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Darren Wright

Darren Wright

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Springfield, Missouri
Spent the day going to Menards and a few other places. We’re planning to have the grandkids over part of their spring break. My wife feels the kids might not have anything to do while at the farm, so she ordered a couple of playground pieces I get to assemble over the next week or so…



I plan to do some minor alterations to hopefully connect the two, but the kids should enjoy them.

I suppose they need something to do between shooting BB guns, fishing, tractor rides, and exploring the creek and woods. :huh: :D
 
Darren Wright said:
...I suppose they need something to do between shooting BB guns, fishing, tractor rides, and exploring the creek and woods. :huh: :D
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I was thinking along the same lines. Kids these days, lol. :rolleyes: When I lived on a farm/ranch as a kid, I had a rope swing hanging from a big cottonwood tree and a big cable spool that I used as an elevated launch pad. (I played on that thing every day after walking home from school uphill 10 miles. In the snow. While avoiding all the mountain lions and rabid dobermans.) Didn't need no fancy-dancy storebought playground. :rofl:
 
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Also some good squirt guns. Shooting into a cup or bucket and winner has most water in theirs. Fun to shoot out lit candles also. Depending on age, wait to assemble until they are there. They'll never forget building those items.
 
I picked up both kits and the lumber on Sunday. I unloaded the main box in the garage and plan to work on it over the next few days to do some assembly in there while the weather turns bad here.

I sat down to read the instruction manual. The build instructions started on page 11, and ended on page 80! :eek: I guess I know what I'll be working on for the next week or so.
 
When you set it up, be certain to anchor the legs in the ground somehow. As a member of a rescue squad, (now retired), I have been to several accidents where swing sets tipped over when kids were swinging and went too high. Some very serious injuries can result from this.

Fence stakes driven in 3' and then bolted to the legs works well. Pipes anchored in concrete works well too.

I just wanted to warn you about the safety aspect. I'm certain that with your abilities and tools, you have a way to provide the needed anchoring.

Charley
 
Darren Wright said:
I picked up both kits and the lumber on Sunday. I unloaded the main box in the garage and plan to work on it over the next few days to do some assembly in there while the weather turns bad here.

I sat down to read the instruction manual. The build instructions started on page 11, and ended on page 80! :eek: I guess I know what I'll be working on for the next week or so.
Click to expand...
I helped a neighbor assemble one of these sets a few years ago. Took us a couple of days. I swear his kids used it for just a year or so before they got bored and started playing with big cardboard boxes instead. If you have access to bulk mulch or wood chips it's a good idea to put a 12" thick layer in a 5' band all around the piece as fall protection. Amazing how many playground injuries there used to be before fall cushioning was required for public playgrounds. (I used to design these things).
 
Ted Calver said:
I helped a neighbor assemble one of these sets a few years ago. Took us a couple of days. I swear his kids used it for just a year or so before they got bored and started playing with big cardboard boxes instead. If you have access to bulk mulch or wood chips it's a good idea to put a 12" thick layer in a 5' band all around the piece as fall protection. Amazing how many playground injuries there used to be before fall cushioning was required for public playgrounds. (I used to design these things).
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Kids need to have an imagination, then they make do with what ever they have to play with, without "formal play sets".... when I was 4 and 5 years old, my favorite toys were one of my grandmother's snuff bottles, an old spoon and a couple of pieces of board cut to like sorta like cars....the front yard was all dirt so lots of holes to dig, sand to fill the bottle and dirt to push me "cars" around in..... I had a swing on a limb on a big tree in the front yard, but only wanted to swing on it if one of my sisters want it, then I would swing all afternoon, so Dad built us each one.... all in the same tree.
After I was older and we had moved to another farm that sat at the end of the road, I played in the road with same assortment of toys... pieces of boards I had cut to look sorta like cars or carved to look like a boat.... the road was about 10" deep in white sugar sand... perfect place to play... we were 1/4 mile from nearest neighbor and there was a barbed wire fence across the road in front of our house, so no cars coming down the road, unless the fellow who owned the wooded acreage beyond the fence came down and I think he only came once or twice in all the time we lived there.
 
We’ll, my grandkids played on the old swing set at our last house and we’re kind of upset that we got rid of it. They both love to go to the park and love climbing and swinging. They may out grow it, but others will come along. We have quite a few neighbors that bring their kids and grandkids to fish, and they will use it too.

Anyway, did some unboxing and started sorting out some parts. It’s funny, all the decking boards are pre drilled, but they give you a plastic jig to drill all the thicker boards yourself. I have a few I’ll probably replace, so that is probably why. ;)

The large box contained 4 smaller boxes the more boxes in them, and lots of precut wood. The shop car thought it was pretty well packed.
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The drill jig is setup for various patterns, so I marked them for later, all will get countersinks as well.
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Got all of these drilled and ready for countersinking tonight, which will frame out the main structure. I’ll do that in 3 sections
then finish in place in the yard
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There were anchors that come with the kit to screw into the ground then bolt to the legs and base.
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spent the day doing the tower assembly. I started the 3 main parts on saw horses.
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For combining them I ended up using the rails of my flatbed trailer.
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I think I made it about 1/4 of the way through the instructions, lots left to do. This was about as far as I could go without having to flip it to work on other sides of it, so will stand it up tomorrow in the area it will be.
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It’s supposed to be in the 60s, so hope to get a lot done on it.
 
Busy day, but still ran out of daylight. No major issues or redos. I did assemble the swing set legs on the wrong side of the base, but the tractor forks got them to the right side.
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I still need to install a few bolts/ brackets, them some monkey bar hangers, slide, and other grabs and handles.

I don’t know that I’ll get to the smaller swing set kit this week. I still want to get the rest of the little house roof to the ground before the grandkids come.
 
when you want to take a trip to long island I have a room for you...and let me know in advance, so you can help me put together one of those for my grandson.....I dont want to go on a tangent here but Im asking a question about outdoor swings in another thread.
 
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