Mechanics: what are your most common tools?

Nice! I'd argue that 1/2 inch threaded rods are overkill though. 3/8 inch threaded rod should be more than enough to hold them securely together since there shouldn't be much side load or force on those boards.

For anyone who wants to make something similar, it would bring down the hardware cost.

It would also help to reduce the weight a bit as well. How much do the assembled ramps weigh?

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Yeah the 1/2" threaded rods (and washers/nuts) are leftovers, from my threaded rod bookcase phase:



I drill the hole with a 5/8" Forstner bit. Drill a smaller through hole first, then do Forstner bit drilling from both sides, to avoid splintering.

Roughly 8 lbs apiece. The pair on a scale, I did zero it and bounced it a bit:



I'll likely do one mod: dirll an additional 5/8" through hole through the middle 2x4 about 1.5" from one end, then make a wall bracket with a 1/2" dowel. Angle the hole and dowel, say same slope as ramp, so it won't rattle off.

 

Got them out of the way:

 

Purpose built.

And nice impact gun.

 

I'm going to make at least one more set, so my son can have a set at his place, and have pretty much nailed down a workflow, that'll make very close to identical pieces, so you could flip them end-to-end, or put them together in any order, they'd always be uniform.

This is using a drill press and a sliding arm mitre saw (mounted on a plywood table), making a pair of (roughly) two foot long, 7 1/2" wide (five 2x4's on edge) ramps:

1. Get two 10' long 2x4's, decent quality, not warped, few tight knots at most, little or no chips out of the edges.

2. To accommodate saw cut losses (say approximately 1/8" per cut), aim for a piece length of 1'-11 3/4". Start by shaving about 1/16" of one end (to have a nice clean/square end), then tape measure and pencil mark with a square the aforementioned length, for just one piece.

3. Set the board in the mitre saw, slide it over till the saw teeth are just beyond the pencil mark to achieve the length, then clamp a wood block as a stop at the end of the board.

4. Cut the first piece, then slide the board over to the stop, and repeat for the rest. You should now have five pieces, pretty much identical, 1'-11 3/4" long, with maybe 1/4" left over. Repeat with the second board.

5. If you want to hang the ramps, drill a couple of the pieces now, to suit your hanger system, before cutting the ramps or whatever.

6. With one of the pieces, mark with pencil the ramp cut (2.5"x7.5" chamfer), and the hole location for threaded rod. Just at one end of the piece. If you've made hanger holes, ensure the ramp chamfer is oriented to be on "top" edge, and the hanger hole is on the "bottom" edge.

7. Make a jig out of scrap wood (per photo in post # 305). Also position a stop piece at the back corner (refer again to the photo, where a 1" wide gauge plate is used). Place all this on the mitre saw bed (per photo), put your piece against it and slide it all left to right till the saw blade is just beyond the chamfer pencil line. Clamp the jig.

8. Press the piece against the jig, and make the cut. Flip the piece end-to-end (per photo), press against the jig, and cut the other end chamfer. Repeat per the other 9 pieces.

9. As a check: stack all the pieces side-by-side: they should all be very close to identical, both the lengths and chamfers, regardless of order and/or if you reverse the ends.

10. At the drill press, position the marked piece to drill a 3/16" through hole. Place and clamp wood blocking at the far end and along side of the piece, so that subsequent pieces can be placed against the blocking and drilled with identically located holes. Similar to the chamfer cut, also flip the pieces end-to-end to drill the second hole in each piece. Example blocking:



11. Remove the clamps and blocking, then drill 5/8" through holes with a Forstner bit. Drill the holes partially, from both sides to avoid blow-out, using the 3/16" pilot hole for alignment.

Think that's it.

 

Nice job, @Mendel Leisk , but you may wanna be careful putting so much good info out here on t'Net! You might find in a couple of weeks some foreign "knock-offs" appearing at your local HF! Be that as it may, I like your plans and execution! Good job!

 

I like this idea so much more than those big plastic ramps. It’s so little lift that there’s no worry if you drive off of it or if it slides out. I had Rhino Ramps and hated them; their hard plastic used to slide around when trying to drive up them.

 

Soon enough you start building things to build things. Might make up this jig (or something similar...) to automate drilling the threaded rod holes. Jig will ensure consistent hole location, without the need to measure, and without having to use pilot holes, drill finished size hole from both sides. The piece being sandwiched between plywood should minimize blow-out.



My drill press has a 12" wide particle board "deck"; the plywood extensions at left/right ends are clamping zones.

To bore the through-hole in the jig I'd put a (sacrificial) scrap of 2x4 in the jig, drill through all three layers at once.

 

Gave my head a shake: way too complicated, for maybe 20 more holes. Just getting consistently located pilot holes will do. Slotted angle and a couple of clamps:

 

Got a little more organized; took an hour or two, very good uniformity with a few jigs.

 

A jig is a kind of dance. I know; fixtures are a secondary definition, but I think it would be more fun to see you do a jig.

Anyway, it looks like you're getting serious about this project. Looks nice!!

 

At one point I thought my jig was up.

Before starting to cut the pieces to length I measured the overall 2x4 lengths: 10'-0 1/2", on the money. I'd been expecting 10" exactly, and thinking I would need to use a length somewhat shy of 2', to get five equal pieces and account for (four) saw cut widths. Quickly calculating, I figured with that extra 1/2" length, and each saw cut maybe 1/8", I should be fine to make them exactly 2'-0".

I guess Someone was looking over my shoulder when I measured the first 2'-0", placed the saw blade at the edge of the pencil line, and set the stop jig. I did the first four cuts, and...: the saw blade was just brushing the end of the last piece, NOTHING to shave off the end. But it was touching. And the ends were sharp/square cuts.

You mean three 2x4's on edge per ramp? I'm doing five, for 7.5" width.

 

I think you could get away with only 3 wide instead of 4.

 

The other day I was jigging at my job at the cabinet shop, decided to go fishing and jig for dinner, followed by a trip to the coal mine to repair their jig. Tomorrow I am headed to the tye die shop to adjust their dyeing rig. I would never use the politically incorrect slang for jig which, of course I am not going to define.

 

What about a shot glass jigger...

Here's the cost break-down, in CDN funds. I was in a bit of a fools-paradise regarding the hardware items cost; I have a treasure trove of threaded rod, nuts and washers from previous projects, but yeah, "they don't grow on trees"*:



As @xliderider pointed out, 3/8" dia hardware would be sufficient, save some $'s.

* I used to try that expression on the grandkids, when doling out something like oranges, bananas, apples...

 

I think you might have been right about bananas.

 

Careful about spreading fake facts on the internet because the younger generation often runs with it... especially when its partially true...

 

Some of the older generation to unfortunately.
How does Go ?. But I read it on the Internet so it Hass to be true ?.

 

I have hundred of tools but these have been very helpful on my Prius:

 

All I see above is white space.