aug 12, 2011)

Frozen said:


> Dude I still like this but videos asap. The ramp is gonna fuckin' bust.


Lol I will get some video of it as soon as I can (when the hockey rink near me starts up). I can assure you it's 100% safe unless you're a dumbass


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## JeffreyCH (Nov 21, 2009)

Frozen said:


> Dude I still like this but videos asap. The ramp is gonna fuckin' bust.


Ummm yeah... The first time you weight that second section it will buckle the leverage will push the saw horse out. You need a fixed leg support, have a few ideas. Cudos for the work so far. 


disclaimer: I've build everything from garages to skyscrapers over the past 25 years, never a SB ramp, so my insight is totally speculative


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## john doe (Nov 6, 2009)

Those wood gussets look nice but they don't do shit for stabilizing the joints. Having all the vertical supports be butt joints is down right scary. You need to add "sandwich" boards at each joint and some diagonal supports. The ramp also needs support in the middle and they should have been built as boxes. By that I mean the slats should have been between the main boards and perpendicular to the ramp surface. 

Just so you know I'm not talking out of my ass this is the ramp my friend and I build in his back yard. It's 6ft tall. http://home.earthlink.net/~zymurgyjwt/snowboard-ramp.jpg


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## Tarzanman (Dec 20, 2008)

john doe said:


> Those wood gussets look nice but they don't do shit for stabilizing the joints. Having all the vertical supports be butt joints is down right scary. You need to add "sandwich" boards at each joint *and some diagonal supports*. The ramp also needs support in the middle and they should have been built as boxes. By that I mean the slats should have been between the main boards and perpendicular to the ramp surface.
> 
> Just so you know I'm not talking out of my ass this is the ramp my friend and I build in his back yard. It's 6ft tall. http://home.earthlink.net/~zymurgyjwt/snowboard-ramp.jpg


This.

I mentioned it to him in my earlier post, but he apparently didn't want to spent the extra $15


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## Frozen (Apr 21, 2012)

john doe said:


> Just so you know I'm not talking out of my ass this is the ramp my friend and I build in his back yard. It's 6ft tall. http://home.earthlink.net/~zymurgyjwt/snowboard-ramp.jpg


John doe's ramp is ugly as fuck but it will live a long time. 

I think your platform is fine despite what others have said. And I'm not disputing their ideas, I just think the platform you made will work. Your ramp is fucked. It will break at the joint and I don't understant why, after the craftmanship you have displayed building this thing, you still have a fucking sawhorse wedged under there.


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## Kapn.K (Jan 8, 2009)

It'll work. He said the horse was temp(probably because it slid out while testing). Replace the saw horse with two 2x's from the joint to the base of the platform. That will tighten everything up. Add vertical ones from the joint to the ground if the first pair didn't do it for you. I use screws for everything but have used whatever in the past. It might get a little rickety as you use it and you just add a 2x here or there. You'd shit at the half pipes we used to build in the woods back in the '80s. They'd last maybe 6 months before someone's dick parents would destroy them. We'd hit the construction sites again and do another location. We were in 7th and 8th grade. 3 or 4 sheets of plywood on the tip of our old school ramp boards riding 2 miles, etc. No one ever even questioned us.


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## Frozen (Apr 21, 2012)

Kapn.K said:


> It'll work. He said the horse was temp(probably because it slid out while testing). Replace the saw horse with two 2x's from the joint to the base of the platform. That will tighten everything up. Add vertical ones from the joint to the ground if the first pair didn't do it for you. I use screws for everything but have used whatever in the past. It might get a little rickety as you use it and you just add a 2x here or there. You'd shit at the half pipes we used to build in the woods back in the '80s. They'd last maybe 6 months before someone's dick parents would destroy them. We'd hit the construction sites again and do another location. We were in 7th and 8th grade. 3 or 4 sheets of plywood on the tip of our old school ramp boards riding 2 miles, etc. No one ever even questioned us.


