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D Fred
Trad climber
san francisco, ca
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 27, 2012 - 12:53am PT
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Hey guys,
I started my humbling education in Yosemite last year when I moved out
here from the East Coast and there was something that was blatantly
obvious... I felt a new kind of pump on the long valley cracks. My
forearms weren't that tired but my palms/thumbs/hands were so tired I
could barely pull the trigger of a cam. And I noticed what it was.
The muscles we use to crimp edges originate in the forearms, but the
muscles we use to handjam aren't in the forearms, they are the
intrinsic muscles of the hand.
Bottom-line? All my hours on east coast sport climbs and hangboard
crimpers were worthless, I needed to train my intrinsic hand muscles,
not my forearms... I needed to build a crack hangboard... even better,
an adjustable crack hangboard, so I could work on wide hands, thin
hands, ring locks, etc.
see the attached photos and below are the materials list and instructions
I am no engineer by any means, but this design was simple, easy to install for those of us who barely know how to use a hammer outside the valley... But I'm curious to hear your thoughts, let me know what you think. Hopefully it gets your mitts up to snuff for the valley!!!
Cheers,
 Doug
Inventory
• ¾” plywood
3.5” x length of doorway
5.5” x length of doorway
4 pieces of 3.5” x 12”
2 pieces of 3.5” x 6”
2 pieces of 3.5” x 2”
• 4 pieces of 4”x4” x 10”
• 2 bolts 3/8” x 5” hexagonal flat head
• 2 medium and 2 large washers to fit 3/8” bolt
• 2 t-nuts 3/8”
• 7/16” drill bit
• 1.25” length wood screws
• longer wood screws to span 2.25” and extend long enough to anchor into the studs in the doorframe
• socket wrench to fit head of 3/8 bolt head
Instructions
1. Assemble frame
a. Lay the long 3.5” and 5” plywood horizontally on the ground leaving a 2” gap between them. Now stack two of the 3.5x12 pieces of plywood vertically on the left side and two stacked on top of each other on the right side.
b. Before screwing the horizontals to the vertical pieces, double check that the 2”x3.5” Screw together the frame as shown in the 1st picture so that each vertical brace is 1.5” thick (to leave adequate room in the back so that the end of the bolt does not scrape against the wall) and that there is a 2” gap between the horizontals.
2. Attach the two inner 4x4’s to the middle of the horizontals so that the total span from outside of 4x4 to outside of 4x4 is 9” (see 1st picture)
3. Assemble the backing:
a. Attach the 2”x3.5” to the 6”x3.5” with 2 1.25” long screws.
b. Drill a hole through the center of the attached unit with a 7/16” drill bit
c. Set the t-nut in the 6” piece (see youtube for how to)
d. Repeat steps a-c to create two backings
4. Drill a hole through the center of the 4x4 with 7/16” drill bit
a. Make sure to stay completely perpendicular to the length of the 4x4 so that it will later lay flush against the frame
5. Attach the 4x4’s to the horizontal frame using the 6”-2” backings. Each 4x4 will go on the outside of the two fix’ed middle 4x4s so that you’ll have a total of four 4x4s on the frame, the outer two will be sliding and the inner two are fixed. Arrange the backing with the 4x4 using the bolt so that the 6” piece will lay flat against the back of the horizontals, the 2” piece will fit snug between the horizontals and the 4x4 will lay against the front. The bolt head will sit on the two washers onto the front of the 4x4, the back of the bolt threading through the t-nut of the backing.
6. Now with all 4x4s attached to the frame via the bolt and t-nut backings, now attach the entire thing to the doorframe with longer wood screws through the vertical braces on either side.
7. Adjust the width of the 4x4s with a socket wrench
8. Get your crack on !!!!
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Aug 27, 2012 - 01:04am PT
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wow just got up from our dinner table where we were having this very conversation about what to do about the home woodie, hangboards, self belay systems, garage vs outdoor vs living room sky light, and what knott. The subject of a crack hangboard came up and we're THERE right NOW with this info . Thank YOU.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Aug 27, 2012 - 09:10am PT
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hmm, an interesting addition
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Aug 27, 2012 - 09:41am PT
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I made some once that were like rock rings, hanging from straps. I found them too painful to use.
Your system looks way better.
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Aug 27, 2012 - 02:49pm PT
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The cool thing about this system is the dead-easy adjustment for different awkward widths from finger-tips to fist stacks. Nice! Compact, portable, practical for almost anywhere.
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Splater
climber
Grey Matter
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Aug 27, 2012 - 03:17pm PT
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Looks pretty good.
You may get a little rotational slop with a one bolt design.
If you had 2 rows of 2" slots with one bolt in each, it would be more rigid.
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mareko
Trad climber
San Francisco
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Aug 27, 2012 - 03:31pm PT
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I went to Doug's place and he showed off his new crack boards, while drinking vodka on the rocks.
Great post Doug
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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Aug 27, 2012 - 04:04pm PT
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I like that. I'm contemplating the building of an outdoor workout apparatus with free hanging rope, rings, bars... and now possibly a crack simulator. Nice, clean design.
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D Fred
Trad climber
san francisco, ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 28, 2012 - 01:24am PT
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You may get a little rotational slop with a one bolt design.
If you had 2 rows of 2" slots with one bolt in each, it would be more rigid
Splater,
This is actually version 2. The first version had exactly that problem of rotation, but this one for whatever reason works great and super easy to adjust and actually doesn't hurt the hands that much. I started off using hand-jammies just so I could get a pump without the pain and now i've built up enough calluses to go bareback.
They actually make nice pinches too!
now, i just need an offwidth machine! those things still eat me alive
p.s. if you notice from the photo that it's actually inside my closet... my wife told me that i wasn't allowed to put it anywhere that guests could see it!
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Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
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Aug 28, 2012 - 03:11am PT
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I thought Dale had this subject dialed decades ago and not just a couple jams on a hangboard but full on crack climbs.
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Wei-Ming
Trad climber
Atlanta, GA
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Another crack hangboard created! I ended up making all the blocks mobile to accommodate offwidth size in the center if so desired. Also it's mountable on a removable door pull up bar like the Irongym.
Thank you for posting the schematics! Would have been hard pressed to dream up a board like this on my own.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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I climb a LOT of cracks and never feel any pain in either my hands or feet. The few artificial cracks that I've tried we're super uncomfortable for both my hands and feet.
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DAN DUANE
climber
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
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Hey I'm just finding this thread and thinking about building one of these things. I'm wondering if anybody who built one has anything to add. Any tweaks? Improvements? New recommendations?
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nathanael
climber
CA
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I climb a LOT of cracks and never feel any pain in either my hands or feet.
LOL i'll have some of whatever you're having
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Mei
Trad climber
mxi2000.net
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Living in SF, you actually have pretty good access to crack training without having to drive far.
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| Messages 1 - 16 of total 16 in this topic |
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