# DIY A-Frame Build



## wildo

Well, I think it's time for me to finally get this thing designed and built. I'm hoping to be able to afford Susan Garrett's new contact course coming up at the end of the month, and if I make it in, I'm sure I'll need an A-Frame. So here's what I have so far:

44" base tapering up to 36" at the top of the contact zone, 9' panel length. I haven't decided if I am going to keep the tapers or not, but for now, I'm sure I likely will:


















With the angles cut at the bottom, I will be able to lower the apex all the way don to 2' high. It is of course designed for regulation 5'6" high:









The frame will be made out of 3/4" plywood double thick- so each frame piece will be 1 1/2" thick by 4" wide. I have not yet decided if I will put the long brace down the center or not. I'm sure it would be plenty strong with just the outside pieces:









Stay tuned...


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## JakodaCD OA

my husband had built my A frame many moons ago (now long gone) looks and sounds just like you posted he didn't go with the long brace down the middle either, just the cross braces and it held up for 'years'..


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## AgileGSD

I'll have to see how my wooden frame is put together. It's probably 16 years old or so and is still in useable condition - always sits outside all winter too! I have a newer fiberglass one too and that one did need a middle brace, as it tended to bow in when big dogs went down it.


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## wildo

Come to think of it- this won't be the first thing I've built with plywood sides. I built a slalom skateboarding ramp a couple years ago and it had 6" wide 3/4" sides and was *plenty* strong. I'm glad you all mentioned that- I'm way more confident that the middle long brace is no longer needed.


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## NancyJ

Willy if you ever decide to move to upstate SC I will put you to work! You do some amazing projects!

Right now I am working on a ventiliated plywood plaform for my truck crate, under which I can put cooling packs. VERY BASIC but a challenge for my woodworking skills.


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## wildo

I can barely stand the heat of Indiana right now (in March, no less!). Fat chance I'm moving further south! 
:rofl:


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## wildo

BTW- I plan on stealing this design for wheels:





You can (kind of) see more here: A-frame


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## wildo

The build has officially commenced! Tonight, I ripped down two full sheets of 3/4" birch plywood to form the transverse braces and lateral supports. The transverse braces are all laminated in pairs (accept the braces where the chains will hook, which are laminated in triplicate) and drying on the floor. They are not yet cut to length. The lateral supports are ripped to width, but not yet glued up.


















(Pimg thinks this is gonna be fun!)

I've also purchased all the parts for the hinge (which I'm fabricating from scratch) as well as the material for the slats.


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## wildo

After a LONG weekend of endless yard work at by brother's farm, I finally made it home and glued the lateral supports together. 










Since these need to be 9' long and material only comes in 8' lengths, I made a simple lap joint at each end to fill the gap.









The boards are "clamped" with screws, but 640 pounds of concrete should keep them straight as they dry.


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## wildo

I know these are small updates to most (all?) of you, but these updates equate to the progress I make in the small amount of time I have to work the project. Tonight's progress is that I have all transverse braces cut to length, and the two big chain supports also have their angles cut. I was going to cut the rest of the angles, but I try to have the tablesaw turned off by 11pm for the neighbors- at least on school nights.

Here are all eight transverse pieces cut to length. The crosscut sled I fabricated made quick work of these cuts:









And just for fun, here's the two chain stays standing side by side.









Fun fact- an A-Frame has a 9' hypotenuse and a 5'6" height. That means that each side has a base length of 85.49 inches and a standard A-Frame will take double that, or 14.25' of floor space! Perhaps even more interesting is that the angle formed from by the hypotenuse to the ground is a mystifying 37.67 degrees. Bazaar.


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## wildo

More work completed...

Got the bottom angle cut on all the side pieces:









This angle allows the a-frame to be dropped to 2' at the center. I am a little leery of the strength (or lack of) at this point and may brace it with steel. I have not yet decided on that yet:









All transverse braces have been cut to length and width:









This is how the transverse braces will meet the side pieces:


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## wildo

Finally have something that is starting to resemble an A-Frame!




























This is how I braced the lower portion of the side pieces. These pieces of steel will be glue on once the boards are painted.