Everything you said was legitimate and hilarious. And i get he said the saw horse was temporary but fuck if I can say I would go on this and I know I'm not a contractor or a proffesional when it comes to building things. And it probably wont matter, in the end you'll be like der OUCH! but I'm still advising you build the fucking ramp more stoutley.


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## Kapn.K (Jan 8, 2009)

We did stupid shit. Cinder block + plywood = ramp. Pile of tree limbs + plywood = ramp. 1x10's also work(have to focus a bit more on the approach). Lots of scrapes, pain, getting the wind knocked out of you only being able to mutter, "Don't touch me!" to your friends and thinking your parents are going to kill you if you broke anything. Wood, tools, and supplies cost money(limiting factor for most young people). There's always gonna be the "right" way and then there's something that might work and is within your reach. I admire that he's doing it.


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## Frozen (Apr 21, 2012)

Kapn.K said:


> We did stupid shit. Cinder block + plywood = ramp. Pile of tree limbs + plywood = ramp. 1x10's also work(have to focus a bit more on the approach). Lots of scrapes, pain, getting the wind knocked out of you only being able to mutter, "Don't touch me!" *(I laughed so hard. I did excactly the same shit)* to your friends and thinking your parents are going to kill you if you broke anything. Wood, tools, and supplies cost money(limiting factor for most young people). There's always gonna be the "right" way and then there's something that might work and is within your reach. I admire that he's doing it.


Me too but you have to admit he's doing it wrong and he could build it safer.


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## Gustov (Dec 17, 2011)

i would definitely put some diagonal boards on that bottom box. those little corner pieces have a lever arm of a few inches to stop the beams from being torqued. if you put cross beams it has the entire width of the box as the lever arm. put them in both directions. 2 x 4s are dirt cheap. it may seem sturdy now, but after you climb up it a hundred times things start to loosen and weaken. if it were me, i'd put cross members on all three boxes, cause why not.

as others have said, that saw horse better be temporary cause it isn't going to do shit. i'd also be careful about how the very top of the ramp is connected to the top box. i can't see in the picture if you have bolts or what, but if it's just some drywall screws, you might want to add some robustness to it. 

craftmanship is excellent though. :thumbsup: 
i've built all sorts of crap like this, and happen to be a mechanical engineer.


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## glm (Aug 12, 2011)

Thanks for all the feedback, it is exactly what I need to make it better.

After all of the comments on the stability in the long run of the 3' box I'm going to add some diagonal supports on the bottom to make sure it never moves at all. If it were only me going on the ramp I'd probably say fuck it and just not worry about it (it is really strong, I would feel safe jumping on it repeatedly), but it's not only me going on it. It's going to be friends too and I wold feel terrible if something happened.

To reiterate, the sawhorse is *Extremely temporary* as in tomorrow I'm making a replacement. my friend had to stabilize it until he took the picture. It is not safe at all. 

One of the things I am most proud of is figuring out how to attach the ramp to the platform. It is definitely not just drywall screws.




























These pictures are from the top box, and it shows 3 2x4's with 1 1/4" holes through them










This is the top of the ramp with 4 2x4's with holes drilled through them










this is the 1 1/8" dowel that goes through them to lock them together.

I really went for overkill on the strength of this. The pieces connected to the ramp have a minimum of 5 3 1/2" screws. The only thing that could be worse than the ramp collapsing would be the whole tower collapsing.


Really, thanks for all the help guys. Every piece of advice that you guys give me is one less trip to the hospital this winter :laugh:


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## ShredLife (Feb 6, 2010)

use metal, like a steel pipe instead of that dowel...


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## glm (Aug 12, 2011)

That dowel was one of the steps for a ladder, and the distance between the 2x4's is less than and inch. Not something I'm worried about at all


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## glm (Aug 12, 2011)

Promise, last update.

I implemented most of your suggesting, like adding supports diagonally on the bottom box, and changing the support on the ramp.

FINISHED PICTURES:





























Thank you all for your help. It would have been a lot harder without you guys.


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## glm (Aug 12, 2011)

I finally was able to get some snow and try it out!
http://www.snowboardingforum.com/sn...51101-backyard-ramp-video-how-turned-out.html


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