Building things is fun ...BUT... Building fun things is a freakin' blast!
I think my favorite fun thing to build would be slides!
I work at a place where everyday we build things geared toward having fun. It's an imaginative mix of playground, funhouse, living sculpture and architectural museum all made out of unique, found, reclaimed and recycled items.
Nearly everything we construct has an element of exploration - we've build all kinds of tunnels,hideouts, caves and climbers, but the one thing that is always a hit are the slides!
I mean, once you've clawed and climbed your way to the top, don't you want to get to the bottom as fast as you can to do it all over again?
I'd been toying with the notion of writing something to answer all the crazy questions I get and then I saw this post: Has-anyone-built-a-playground-slide
i guess it helped spur me into the notion that others might find a primer on slide building useful.
I think my favorite fun thing to build would be slides!
I work at a place where everyday we build things geared toward having fun. It's an imaginative mix of playground, funhouse, living sculpture and architectural museum all made out of unique, found, reclaimed and recycled items.
Nearly everything we construct has an element of exploration - we've build all kinds of tunnels,hideouts, caves and climbers, but the one thing that is always a hit are the slides!
I mean, once you've clawed and climbed your way to the top, don't you want to get to the bottom as fast as you can to do it all over again?
I'd been toying with the notion of writing something to answer all the crazy questions I get and then I saw this post: Has-anyone-built-a-playground-slide
i guess it helped spur me into the notion that others might find a primer on slide building useful.
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This project is more conceptual in nature, by that i mean your interpretation and implementation can be pretty darn flexible.
I build crazy things for a living, and that said I may have tools and or skills that you don't...
This doesn't mean you can't build a really cool slide and have an awesome time doing it. The materials you use will greatly affect how you construct it and what sort of tools you'll need to do it and of course the skills you'll need to do it.
I'll try to spark your imagination and set you up with the goods you need to get the mission accomplished and help you make it safe to boot.
I build crazy things for a living, and that said I may have tools and or skills that you don't...
This doesn't mean you can't build a really cool slide and have an awesome time doing it. The materials you use will greatly affect how you construct it and what sort of tools you'll need to do it and of course the skills you'll need to do it.
I'll try to spark your imagination and set you up with the goods you need to get the mission accomplished and help you make it safe to boot.
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1. How many people actually design this stuff? There are so many different looking things there.
2. How is this stuff safety-rated? Like when you are using "legit" (for lack of a better word) building materials, there are limits on the weight and other building code stuff, but how does the stuff at the city museum get approved (or does it?). There isn't a single structure there I feel is at risk of collapsing, but isn't it a paperwork nightmare to get it inspected?
Though to anyone making slides out of scales: make sure the scales are the right way round! :D
Are you doing to do publish some more 'ibles, or do some slideshows of slides you've made? That would be awesome...
We are a crew, the main group is about twelve people but we have support from many many others. By in large the projects are led by the Museum's Mastermind Bob Cassilly, all this comes from his brain and we are the tools by which things happen. This job is a dream job for those that dream of creatively building big and hard.
To be honest most of the slides we build are modified embankment type slides, meaning they go from the floor to the floor.
I'd guess that your wanting to build one you climb a ladder to get in... just off the top of my head i'd think a structure of 1" iron pipe and a chute made of 55 gallon drums would work out pretty nice.
it does show the details better, if you look closely the slides are a sort of paired in a double helix. the far one is the one modified for people. The near ones you can see stair treads have been added and they have become the way up.
I appreciate you looking out for us, but in a sense i was doing then same.
(incidentally i'm fairly certain we know each other... through Arch Reactor and Gateway Burners folk)
Just an FYI
quite frankly, had i perfectly documented us building the monster slide it wouldn't have helped much of anyone build a slide.
i could have shown pictures at the scrap yard buying a 35' pipe, showed us moving is with our high-lift bulldozer or one of our fork lifts, or even one of the three cranes we have.
I fully understand this community is to show HOW to build something, at times I feel considerations are more helpful than obscure tools or materials.
please understand that this is my first instructable, I've noted suggestions made by others and am working to restructure this and add a bit more.
More construction methods and tips and less "anatomy of a slide" would be nice
the playground slide and the construction slide are the ONLY photos not taken at the City Museum in St Louis.
I was wondering about this too. Where can we go to slide down 10 storeys into a cave? Really at the St. Louis museum? Must plan a trip!
The slides were there as the shoe company, (think gravity powered conveyer)
and still are, we put bars over the top to contain the rider and polished and debured the whole thing.
yes, it decends into man-made cave made of blown cement, the large thing at the left bottom is a refurbished church organ which plays into the slide shaft and the caves. I can pretty much assure you, you have never see anything like the museum.
It's also neat that the tunnel looks like you are launching towards space in the Battlestar Galactica. Except in Technicolor.