Gone are the days when building regulations prohibited the construction of tall buildings on summer cottages. The buildings are growing upward and it’s hard to call the two- or three-story mansions that have appeared on country estates in recent years as country houses. But no matter how new the house is and no matter what financial capabilities its owner has, a situation may still arise in which urgent repairs of some section of the building or roof are necessary. What to do if the house has three floors? Scaffolding will help, which is easy to make yourself, having at hand basic tools and simple material in the form of boards and bars, always set aside by a thrifty owner.
Prefabricated frame structures, such as scaffolding, significantly simplify the procedure for performing construction, installation and finishing work outside and inside the building, reduce the risk of injury from a possible fall, and in modern construction they perform a truly irreplaceable function.
Almost all restoration work on civil and residential sites is carried out using scaffolding. You can compare scaffolding to a web that entangles a building from all sides, allowing builders and finishers to move freely along the entire outer surface of the structure, reaching the most remote points without additional equipment.
The process of installing scaffolding is technologically not a complicated procedure, especially if the scaffolding has been calculated in advance and professionally manufactured elements are used as components.
The most durable scaffolding is made of metal. These are used in construction organizations that regularly perform work at heights. The principles of fastening are based on the use of so-called glasses (pieces of pipes thicker than the main structural elements into which these basic elements are inserted). Installation of such scaffolding takes a minimum of time, thereby reducing the cost of work. A more expensive option for metal scaffolding is aluminum, which is much lighter and does not corrode.
Due to the rapid appearance of polymers on the market, prototypes of plastic scaffolding are already being produced, which are no less durable than metal ones, but have a much longer service life. The sections are fastened together with special clamps.
Of course, the most common material for making summer scaffolding is wood.
However, the accessibility and simplicity of a wooden structure is compensated by its low reliability, therefore, before you start making scaffolding with your own hands, you need to clearly understand their purpose and the types of work that will be performed with their help and have scaffolding drawings at hand (at least schematically with the necessary calculations). Remember that wooden scaffolding is only suitable for simple finishing and painting work.
When manufacturing scaffolding, it is necessary to strictly follow all technological procedures; the safety of the work depends on this. One of the main elements of the installation process is the calculation of scaffolding for strength and stability.
When calculating, a measuring tool is used that measures the following parameters:
Before you make scaffolding yourself, you need to stock up on the necessary materials and tools. Let's consider the simplest option - attached scaffolding.
You will need a hacksaw, a hammer, nails, boards of various thicknesses and widths, bars of at least 50x50. First, a support frame is made, for which a thick beam (at least 100x50) is attached to the wall of the house at an angle to the ground, and at the junction with the wall an “envelope” is made of slats or narrow boards, as shown in the photo of scaffolding.
Depending on the width of the wall, two or more support posts with “envelopes” are installed. Boards are laid on the horizontal part of the “envelope” between the two posts (it is better to nail them with small nails). Climbing to the scaffolding is carried out using a wooden ladder.
Construction trestles serve the same tasks as scaffolding, only their capabilities are somewhat limited, since they are made with only one platform, which is located on top of the frame structure. How to make construction trestles with your own hands is clearly shown in the presented video.
From this master class you will learn how you can independently make the now popular folding pair of trestles for a portable workshop.
The design is quite simple, made from inexpensive materials. For manufacturing, all the necessary drawings are presented, as well as a cutting blank in the Sketchup program.
Download file:
(downloads: 402).zip
We mark out parts for cutting plywood.
Scheme for marking plywood for cutting.
At this stage the task is to connect the support legs to the upper and lower crossbars.
When installing the top crossbar, it is recommended to attach hinges so that in the future the self-tapping screws for fastening the hinges do not fall on the screws for fastening the plywood blanks.
We drill the fastening points of the self-tapping screws with a drill of a smaller diameter, and countersink the holes in order to hide the heads of the screws in the future.
To connect the parts, PVA wood glue was also used; a small amount of glue was applied to the joint, the workpiece was applied and tightened with self-tapping screws.
Then we screw the upper support platform to the end of one of the sidewalls.
Both are not necessary, otherwise the opening and closing mechanism will not work.
For safety when working on sawhorses, when they are opened by more than 20 degrees, an opening limiter was invented.
It is made of polypropylene rope, because... This material is inelastic, durable and inexpensive.
