Ramp building help

[Dantheman]

Anyone have experience building ramps? The plastic skate ramps we have now aren't going to cut it for much longer. I'd like to build something akin to the quarterpipe ramps Freshpark makes (https://www.freshpark.com/quarter-pipe.html minus the fold-up aspect) since wood is heavy and rots. An aluminum frame topped with composite decking seems ideal, but is this even realistic without serious metal working skills/tools?

[N1CK.]

where are these ramps going to live? Do you intend on moving them around?

In the past we've built wooden ramps to dirt landings that were large (maybe 5'H x 9-10'L) and movable, but not mobile.

[Dantheman]

When not in use they'll live in the back yard behind my shed, but they'll get used in the street and at local parks. So, they'll need to be relatively light and mobile. If I could keep the weight under 100 lbs/ea that would be ideal. OC Ramps lists the weight for their wooden 3 ft QPs as 70 lbs/ea (https://www.ocramps.com/product/quar...ps-two-3-foot/) so this seems doable if I can figure out a frame design. Is there anywhere you can buy curved aluminum tubing off-the-shelf (ex. http://www.cmrp.com/blog/wp-content/...s-relieved.jpg)?

I got inspired by some friends who have this setup. It takes 3 people to move this thing though, and their yard backs up to the park so it's a short haul.

[kidwoo]

Dude, 40 bucks for a ramp? Just buy it and paint it. I've got decades of building skateboard ramps on the soggy bottom east coast that tells me your treated wood ramp won't rot in SLC.

You'll spend more than 40 bucks in lumber trying to duplicate that. And a shit ton more for curved aluminum.


It's 40 bucks.

[::: :::]

$40 for paint; over $500 for the ramps

[Dantheman]

And the Freshpark ones are $1000 for a pair. If those OC ramps were really $40 this thread would definitely not exist. Even at $500 the OCs aren't a bad deal.

[kidwoo]

And the Freshpark ones are $1000 for a pair. If those OC ramps were really $40 this thread would definitely not exist. Even at $500 the OCs aren't a bad deal.

Haha derp. Yeah screw that, just build one out of wood. Aluminum is going to be a hassle.

[Jonny Snow]

[Name Redacted]

Kid will need a bigger ramp before it rots out.

Just raid a construction site on the weekend, steal a speed limit sign, and voila! At least that's what a skateboarder would do.

[toast2266]

Like others have said, just build it out of wood. When you're storing it, put something under it so it's not sitting on dirt, and throw a tarp over it. The ramp will last many, many years.

As for as portability goes, I've built some pretty big (~7' tall) ramps that broke into two pieces that bolted together with wing nuts. Worked reasonably well, but isn't really necessary unless you're building something big. For something like the ramp in your vid, just put some handles at the balance point on either side - two people should be able to move something like that pretty easily.

[kidwoo]

Like others have said, just build it out of wood. When you're storing it, put something under it so it's not sitting on dirt, and throw a tarp over it. The ramp will last many, many years.

As for as portability goes, I've built some pretty big (~7' tall) ramps that broke into two pieces that bolted together with wing nuts. Worked reasonably well, but isn't really necessary unless you're building something big. For something like the ramp in your vid, just put some handles at the balance point on either side - two people should be able to move something like that pretty easily.

That's what I did for this:





it was 3 pieces held together by bigass carriage bolts and wing nuts. In and out quick. Nobody gets hurt (or arrested).


I cut the transition templates on some plywood as ribs about a foot thick.

[::: :::]

i got this book from the library: Handy Dad: 25 Awesome Projects for Dads & Kids
https://www.amazon.com/Handy-Dad-Awe...QK58NX3JRS47DM

page 96 is a pair of bike ramps (tho maybe not as big as you want)
i never attached the ground stakes, but i could see how they could be useful sometimes

i made these back when the boy was 8yo and they were fairly portable/storable with wheels added to the side


plenty of plans on the web too
the biggest thing is getting the geometry right for what you want to do
after that, they're all pretty similar


re: metal
you can do it all out of unistrut or speed rail, but it won't be cheap at all. And, as you noted, you'd have to get some help bending rail for the ramp bit.
And, the best ramp surface is skatelite, but it's very expensive

better off buying the packages you found than trying to self build in metal (unless you already had a shop & skills available)

[Dantheman]

That book is great. Wood is definitely the reasonable thing to do, despite having to baby it a bit. The OC ramps are tempting, but they are a bit small and tight so I'm leaning toward passing on those (2' tall x 3' wide x 6' radius vs. 2.75' tall x 4' wide x 10' radius for the Freshpark stuff). I did some reading regarding bending aluminum and for large-radius curves like this it's really not a big deal. There's a fab shop near my office, I think I'll talk to him before I fully scrap the metal idea[/punverymuchintended]