Kids Jump Rope With Wood Handles and 3D Printed Balls

A kids jump rope is an essential toy for schools and homes and a great way to get kids moving.This DIY project is quick to make and you will have plenty of time to be outdoors enjoying lots of playtime fun together with kids.

Here is an Instructable that outlines how to design and manufacture a traditional "rope through handle" jump rope adjustable in length and featuring two lovely multicolor half spheres.

Supplies

Polyester Rope diam 6 or 8mm

Wooden Dowel diam 20mm

2 or 3mm dowel pins

Access to a FDM 3D printer

few 100g of ABS filament in various colors

Step 1: Design With TINKERCAD

Depending on the diameter of the wooden dowel you may have to tweak the size of the inner bore which is set to 20mm in the CAD. The coupling system comprises of a male and female two part connection which are held securely in position by a needle positioned within a bayonet groove. This design allows the two hemispheres to be firmly secured to the dowel and offer the possibility to unmount for adjusting the rope length. Also depending on your 3D printer size accuracy, you may have to adjust the size of the coupling diameter so that both hemispheres slide with a slightly positive gap (CAD file default is no gap so be prepared to adjust the gap using a file).

Step 2: 3D Print the Half-spheres

For an optimal surface finish, keep the parts in the orientation shown on the previous step and open your favourite slicer software that often comes with a 3D printer. The main settings you would need to specify are the following: 0.2 mm layer height, 3 perimeters, and 25% honeycomb infill. The mushroom require supporting to achieve a nice and flat equatorial plane. For more fun, you can decide to build the two sets in different colours.

Once the prints have completed you can take some time to clean the edges and prepare the parts for assembly so that the female slot and its male complement can fit together properly.

Step 3: Assemble

A small hole must be drilled through the stem of the mushrooms and the wooden dowel to slide a diam 2 or 3mm dowel pin. The drilling distance from the base of the mushroom is approximately 11mm.

Size guide

Jump rope length must be to each child. Depending on their height the rope length can vary between 5 feet 3 inches (or 160cm) and 8 feet (244 cm). Best is to start with a long rope that you shorten and adjust to each child. Note that there is not much room for more than one knot in the sphere. Should you need to shorten the rope you can either cut or add several knots outside the sphere till you get the desired length. If you have a too short jump rope you can simply tie an extra bit of rope to the jump rope and tie it into the handles.

Step 4: Have Fun !

Now that you reached the last step of this Instructable, time has come to show that creativity is limitless : mix and match colours, use turned wooden furniture legs instead of straight dowels, make different handles and rope sizes.

They make an excellent gift for almost anyone.

Thanks for reading this Instructable and I hope you found it inspiring.