To make a limiter, we drill holes in each leg in the area of the lower support, and thread a polypropylene rope through one leg and then into the second leg. We tighten the knot on the rope and melt it using a regular lighter.
We were convinced of the reliability of the design and dispelled doubts.
for this purpose they were cut out of plywood
To tighten the blanks, black wood screws 50 mm long were used.
I have been doing carpentry work at the dacha for a very long time and sawhorses were always needed, but there was no time to make them, or rather, there was, but it was a pity to waste precious time on them. Besides, where to store the goats? They are bulky and there is definitely no place to store them.
My world turned upside down after I saw folding sawhorses made of plywood. This is the solution! Easy to make from plywood, foldable for easy storage. I took this drawing from American Woodworker magazine
We print the template on A4 sheets; to do this, you need to divide the image into A4 sheets using the Poster Printer 3.01.12 program. It's paid, but there are options on torrents. The source code was intended for sawing on a CNC machine; anyone who has such a machine can stop reading further))
But first I decided to print out a mini image and assemble it. It turned out like this
This is how the program divided the template into A4 sheets
I printed out the “mosaic”, glued it into a finished drawing and cut it out along the contour.
You can proceed further depending on the tool you have. I have a circular saw and a hand router. It was with this tool that I decided to cut out the goats. I secure the guide and cut out straight sections with a circular saw.
These are the blanks we got:
Now it’s time for the internal holes, I cut them out on 1 copy manually with a router, and then using the first sample as a template, using a copy sleeve and a cutter, we very quickly cut all the holes on the remaining elements of the trestle
Trying to assemble blanks for collapsible trestles
Everything came together and you can process sharp edges and grind the elements of the sawhorse. I went over the edges with an edging cutter and sanded the flat areas with sandpaper.
They turned out to be such cute goats
All that remains is to protect them from moisture, although plywood is moisture resistant. I used tikuril colored varnish for the coating.
Well, the goats are at work
I don’t show how I store them unfolded, because... I haven’t finished the workshop yet, as soon as I finish it they will hang on the wall.
Reading time ≈ 4 minutes
The folding firewood trestle is a convenient and compact stand. It makes sawing logs and thick boards easy. The folding stand does not take up much space and can be stored in a shed or garage. To manufacture the structure, you will need to prepare high-quality timber and boards. Assembling the stand takes about 2 hours.
Assembling a wooden goat for sawing firewood with your own hands is not difficult. But it is recommended to use durable materials in the work. To maximize the service life of the structure, you should pre-treat the wood with an antiseptic. This will protect the materials from moisture and prevent them from being damaged by harmful insects.
A wooden sawmill for sawing firewood is made with parameters of 1×1 m. This size of the product is sufficient for sawing both large logs and small stumps. Before starting work, the contractor will need to prepare the following materials and auxiliary products:
Using these materials and consumables, you can assemble a compact folding goat that will have increased stability. Additionally, to carry out the work you will need a screwdriver and a wood saw.
The work of making sawhorses for sawing wood begins with preparing holes for the bolts. To do this, you need to place two supports on top of each other (side ribs) and drill holes at a mark of 70 cm from the bottom edge.
You need to connect the first pair of legs, tighten the bolt, install the washer and nut.
Repeat the procedure for two more support pairs. Further work is carried out according to the following scheme:
1. Using a jigsaw, the board prepared for fastening the legs is sawn. If the boards were prepared according to the specified parameters (with a width of 7-8 cm), they do not need to be sawed.
2. On a pair of boards located on one side of the trestle, two vertical holes should be drilled at a distance of 67 mm from each edge (see drawing of the trestle). Additionally, holes are drilled on one side at a distance of 245 mm.
3. On the second pair of boards, you need to prepare the following pairs of vertical holes: at a distance of 22 mm from the edge on both sides, at a distance of 335 mm from one edge.
4. Prepared boards, pre-divided into pairs, are screwed to the legs: the bottom ones at a distance of 80 mm from the edge, the top ones at a distance of 535 mm from the edge (see diagram of the wooden trestle). The indicated indents are measured to the extreme bottom line of the board.
When screwing in pairs, it is important to ensure that the indentations match. Shifting the fixing points for the left and right crossbars prevents them from being screwed to one beam, which increases the strength of the structure.