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## wildo

All the plywood pieces now have had a coat of primer/sealer applied and two coats of dark blue applied. It will dry over the weekend while I am at an obedience trial. Then I'll assemble the frame box, cut and paint the plywood surface, and then weld up the hinge.


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## wildo

Continued progress. The frame part is complete!










For now I have it temporarily screwed it together at the top while I fabricate the hinge.









[EDIT]- I should note- I am quite proud to point out that the peak of the a-frame is currently 5' 5.5" and I plan to sheath it with 1/2" plywood.  Looks like I met specification...


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## wildo

Ah..... most fun lunch-time project I've had in a while! I got to come back to my desk job smelling like ground steel and welding fumes.  Over lunch today I fabricated one of the four sections of the a-frame hinge. Here are the photos.

All the pieces for the hinge are cut:









I drilled two holes for the mounting studs:









I then welded the studs in place and ground them down a bit. First welds I've made in many months and you can tell. Still, those studs aren't going anywhere:










Then I welded the black pipe in place. These are nice welds; I quickly remembered how to lay down a nice bead:









I welded the pipe on the stud side as well, one pass connecting the pipe to the bolt heads and then a second fillet pass connecting that bead to the angle iron:









Now I just have to make three more of these units.


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## DianaM

opcorn: This is great. It's evident you do a high quality job and that you are clearly skilled with building. Do you have any other DIY posts?


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## wildo

The hinge is basically complete minus some minor smoothing.










I welded four stacked washers onto the end of the pin for a stop. I still need to drill a hole in the other end for a hitch pin:








(Sorry for the blurry picture. I cannot stand it when people use to large an aperture when taking photos, but here I did it! Shame on me!)

I told myself I wasn't going to mess with the seam between the angle and the pipe, but here I am filling it with JB Weld... I'll obviously need to smooth this out once it dries.


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## wildo

DianaM said:


> opcorn: This is great. It's evident you do a high quality job and that you are clearly skilled with building. Do you have any other DIY posts?


Thanks DianaM. Yes, I do have at least one other very detailed build thread for my dogwalk. You can find that here: http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/agility/154058-building-dog-walk.html

Also, I have quite a few other submissions in the DIY thread starting on page two. Those posts are far less detailed than these threads though: http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...lity-equipment-do-yourself-ideas-hints-2.html


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## Packen

Nice! Our wall was getting old so we built 2 last summer, took about 3 hours minus the carpet that we did the next day. We use a piano hinge.


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## wildo

You built two a-frames in three hours? You certainly work way faster than me!!


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## wildo

Some more work on the hinge tonight.

Truth be told, I didn't account for the fact that the angle of the top plate of each side of the a-frame means that a bolt straight through parallel to the ground would stick out the top surface. But a mistake is a mistake only if you can't fix it!









I drilled a whole in the bar used for the hinge in order to put in a hinge pin.









This is the best view I could get at what's going on. I'll paint the hinge and screw it to the a-frame with lag bolts.


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## wildo

Continued progress. The surface panels have been cut and one side of them has been painted with sealer:









The base of the panel is 44" wide and tapers to the top of the contact zone 42" up. At that point, the panel is 36" wide and remains so all the way to the top.









I also painted all of the hinge parts:


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## wildo

I cut the slats at lunch today. Tonight, I'll attach them to the front side of the surfaces and then paint the front side with sealing primer. The slats in the contact zone are cut on an angle to match the angle of the contact zone.


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## crackem

you are an industrious MoFo. That's going to be a very nice a frame. I would have laid some 2x4's with some plywood over the top and hoped it held


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## wildo

crackem said:


> you are an industrious MoFo. That's going to be a very nice a frame. I would have laid some 2x4's with some plywood over the top and hoped it held


Ha! This has got to be one of the funniest compliments I've ever received. Yes- I love building stuff! It's quite possible that I love building things more than I love actually using the things I build. I suspect this a-frame should get a decent amount of uses though.


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## wildo

Slats on one side done. Was going to do the other side (background) but I'm tired and it can wait.


