Eastern Mountain SportsThere are plans all over the internet on how to build your own indoor climbing wall like over at Eastern Mountain Sports. But there's only a few well documented ways to make your own holds and well buying them can be expensive! Plus it's more fun to make your own unique holds that no one actually makes giving you new challenges to your own wall.
I would like to thank my buddy Dave for first showing this to me and taking the photos.
There is all sorts of ways to make handholds from wood to bondo to silicone with fiberglass resin and while they all work none of them work well without lots of time lotss of practice and a ton of money spent in materials getting that practice time in.
The Bondo Fiberglass resin + sand yields the best results and is real close to commercial climbing holds you would buy in texture and feel. Silicone holds are extremely expensive to make, it will run you about $5+ to make a mold and then take a few hours to make then cover in silicone. To add insult to injury it will take a few days to dry and at that point you are ready to take a sledge hammer to the work you all ready did and head to the local climbing shop to buy holds.
Don't let my frustration as well as others fool you there is light at the end of the tunnel. What im about to show you is probably the easiest way to duplicate commercial holds or making your own free form holds without a "prototype".
I would like to thank my buddy Dave for first showing this to me and taking the photos.
There is all sorts of ways to make handholds from wood to bondo to silicone with fiberglass resin and while they all work none of them work well without lots of time lotss of practice and a ton of money spent in materials getting that practice time in.
The Bondo Fiberglass resin + sand yields the best results and is real close to commercial climbing holds you would buy in texture and feel. Silicone holds are extremely expensive to make, it will run you about $5+ to make a mold and then take a few hours to make then cover in silicone. To add insult to injury it will take a few days to dry and at that point you are ready to take a sledge hammer to the work you all ready did and head to the local climbing shop to buy holds.
Don't let my frustration as well as others fool you there is light at the end of the tunnel. What im about to show you is probably the easiest way to duplicate commercial holds or making your own free form holds without a "prototype".
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Here is what you will need:
- 1 Block of Clay ($5-15 bucks great if you have a student id for that 10% :)
- Bondo Fiberglass Resin (I find getting the 1 gal size is managed easier aprox $20 bucks at home depot)
- Extra Fiberglass resin Fixer (about $2 to 4$ get one or two extra per gallon of resin)
- Play Sand or fine Silica sand (silica works better don't get anything with pebbles or rocks in it, starts at $5 to $10)
- 3/8" Washers (about .50 cents ea you need 1 to 2 a hold)
- 3/8" Mason drill bit for drilling the holes
- a can of WD40
Step 1
Get a block of clay (6" x 6" by 12" is aprox 20lbs depending on the clay type) It can be cheap clay; don't go out spending a arm and a leg on expensive sculptures clay it's just not needed. We will start with cloning a commercial hold first its easier to start with as your first try. Find a commercial hold and cut a slice off of the clay deep enough to accommodate the depth of the hold. Push the hold straight down into the clay with the back of the hold facing up, it is REAL important that you transfer the texture to the clay mold. At this point carefully remove the hold from the clay. Need to be careful not to smudge the texture so this may take a few tries at first. If the plug from the bolt hole breaks off roll a new one from some extra clay by hand. Place a 3/8" washer on top of the bolt hole peg, this is EXTREEMLY important.
Now you want to Spray the finished mold with WD40, this will act as a agent to prevent the poured mixture from sticking to the mold.
- 1 Block of Clay ($5-15 bucks great if you have a student id for that 10% :)
- Bondo Fiberglass Resin (I find getting the 1 gal size is managed easier aprox $20 bucks at home depot)
- Extra Fiberglass resin Fixer (about $2 to 4$ get one or two extra per gallon of resin)
- Play Sand or fine Silica sand (silica works better don't get anything with pebbles or rocks in it, starts at $5 to $10)
- 3/8" Washers (about .50 cents ea you need 1 to 2 a hold)
- 3/8" Mason drill bit for drilling the holes
- a can of WD40
Step 1
Get a block of clay (6" x 6" by 12" is aprox 20lbs depending on the clay type) It can be cheap clay; don't go out spending a arm and a leg on expensive sculptures clay it's just not needed. We will start with cloning a commercial hold first its easier to start with as your first try. Find a commercial hold and cut a slice off of the clay deep enough to accommodate the depth of the hold. Push the hold straight down into the clay with the back of the hold facing up, it is REAL important that you transfer the texture to the clay mold. At this point carefully remove the hold from the clay. Need to be careful not to smudge the texture so this may take a few tries at first. If the plug from the bolt hole breaks off roll a new one from some extra clay by hand. Place a 3/8" washer on top of the bolt hole peg, this is EXTREEMLY important.
Now you want to Spray the finished mold with WD40, this will act as a agent to prevent the poured mixture from sticking to the mold.
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And are these as sturdy as the ones you might buy?
The main reason I'm interested is the ability to customize the holds to any shape. How much money do you save doing this?
This could potentially create the grip on the wall?
It might not be the best though I guess, especially for something semi-crucial to your well being on the wall like that...
I assume polyester resin has been used here as it's cheapest and generally suitable for casting,laminating,fibreglass,pouring,hand lay up etc.
"hardener" is also called catalyst and for polyester resin its name is MEKP - MethylEthylKeton Peroxide, mixing ratio is usually 100:2 -100parts of poly resin and 2 parts of MEKP BY WEIGHT,this is important when mixing bigger batch ,I am using ratio of 100:1 - 100:5, 100:1 when working on hot day with pure resin /no fillers,no sand,no pigments/ 100:5 when working on cold day,resin filled with lot of pigments+fillers...
MEKP is strong oxidizer so please wear eye protection,it can cause instant blindness.
Polyester resins are very durable (good idea on your part!) but have you experienced any failures or breakages? I'd be worried about setting a bolt too shallow or in the wrong spot. Then again, that could make for a really challenging, albeit more realistic route!
http://www.makehandholds.com/how_to.htm
Don-