When carrying out work according to these instructions, it is recommended to additionally use the attached drawings, photos and video materials. They will help you easily make durable sawhorses. The finished structure can withstand a lot of weight, but it is important to store it in normal conditions: a dry room. Constant exposure to moisture or humid air will cause materials to deteriorate.
It is especially important to consider the rules for using the workpiece. It is not recommended to overload it with heavy logs. Folding sawhorses are suitable for sawing firewood with a chainsaw and a hand saw. The reliable design will become indispensable in a summer cottage or in a private house. With its help, you can easily and quickly prepare firewood, logs for lighting a stove or home fireplace.
Almost every builder who was faced with the issue of constructing a building for any purpose wondered how to make construction trestles with his own hands. Without them, it will be quite difficult to carry out the mentioned manipulations. The structure can be rented, but it is quite expensive, which is especially true in the case that involves construction over a long period of time.
If you will make construction trestles with your own hands, then you must first prepare all the materials and tools. Among the first is a pipe, the diameter of which can be 1.5 or 2 inches. The final parameter depends on the expected loads. You will need a pipe with a diameter of 1 and 1.5 inches, the figure will depend on the parameter of the pipe, which was described above. From the blanks it is necessary to make horizontal jumpers that will connect the racks. Another pipe with a diameter of 0.5 inches will be needed to make the hooks into which horizontally oriented jumpers are installed. The pins will be a round rod, the diameter of which is 14 millimeters. This workpiece must be welded onto a horizontal jumper on both sides.
If you are making construction trestles with your own hands, then in addition to the elements described above, you will need an adjustment mechanism that will help level out surface unevenness. To form it you need to purchase four bolts and nuts. Bolts should be selected according to diameter, the minimum of which should be 20 millimeters. A nut should be welded into the lower part of the racks into which the screw is installed.
When making construction trestles with your own hands, it is necessary to begin work on forming the pin structure from the racks. In this case, everything is quite simple; at the bottom of these elements you need to weld nuts for the bolts. A pipe is welded into the upper part. It will need to be used to install the section of the next tier. On the sides of the pipe, top and bottom, at a distance of 200 millimeters from the edges, you need to weld tubes, the length of which is 100 millimeters. There should be four of them at the top and bottom. The result should be a cross, which will allow, by connecting the racks with jumpers, to form a rectangular structure. The racks of the upper tiers will differ from similar elements below in the absence of nuts. In this case, the pipe should remain free.
If you are making scaffolding, at the next stage you will need to weld pins along the edges of the horizontal long and short jumpers, then bending them at a right angle. It is important to equip the structure with a rack, which must have components made of thick boards. Their width should be equivalent to 0.5 meters. During the assembly process, the rack is laid on horizontally located short lintels.
When making scaffolding from metal, the next stage will need to be assembly. To do this, the master is recommended to enlist the help of another person. One of them will have to hold two posts, while the other will have to insert jumpers into them. With the help of short elements you will be able to assemble two sidewalls. Each of the craftsmen, holding one side, begins to insert long jumpers. Once these blanks are in place, you can level everything by laying ladders on them. Before making construction trestles, you should familiarize yourself with the technology. At the next stage, it assumes the possibility of installing subsequent tiers, and you need to use the method described above.
If you decide to make trestles from wood, then the step between the racks can be equal to the limit of 2 to 2.5 meters. As for the width of the flooring, it should be equivalent to one meter. You should not make the structure too high; the maximum height limit is 6 meters. To carry out the work, it is necessary to prepare boards 50 millimeters thick. As for their width, this figure should not appear less than 100 millimeters. You can replace such blanks with a square beam of 10 cm. The racks and stops can be based on round timber. Spacers and barriers are typically made from boards that are 30 millimeters or more thick.
If you want to make folding construction trestles, which were discussed above, then they can be used for many years. This cannot be said about wooden structures, which require treatment with certain substances that provide the material with special qualities. Wood lasts less and is not as stable in the finished structure. Among other things, wooden wheels must be installed on special scaffolds that prevent interaction of lumber with the ground. A drawing of construction trestles will allow you to carry out the work without errors. You can borrow it from the article or draw it yourself, depending on the dimensions of the future building. After all, how convenient it will be to carry out construction work will depend on this.
