How I made my Creative Playthings playset rock solid

[Thomas G. Marshall]

I have a Creative Playthings playset with a 9' swingrail. While the playset is wonderful in many respects, it suffers from the fatal flaw of just not having enough of the right kind of triangles in the structure.

Kids get on the swings that are hung from a 9' swingrail and the lever- arms against the structure are huge. Thing skews back and forth in a terrifyingly swaying manner no matter HOW much the bolts are tightened.

I put a big 2x6 overkill diagonal on the thing and it doesn't budge a millimeter.

Here's the picture. I've kept it at original resolution so that you can see the bolt placement best.

* The 2x6 is from Creative. Their engineers had to approve my design. I just couldn't find 2x6 cedar anywhere near my house. * The top and bottom bolts are reusing the existing T-nuts (and bolt holes) that were there. * I have engineering OCD so everything within 500' of a drop of water is stainless. That added a hugely unnecessary cost to this thing. Just use grade-2 steel. All 5/16ths * The middle bolts weren't perfectly placed but I was starting to wear out mentally.

Hope this helps someone. Truly though, a 2x3 stretched from the topmost left to the bottommost right with a single bolt at each end probably would have been ok. I was just worried about pushing strength.

When properly trimmed and painted it loses that "Nazi Watchtower" look. I think it's ok now.

[Martin H. Eastburn]

I'd consider one diagonal under the slide to act as a shear wall for that axis. Less nice would be a sheet of exterior plywood. If it were bolted in a number a places, it wouldn't have to be full height allowing a crawl through or look through...

Mart>

[Thomas G. Marshall]

That's a good idea but I needed to preserve the aesthetics of the thing at least a little. Plus when I look at how it moves, the swing rail was only torquing in a circle and swaying as well all in the same plane. The plane shared by the diagonal.

By the way, what is the term for such a diagonal bracing? "Corner Bracing" is for the smaller stuff, no?

[jloomis]

That's a good idea but I needed to preserve the aesthetics of the thing at least a little. Plus when I look at how it moves, the swing rail was only torquing in a circle and swaying as well all in the same plane. The plane shared by the diagonal.

By the way, what is the term for such a diagonal bracing? "Corner Bracing" is for the smaller stuff, no?

[Steve Barker]

gusset

[Thomas G. Marshall]

Even for the diagonal I put up in the picture? I'm not talking about the panel suggested by Martin H. Eastburn above.

[CW]

Diagonal bracing. :)

[Martin H. Eastburn]

Corner to corner bracing - as in barns....fence gates...

Our home in the mountains of California was a pier and beam A-frame and all walls on the exterior were heavy thickness of ply. The frame is bolted to the various piers and concrete bases.

Earthquakes would roll the ground - yes like water waves - and the shear walls prevented the stick wood of the building from 'racking' and going flat. e.g. top floor sliding to the side as the walls tilted that way...

Having ply on inside and outside of the walls prevented ripple effect that might buckle and pop off some sheets in various quakes.

Remember the kids will not stand still but rush to side to side if it becomes exciting - e.g. swing faster as it whips the body this way and that.

Mart> >> I'd consider one diagonal under the slide to act as a shear wall for >> that axis. >

[Thomas G. Marshall]

A gusset is usually a "gusset plate" no? Most of the time I've seen "gusset", it's something reinforcing the corner members themselves, not connecting corner to corner.

[Steve Barker]

you are correct.

the proper term for a corner to corner brace is simply "diagonal brace"