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## OriginalWacky

Looking great. Can't wait to see it completed.


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## wildo

OriginalWacky said:


> Looking great. Can't wait to see it completed.


Me either! This is taking WAY too much time. But I'm home from the conformation show for the day so I have plenty of time to work on it tonight. Hoping to get the other side slatted up, and both pieces sealed. With any luck, I can get the sand layer on...


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## wildo

I was able to get both sides of the hinge mounted. Here's the first side where you can see how I lagged it into the face:









We have lift off!!









"Flash Pimg!" (Actually, had I used a flash, you might actually be able to see her.)









5'6" peak:









2' minimum (though it's a bit higher than 2' here)









Now for some sealer/primer, color coat, sand, and top coat... Oh yeah- and the chains...

BTW- I took some video of Pimg going over for the first time, but the person holding the camera (not me) didn't actually press the record button. I won't be setting it back up until it's painted. :angryfire:


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## wildo

Final painting and texturing underway.


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## wildo

I got the yellow coat complete at lunch today, and the texturing turned out top notch if I do say so myself! (The paint is still wet in these pics)


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## Liesje

Wow Willy you are talented!

Now that I'm hooked on flyball I've been reading up on the various types of boxes and the physics behind them. This weekend I box loaded for our Standard team and was scoping out all the different boxes each team had. It got me wondering if Willy could start making flyball boxes, since the one I want is made by a guy in Langley, BC and is over 45lbs shipping weight...


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## wildo

I'm sure I could... And you're not far away. Wanna send me plans? (Or at least pics?)


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## Liesje

Sure. I wouldn't be able to afford one until the end of the summer, but it would be way more practical to have someone that know what they're doing build one within driving distance than try to do it myself from scratch or have one shipped. Or maybe my team will be in the market for something else soon, I'll ask. I'll send you some links I was looking at and you can see if you have any interest in such a project. I can't tell how complicated it really is. I do know the Langley guy sells the thrusters and hardware with a plan for the rest of the box and that's cheaper than shipping an entire box but still too complicated for me.


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## Liesje

This is the site I was mostly looking at: Flyballequip.com - Part of The Willoughby Workshop

His thrusters: Flyballequip.com - Part of The Willoughby Workshop

His box: Flyballequip.com - Part of The Willoughby Workshop

His plans: Flyballequip.com - Part of The Willoughby Workshop


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## Liesje

http://u-fli.com/inc/viewfile.inc.php?id=57 Section 4.2 gives the required box specs


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## wildo

$600 CAN for a box!???? That box looks easy to make, no question. The thruster would need to be purchased of course. (Some day I'll own real machining tools- but for now, I am not that equipped.)


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## Liesje

I got the feeling that a tournament spec box would be $800-$1500 USD.

I make my own push-boards for training the turn and it only costs me $35 per board (and that's with buying everything at the normal price from a place like Lowe's) but now I'm itching to get a real box.


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## AgileGSD

If you start make flyball boxes at a reasonable price, I'd be very interested as well


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## wildo

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy to say that I am officially done with rolling paint! I really hate painting! I do still have to spray some color on the steel supports for the chain stays, but otherwise, I'm done with painting. That leaves only mounting the chains left.










Here are the steel supports that I will use to brace the board that the chains will hook into:


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## wildo

The a-frame is now complete! I think it turned out really nice. I'll have to make some wheels for it at some point, as it's really heavy. The hinge worked great, and I can indeed lower it all the way down to 2' at the apex.




























Here is video of the first time Pimg went over it since it was completed:


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## AgileGSD

That is awesome!!!


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## SarahMichelle

Very nice! 

My A-frame still sits half finished in my garage =/

Didnt read through all the replys, so sorry if somebody already asked this but why is it tapered?


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## wildo

SarahMichelle said:


> Didnt read through all the replys, so sorry if somebody already asked this but why is it tapered?



Because it can be based on regulations
Because it gives the dog a bit more room when turning off of the a-frame, which is ever so common in modern courses
Because it helps provide a more solid base so the a-frame doesn't tip over (not that I'm super concerned about that)
Because it looks super cool!!


