I'm Antoon Delabie, i do industrial product development at the university Howest Kortijk in Belgium. Our new project was to design a swing that satisfies the following points: the swing has to be used in a tree at the local park near the school, the swing should be hung up without the use of a ladder (the twigs in the trees are high), in case you make tools to hang up the swing, you have to transport it with your swing and finally the swing can't be heavier than 5 kilograms. With that keeping in mind i searched after light materials and came up with bamboo because it's a hollow material and it connects with nature. So i designed a swing with a seat of bamboo sticks.

In the following instructable i'm gonna explain how i made my swing so you can make yours if you want to.

Step 1: Materials You Need

1) 2,2m long bamboo stick with a diameter of average 16mm (x3)

2) 10m long climbing rope with a diameter of 7,5mm

3) 2,1m long braided rope with a diameter of 4mm

4) A ring of steel with an outer diameter of 8mm (x2)

5) A plywood plate 500mm long and 500mm width

6) 0,6m long wooden cylinder with a diameter of 27,5mm

7) Inner tube

Step 2: The Tools

1) Drilling machine

2) Cutter

3) Milling machine

4) Sanding machine

5) Saw tool

6) Sawing machine

Step 3: Correct Size

- 13 bamboo sticks with a length of 500mm.

- 2 plywood plates 260mm long and 120mm width, a groove 210mm long and 16,5mm width (105mm from the center and 20mm from the bottom of the plate) and 2 holes with a diameter of 9,5mm (40mm from the side and 25mm from the top of the plate). The plate is also sanded at the topsides within a radius of 40mm.

- 2 plywood pieces 90mm long and 30mm width, 3 holes in it with a diameter of 9,5mm (22,5mm from each other). The pieces are also sanded within a radius of 15mm.

- Cylinder (already correct size) with 2 holes in it with a diameter of 9,5mm (100mm from the side) and 1 smaller hole with a diameter of 7mm (38mm from the side). Sanding the cylinder on the sides is an option.

- 2 strips of rubber cut out of the inner tube with a length of 220mm and a width of 15mm.

- 2 ropes with a length of 0,85m and 2 ropes with a length of 4,15m.

Step 4: Assembly Seat

First you place the bamboo sticks in order i took 2 brown ones on the outside and 11 green ones on the inside. Then you place them inside the groove of the plywood plates and start stretching the rubber from top to bottom around the bamboo sticks. When you have done that you can gently push the sticks in to place. On the top of the plywood plates you have 2 holes where you can put your rope through but make sure when you fasten it up that the rope is through the steel ring. After all these steps you have the seat of the swing.

Step 5: Assembly Cylinder

To hang the swing in the tree you need this cylinder. Because this cylinder connects to the seat by putting the ropes through the steel rings. Through the big holes you can put your climbing rope but make sure that you also put the climbing rope through the plywood piece otherwise you can't adjust the height of the swing. On the photo you can see how to adjust the rope with the plywood piece. Through the small hole you put your braided rope, this rope is used for pulling the cylinder down if you want to quit swinging.