Hey,

For an assignment with school, I have to make a swing.
It must be light an easy to carry around.

So if you want to build a swing that you can take anywhere, have a look!

I also have a blog where you can find information about the process.

Sorry for my English but I live in Belgium, I tried my best.

If you don't understand something please let me know!

Step 1: Materials

For this swing you will need:

- plywood 1,8mm (0.5m²)

- wood glue

- 2 ring bolts M10

- 2 nuts M10

- yacht varnish

- 32 nails

- plastic wood

- jeans fabric

- sewing thread

- rope: one 15mm thick (2x 6m) rope one 1.25mm thick (about 6m)

- 8 wood screws ( D4.2 x L20)

- 16 flat washers 8 (M5) & 8 (M10)

You will also need:

- Hammer

- Pointstroke

- sandpaper 200

- sewing machine

- hand grinding machine

- jigsaw

- clamps

Step 2: First Step: Sawing Your Wood

The first thing to do is saw your wood.

For the dimensions of the wood please take a look at the drawing

Step 3: Making the Base

First what you gonna do is glue the 5cmX6.4cm rectangles on the sides of the 45X10 rectangles as in the picture above. (Pic1)
You wanna make sure everything is sealed together so you hammer 4 nails into the swing (look in picture for the location) (Pic2)

Do this on both sides.

Use the point stroke to get the nails deeper. Fill it up with plastic wood.

Let it dry for about 24 hours

in the meantime you can glue 3 35cmX5.4cm rectangles side on side. So it forms one unit.

When everything is dry you can glue it together as in the picture (Pic3)

When you've done that you can add the sidebars (45cmX5.4cm rectangles) and the extra support (35cmX5.4cm)

If you've done everything right it should look like the last image (Pic 4)

Do this step 2 times!

Step 4: Making Fabric Tension-er

At the bottom of the swing their is an fabric tension-er that holds the fabric in the right place.
It's consist of an 45cmX10cm rectangle with an 35cmX2.5cm hole in it. (Pic2)

To make the hole in the rectangle just drill in each corner a hole so you can put your jigsaw in it and saw the rectangle out of the outer rectangle. See picture 1 for more information

Do this 2 times!

The slats that hold the fabric together are the 35cmX2.5cm rectangles.
In picture 4 you can see that I marked the spots where I drill my wood screws.

Step 5: Assemble

If you followed all the steps you will have everything as in picture 1.

Just glue the underside on to the base en slam a couple (4) of nails at the sides.

Dry it for about 24 hours and than you can start to begin varnishing.

I use yacht varnish because its water resistant.

Varnish it 1 time, let it dry sand it repeat.
Varnish it about 2 times.

After you varnish the swing you must drill 2 holes.
You can see in the drawing where to drill the holes.

if you have properly followed the steps you need to achieve the same as in Figure 4.

Remember you will need 2 parts.

Step 6: Jeans Fabric

The sewing pattern is located in the image. (Pic1)

The highlighted area is a double pleated zone such that a pouch is created where you can confirm later in a lath.

The next pic is showing how it must be.

Step 7: Catapult

for this swing, you can use any catapult. I have made one of stainless steel tubes but this could just as well be made out of wood or similar.

I will not explain how my catapult is made because you can choose which you use and what material.

Step 8: Finishing the Swing

When you have completed all the preceding steps, it's time to complete the swing.

The first step is to shove the slate into the fabric (step1,pic1)
When you completed that you can screw your wood screws into the right place (insert an flat washer between!)

When its completed you also can mount the second slate look at the picture for more details.

When this is done you must put your ring bolts in the way I did (look at the picture (1))
Mount them tightly, when you have material behind the bolt then you must grind it away. (Pic3)

In picture 4 you can see how the ring bolt must be.

To complete the swing you must attach the rope. I use an simply knot (Pic5&6)

This knot fasten itself.