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## SarahMichelle

wildo said:


> Because it can be based on regulations
> Because it gives the dog a bit more room when turning off of the a-frame, which is ever so common in modern courses
> Because it helps provide a more solid base so the a-frame doesn't tip over (not that I'm super concerned about that)
> Because it looks super cool!!


Ok 

I had never seen a frame that tapered so i was just curious.


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## wildo

The first time I saw a tapered one was at the USDAA Nationals last year. They were from Max2000 and were ultra nice. I overheard MANY competitors discussing how nice they were. You can see them here:





Here's another really good view:


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## SarahMichelle

Hmm maybe I have seen them before and have just never noticed. If you didnt point it out I wouldn't have noticed that they weren't straight down. 

Do they use them in all venues or just USDAA?

I live 10 minutes from Max200 and go there a lot for trials (going on the 22th for CPE) and I dont think Ive seen them. But they do really make nice equipment, wish I could afford some of it but $40 is a little out of my price range for 1 jump, haha.


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## Caledon

Very nice.


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## wildo

I finally finished my a-frame mover...


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## Stellae

wildo said:


> I finally finished my a-frame mover...


Very nice! :thumbup: It's not nearly as elegant as the one you'd mentioned somewhere else (or earlier in this thread? I don't remember), with the wheels that pivot in and hide under the ramp ... but that is much more complicated to manage if you also want the frame to lower as much as yours. 

Nice to be able to move the thing around the yard, by yourself, relatively easily, though. Means that it doesn't need to be quite as stationary as, say, the dogwalk (which, if I had to hazard a guess, probably stays in one location and then you set up sequences based on that location). 

I'm jealous! Of your yard, and your shop tools... one day I'll have a yard, a garage, and power tools (I have a lot of hand tools, wrenches, socket set, drill, etc. for basic stuff or maintaining my car), and get to build contact equipment... I will need to learn to weld though, that's clearly a useful skill. 

What's your next project going to be? I know you've made jumps, teeter, dogwalk, a-frame... I saw the hit-it! board. Have you made your own chute? That should be reasonably easy if you can get a clean barrel. Tunnels are probably something it's better to just buy, though you could rig up your own tunnel snugs/weights.


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## wildo

Yeah- I agree that the mover isn't as elegant as the ones where the wheels fold up underneath. Truth be told, I did attempt the folding wheel solution, but it failed miserably. Though there is a decent steel supply in Indianapolis, their hours are crazy and I can almost never get there while they are open. This limits me to the (outrageously overpriced) steel at Lowes. Anyway, I'm happy enough with what I built. It's not like I will be moving the thing all over creation....

And yes, haha, the dogwalk stays put. That thing is near impossible to move! As to the tools, garage, house, etc- all I can say is that I am incredibly blessed with a very good job that affords me these things. I've also been collecting my tools since I was a younger kid- so this is probably 15 years of collection.

Next project- a countdown timer for my dog training sessions. While a mechanical kitchen timer works just fine- it's totally boring. I try to be anything but boring...  I found some massive seven segment LEDs and I will be building a countdown timer out of discrete electronics. Here's the LED:









(Oh, and I can sew quite well, so a chute shouldn't be too hard a project.)


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## wildo

Bumping this thread. Everyone seemed to be liking my dogwalk thread (from 2011) so perhaps you haven't seen this thread either. 

The aframe finally cracked this season. I think I'll be able to finish training Jinks's running a-frame on it, but after that I'll scrap it and start over with an aluminum build. Four years of service out of a fully plywood aframe seems pretty good though. I'm not too disappointed. And I could probably fix it if I wanted to...

You can see the broken rail in this video. I just propped it up with board on either side of the break. Still functioning...


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## middleofnowhere

I did an aluminum framed one for schutzhund. The PIA thing is that it is sized to european standards so a sheet of plywood isn't quite big enough. My goal was to have it light enough to move by myself. It is and it gets moved about three times a week (off the lawn for the sprinklers to run). I will probably buck up and reenforce it a bit more as it has quite a bit of flex. However the dogs are not bothered by the flex.


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