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General:
-To build any skate ramp or box you are going to need the following.
-TOOLS
-Mitter Saw- a mitter saw in general is a circular saw with a base. This makes cutting your 2 by 4s and other ramp straight edge wood peices very easy and accurate. If you DO NOT own a circular saw already, i highly recommend you buying a mitter saw instead. The price range can be from 99$-300$. A 99$ one will do you fine.
-Circular saw-This is a good tool for cutting all wood in general for your ramp. Its the most commonly used tool. The only reason i would prefer a mitter saw is because it ALWAYS cuts straight, and measuring is very easy. Your household circular saw will be fine, just rememeber, every measurment must be precise, and every cut MUST be straight. These can be very cheap such as 30$.
-Jig Saw-These are best for cutting out transition peices for your quarter pipe or mini ramp extra. They can be very cheap, the lowest ive seen is 30$. You dont need one unless you are planning on building a ramp with medium to steep transition.
-Drill-NEVER EVER EVER use nails. Your ramp is not gunna be perfect, you WILL have to do repairs. Use a drill, and screws. Make sure the screws are rust proof extra... These can range from 30$-100$.
-House hold tools- Your going to need rulers, levels, straight edges, extra...all of these should be able to be found in your dads tool box.
-Saftey-SAFTEY is very important. Dont think its gay to be safe while working with tools. ALWAYS wear saftey glasses. While cutting would make sure to cover your mouth and nose...this is because some wood have chemicals to keep them in good condition...these chemicals can cause many problems, most commonly CANCER...SAFTEY FIRST.
WOOD
-Wood can be found at your local home depot or lowes. You can also get would from the local construction site, from the scrap piles. If your dad isnt cool with that, take a drive to the local junk yard, they have good wood for cheap prices.
-Sometimes wood isnt your best choice, ill go over that later though.
Protecting your ramp against the elements-facts you need to know before you begin to build your ramps
-If you can store your box indoors(such as a garage) that is always best. The facts are, it is very hard to protect your ramp if it is left outdoors, generaly, even if it barley rains in your area, the smallest amount of water, is terrible for your ramp.
-You must protect your ramp against water/rain. If your ramp has to be outdoors, where it can not be covered, the best thing you can do its paint every centemeter of your wood before even beginning assembly. Go to your local Home Depot or Lowes, ask where they have "Oops Paint"-that is paint that some people bought to paint there house and didnt like the color. It is usally 5$ for about a gallon. Make sure it is 100% latex though. This will HELP protect against rain, but that doesnt mean you dont have to worry about it anymore. The next thing you can do is, cover it with a tarp. This is usally cheap. Make sure when you cover your ramp that the tarp is NOT directly on the ramp, this will let the humid air escape form under the tarp.
-Another thing that is important is raising your ramp off the ground. You can do this with cement blocks. Those are 70 cents a peice at Home Depot. It is important to raise the ramp so that run off water or mud doesnt rott away the bottom of your ramp.
-There are many techniques to help protect your ramps from the elements. The climate region is your best guide to what you need to do to protect agains the elements. Usally you will be fine if you follow do the basic techniques to protect your ramp. *dont forget to used galvanized screws that dont rust*
THESE ARE BASIC INSTRUCTION AND HOW YOU SHOULD BUILD YOUR RAMP IN GENERAL...
How to build your Box/Manny box/Hubba
*Make sure to read everything above this point before you begin.*
-Depending on the demensions of your box/hubba/manny, the more/less wood you will need. The important thing is nowing what size of wood/type you need.
-You will Need two by fours
-3/4in thick plywood.
-Angle Iron
-For building anytype of box, you will first need to build a frame. I am not going to go through how to build and put together a frame, you can find this on google or any ramp building site.
How to build your mini ramp/half pipe/quarter pipe
-Plywood-3/4 for side transition peices
-Plywood-3/8 for the wood that will actully cover the ribs of the ramp, you will use two layers of this, 3/8+3/8=3/4, that means you can use 3/4 ply for the flat bottom of the ramp, but it wont bend, so you cant use it as the transition wood.
-2 by 4s, they will be the ribs of the ramp
-There is a string and pencil technique for drawing the transition peicies, im not going to go over this, refer to a ramp building site or google. I will say that MAKE SURE that you like the transition before beginning, the worst thing you can do is get half way done and say your ramp is too steep or shallow.
Pyrimid/Funbox
-You build pyrimids just like quarter pipes extra...but there is not transition just a steep or shallow angle.
-Be creative with how you put it togther, the box or hubba you build can be put down the pyrimid creating a funbox. You can put your flat bar acroos the flat of the pyrimid. Remember always be creative, you can change your ramps around to what you want to skate.
Some tips to leave you with
-Be creative
-Take the elements in mind before even starting
-Dont be afraid to take it down and start over
*Im watching a movie right now and did this on my dads laptop, i left out some important facts that i cant think of right now, ill edit them in tommorow morning, no worrys about it.
*Leave comments or feedback
*Ive been building ramps for awhile and know alot about it, ill put pictures later, but if youve already seen some, your think there professional.
*This doesnt include all the informartion you need to PUT together your ramp, but gives you info about what you need to konw in general
*Ill edit in more stuff tommorow, so check back for the edits
*Dont call me a noob for this, but if you liked this post, some rep points would be nice.
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