First real project in quite a while... A new skate ramp

John Pollman

Member
Messages
1,332
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
Howdy folks!

It feels good to have something to post in this forum again. I've got friends that own and run an indoor skate park and pro shop. Every now and then they like to change it up a bit to keep it fresh for the kids. I posted pics of a bit 1/4 bowl and 1/4 pipe that I did a couple years ago. They've tweeked things here and there but haven't done too much more than that. The kids have been wanting something new. Well we've been talking about it for a couple weeks and they told me what they were looking for. It took some time to get them to give me overall dimensions and such. I went and picked up the material and got started today. I decided to do most of the construction at home here in my shop. That way I can get most of the work done and I can go in one morning early and get it installed. They don't open until 3:00 so I can get it finished without interrupting the kids skate time. They haven't really decided what height that they want the grind rail to be, so I'll just get the basic ramp installed and skatable. Then they can make the decision on the final height of the rail and I can get the metal fab done.

One piece down, three to go. This is the most time consuming portion of the job. Installation should be fairly quick and easy. Here's what I finished in about 3 hours today. I'm building/engineering on the fly so the first one takes a little longer. Now that I know it works, I can finish up the other three a little quicker.

skate_ramp.JPG
 
Thanks!

Will do. I got the other three units completed today. Now I just have to coordinate with the park owner to get some help moving them. I can move them around the shop and load them into the trailer myself, but I'll need a hand getting them unloaded and into the park where they're going to be installed. It was a lot of work but I'm pretty happy with the way they have come out so far. The hard part should be done now. Just have to move them into place, secure them to the deck, then install the final sheeting and skate surface and it's ready for them to skate.

They have to decide just how high they want the grind rail. Once I know that, I'll get the material and do the metal fab work and get the rail installed.
 
Finished up the other three pieces on Sunday. Did a little tweeking on them yesterday and took them over to the park and dropped them off. I got it installed today and it came out great! The park opens at 3:00 and I was only about 90% done when the kids started showing up. They were geeked about the new ramp and just stayed in the other portion of the park while I finished up. As soon as I was done and cleaned up, they went to town! They were lined up waiting for their turn on it. Got a lot of thumbs up! They love it and it's working well. I got the final height so now I just need to pick up the steel and get the welder fired up and fab the grind rails and install them. I've got some pics of the ramp (sans rail) and will post them tomorrow. They're on my phone and I'm too tired to deal with them tonight. Then I'll post some pics once the rail is installed.
 
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They took forever deciding on the height they wanted the rail. This past weekend, they finally decided on 30". I went out yesterday and picked up the steel and fabricated the uprights and mounting plates. I went over this morning and fabricated the rails and got it all welded up and finished. Finished up about five minutes prior to the park opening for the day. (WHEW!) :)

south_street_rail.jpg
 
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