A child, this is such a special creature, designed primarily to test the strength of everything around - things, of furniture, parental beliefs and foundations, nerves of course. As for sports equipment, especially liked, then for a child of an energetic, choleric internal constitution, this is just a test for the survivability of the structure. However, such unbridled fun is very useful - the energy of the atom, so to speak, in a peaceful direction. Another thing is that parents need to provide their children with relatively safe conditions for their, so to speak, exercises. Not bringing to the point of absurdity of course and not thinking about the bad.
The story of the birth of the piece of iron is as follows - several sports equipment, a swing, something like a bungee, rings, a rope ladder, are fixed on the beam-logs of a large open veranda of the house. Some of the shells are especially fond of, but are not used for their intended purpose. For example, one of the rings is used as a sort of rocking twist. It’s even scary to look at the child’s pirouettes on this ring. Naturally, you have to monitor the technical condition of all this inventory hanging from the ceiling. Rope suspension for this kind of use of the ring keeps in fair condition surprisingly not for long. They managed to reduce wear somewhat by installing an intermediate carbine. Its smooth surface slightly reduces rope wear; however, something more radical was required.
The problem is that the suspension requires at least two degrees of freedom, while conventional rockers have only one. The constructions that take this into account seemed overly complicated, it was decided to use the usual, single-free, but strong enough to withstand the efforts directed in non-working directions. The suspension design was spied in the village on an old swing. The design is very simple, the age of the swing hinted at a successful solution.
The construction was strengthened somewhat to counter the Hurricane Polina and adapted to standard scrap cuttings selected in scrap metal. So.
What was needed for the manufacture.
A set of bench tools, angle grinder, a small welding inverter with accessories.
Four pieces were cut from a piece of narrow steel strip. These will be the mounting legs. Scraps were used from waste, hence small holes. To screw the paws to the log-rafter beam, I picked up four powerful screws with a turnkey head, drilled the corresponding holes in the glands.
The axis will be the steel shaft from the squeezing device of the old washing machine. The rubber shaft was burned, there was a rusty piece of iron, which was cleaned and put in order. A piece of standard water pipe with a diameter of 3/4 "served as a swinging sleeve.
A large "fire" carbine was welded to the middle of the pipe. Everything, the parts are ready, you can proceed with the assembly. On the axis-axis, the part least affected by rust was selected, it will be working. Two mounting legs are welded to the edge of the axis at an angle, that is, degrees 120, from each other, the swinging part is put on the axis and the two remaining legs are welded in the same way.
After cooling the piece of iron, the excess part of the axis is cut off, the welding slag is knocked down, the sharp edges are blunted. For beauty, we decided to paint a piece of iron. The most rusty parts of the paws were slightly sanded with a rough sand, the existing remains of the soil-enamel on rust were applied. An inexpensive option with white spirit as a solvent is not particularly opaque. To get a dense color you have to put 2-3 layers.
After the suspension has completely dried up, secured it in the right place on the log - applying it to the beam, with his hands and a hammer he shaped the legs of the suspension and outlined the places for the screws with a simple pencil. I picked up a suitable drill (with a diameter slightly less than a core without turns in the working part) and drilled a log in the designated places for the entire length of the screw. Used a screwdriver. Screws screwed with a ratchet wrench with a suitable head, began the tests.
Conclusions, work on bugs
Any rubbing pieces of iron work badly and not for long, without lubrication, that’s the author of the old swing, the neighbor Uncle Sasha said, “You’re the main thing I’m going to go to see a solido .......”. In short, it is necessary to periodically update the grease packing.
Tests have shown that the mount works well and reliably, but it was a mistake to make the axis longer than the swinging assembly. With lateral efforts, he jerkily jumps from one position to another, rattling quite loudly. This is due to the specifics of the application and does not matter for a normal swing. Here, the swinging unit had to restrict freedom with two metal pins. It looked prettier, although it was possible to move the piece of iron along the axis to the stop and fix it with one pin.
He axed the hole centers and drilled two ø4mm holes with the same screwdriver, hammered 100mm into these holes with some effort and cut off the excess angle grinder. A file with a small notch dulled the sharp edges of the pins. After refinement, the unit began to work much better, jerks and loud sounds disappeared. Two-week intensive use gave the most encouraging results - the catastrophic wear of the rope part stopped, the swinging degree of freedom did the trick.
Our suspension seems to us a simple, inexpensive and reliable solution for all kinds of swings. The only point that can cause difficulty is welding. On the other hand, with the advent of miniature, light and not too expensive welding inverters, structural welding of metals with a consumable electrode has become quite accessible to any master and greatly expands its capabilities. It’s worth mastering it!
Babay Mazay, June, 2019