Climbing enthusiast and human spider [Swighton] just couldn’t get enough climbing crammed into his day. If he couldn’t get out to the climbing spots, why not bring the climbing spot to him? So he did that by building a climbing wall in his garage.
The process started with determining the available space that can be allocated to the project. In [Swighton]’s case he could afford an 8×12 ft section of real estate. The garage ceilings were 8 ft high. A few days were spent sketching out ideas and designs. To suit his needs, the wall had to have a 45 degree overhang section, a small 90 section (think ceiling, not wall) and a pull-up bar. Once the design was finalized, it was time to pull some sheet rock off the walls and ceiling so that the 2×4 and 2×6 climbing wall framing could be securely fastened to the current garage structure.
Three-quarter inch plywood would cover the wooden frame. Before the plywood sheets were cut to size and installed, he drilled holes every 8 inches to accept t-nuts. These t-nuts allow hand holds to be installed and easily reconfigured. The quantity of t-nuts adds up quickly, an 8 inch square spacing results in 72 t-nuts per sheet of plywood.
[Swighton] also added a hatch to allow access to the inside of the climbing wall so that space would not go to waste. It is now a storage area but may become a kids’ fort in the future. After it was all said and done the wall only cost $400 which includes $180 for the hand holds.
If you’re like [Swighton] and can’t get enough climbing action, check out this wall with light up hand holds or this interactive wall.
I’m an avid climber (work out at the climbing gym a couple of times a week).
The gym owners sometimes make holds from rocks they find around the area. Just drill a hole with a masonry drill and add a bolt, and it works just as well as the professional ones.
Won’t work with certain types of rock – shale, for instance – but it’s a lot cheaper than store-bought.
Perhaps the store-bought “rocks” have liability insurance included in the price?
Nope, they have a liability waiver built in.
Natural rocks are a cool idea. I’ve read interesting articles on casting holds from various resins. This one is probably my favorite so far, as the results look professional: http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-your-own-climbing-holds/?ALLSTEPS (I’d probably add a washer to the mold for the bolt hole prior to casting it — to allow torquing the bolt down more without cracking the hold.)
Although I’ve read other write-ups that were cheaper, using polymer clay to make molds from re-usable forms and using more inexpensive casting materials. E.g. http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Climbing-Hand-Holds/?ALLSTEPS
I made rock climbing holds for a 3D printer. They use a random seed and are customizable, so you can make all different ones, using a cast or just printed. Although I am not yet at the point where I can build a rock-climbing wall, so and feedback from the community would be helpful. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:532569
“I made rock climbing holds for a 3D printer”
That is one talented and agile 3D printer! B^)
Cool use of space except this is in the garage and the walls are plywood. Excellent use of space if you do not use it for car storage.
Bush was still president when this instructable was created…