Free Standing Ladder

[MaxWonder]

I really want a free standing ladder. any shape or kind, collapsable, one piece, you name it. If anyone would be willing to part with an old one that I could learn on, that, I think, would be the ideal. lets go people!

[David Smith]

I've got a collapsable semcycle ladder that I bought second hand a few years ago. I'd part with it for $200 if you're still buying.

[David Smith]

The ladder is sold to another Pneter with lightning fast response time. Sorry.

[MaxWonder]

well thats just freakin great. anybody else?

[thayr]

Instructions for building a wooden ladder

You can build a wooden ladder-

You need two 2x3 boards, 6-8 ft. depending on how high you'd like to be.

You also need wooden dowels/closet rods, it's usually the largest ones you can find, I think they're like 1 1/2 inches.

A drill with a paddle bit for boring holes into your wood.

A circular saw or hand saw to cut your wood.

So lets see we've got our wood, ah yes we need some screws and some glue too! (wood glue or Gorilla Glue works nicely)

Measure your 2x3s putting the first hole about 4 inches from the bottom, the rest of the holes will be 8 inches apart.

Once you get to the second to top rung hole, where you will stand, you can either measure from the base of your foot to above your knee -or- the base of your foot to below your knee (depends which you feel more comfortable with, for me it's above my knee and it ends up being something like 23 inches)

Cut your dowels anywhere from 22 inches to 18, the smaller the rods the faster your rocking will be, some people find the smaller easier to balance on. Remember whatever your measurement is it'll will be minus 4 inches after you put the dowels through the holes.

Before you put the dowels in the wood it may be nice to rasp the wood because it usually gets rough and splintered after the drilling. (one ladder I built I could not find the right sized drill bit so I had to shave the dowels down to fit into the wood)

Take all your dowels and put them into one of the boards, use a mallet to get them into place, before inserting them into the wood you can wet the ends with glue. You can then glue and screw that one side or continue on and do the other side. Doing the other side is sometimes awkward because the dowels don't exactally match up, but with some work (and maybe a helping hand) they will go in.

When screwing them in, don't screw into the end of the dowel but rather screw from the front of the ladder- through the board and the dowel. It looks nicer and it helps a bit- bevel the feet of the ladder and also the tops.

That's pretty much it, you can sand it anywhere there are sharp places or rough wood. To finish it off you can use a wood stain, it makes it look really great.

Thayr

***Just remember to stay on the outsides when stepping on the rungs, if you put too much weight in the middle they could snap.

[Magic Mickey]

Thanks

Wow,
That looks great. It doesn't sound like it would take long to build, it looks nice, and I'm sure it's a load cheeper then buying one!!!!

[Chance]

Here is the secret to getting both rows of dowling holes to line up perfectly: Start with just ONE piece of wood, roughly double the final desired thickness of the side pieces. Lay out for the holes, and then drill the holes. Once this part is finished, cut the piece in half length-wise on a table saw.

Another woodworking secret: If the final assembly seems to be a little too loose here and there, soak the affected areas overnight in warm water. This will cause the wood to swell and take up the slack.

Finally, if there is any danger whatsoever of the dowels snapping, make them bigger. There's enough to worry about already -- where to step on your own props shouldn't be a concern.

Chance

[Steven Ragatz]

If you want to reinforce the rungs, you could try to route or cut a channel in the bottom of each one before installing them and add a steel rod or bar. The galvanized bars that one gets from hardware stores that are used with chain link fences come to mind. It's just a thought - having never built a ladder like the one pictured, but I have wooden step ladders with metal supports under each step.

Steven Ragatz

[The Pretty Good]

support

wood is not permanent it will over time break down. the same design could be made out of aluminium. Precut the peices and deburr them bring them to a welder and boom. Ladder. at 1/4 the price!