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How to build a children's bed gym?

I wanna make the bed gym I drew. I'm not a good drawer so I added the pic of the bed that inspired me. I'm a total newbie and I don't have any tools. I want to try to buy as little tools as possible. I was thinking asking bunnings to cut the pieces for me. I'm guessing I still need a sander, drill and child friendly wax or varnish for the wood. Am I missing anything else? Any recommendations on the brands I can get?

Also the most important thing, what type of wood should I buy? 1 to 2 children (let's say 80kg)

will be climbing it so I need something strong.

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Dave-1

Good Afternoon @Kathy88

I like your way of thinking and I would like to say welcometo the Bunnings community 🙂

Looking at the design (Even the prettyfied one : ) Id change a few things to make it more stable and stronger especially if you are going to have children climbing on it.

For the timber question Id be using plywood for the ends and the base, easy and cheap to use. The peaked roof is the bit I'd change, it would be hard to make it strong and stable enough overall is how I am thinking, having the roof more like a larger set of monkey bars may be an idea. (strength/structual wise)

Id be using 70*35mm pine at least and not having a huge distance between supports (Left and right side) Or double it so you can span the longer distance.

Tools that come to mind are

Drill

Jigsaw to cut out your shapes

Torqued battery drill so you can use it to screw screws in.

Circular saw

I am trying to think of something that would be strong enough to hold weight and long enough to span for the climbing part. (As in broomsticks but most I know flex a fair bit) It may take a little practice with some of the tools (I remember being nervous about using a jigsaw the first time) But if you practice on a spare offcut you will easily pick up the skills you need. Being able to draw the project in the first place already means you have been thinking it through.

I was just looking at your sketch for the rope climb on the end. And to have that it really needs to be solid structure for the kind or pressure you may get as kids do things. A strong rectangular frame is where id start your modified sketch and then add to the frame for the peaked parts.

I am sure the others will be able to add to the ideas and also help ypou out to solve any issues 🙂

Dave

EricL

Hello @Kathy88

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's fabulous to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about building a children's bed gym.

Just to give you a perspective of how heavy 40kg is, it is equivalent to two bags of 20kg concrete, or four 10kg bags of rice.

You also need to keep in mind that this weight is not static and staying in just one place, it'll be moving and applying its force and weight over the entire structure. Multiply that by two and you're talking about a serious pair of dynamic forces.

The structure needs to be strong and be able to take forces applied to it. I suggest having a look at this discussion - How to build an indoor monkey bar? by @JohnC5. You'll notice that it was built with 90x45 pine timber in combination with galvanized pipe to serve as the hanging bars.

If you were to build this as just a display, you would be able to use smaller pieces of timber. But if the children were ever to use this in a serious manner of play, the structure will not be able to hold their combined weight and action. It's still possible to turn the monkey bar structure into a bed, but I would recommend keeping the shape simple for ease of construction.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

Kathy88

Thank you @Dave-1 @EricL I will make changes you guys suggested and check out other projects and see how I go.

MitchellMc

Please keep us updated @Kathy88 and reach out again if you need further assistance.

Mitchell

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