How do I build a seesaw?
Question:I want to build an old fashioned seesaw for my grands by making an inverted "U" with pipe and putting a board over it.
I don't know what the "thingy" that would fasten the board to the pipe and keep it stable while allowing free movement is called. I didn't look to see how they were built when I was playing on them 50 years ago!! Can you help? Thanks!! Grammybetty
Answers:
The "U" thingy is just that, a U brace or commonly known as a pipe bracket. Just go to your local hardware or building supplier and ask for two to fit your size of pipe your using as your pivot point.
Hope they get lots of fun as we did!
This is a basic simple machine - a Lever.
It consist of two parts:
1. The Lever ( the part you sit on)
2. The Fulcrom ( the pivot)
First I would design two "U" shapes so that one is large and one is small. The smaller one has to fit easily inside the larger one(small one inverted).
The smaller one will be inverted and attached to the Lever.
The larger one will be upright and attached to the Fulcrom.
Run an axle through one side of the Fulcrom "U" right through the Lever "U" shape inverted and through the other side of the Fulcrom "U'
Each end of the axle should be threaded so it can be tightened down with a Nut to prevent it from sliding - I would not use just a cotter pin connection since people can be injured.
This much here will give you a basic operating lever - The cosmetics you can work on .. ok?
Seats, handles..and if you wish to stabalize this at a level height - think about using a counter - weight in the center attached to both ends.
NOTE : Remember - A spring attached to a heavy ball and hung from a tree. The gravity pulling the ball is the force, the contraction of the spring is " the resistance" and there will be a bouncing effect for a definite period of time, and a definite lengths untill they reach a very specific point where they resonate - balance out.
The same here, the weight will be distributed along the full length of the lever, and it will balance out.
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