Swing to the cottage with your own hands

Swings for summer cottages are for children and adults, wooden and forged, portable and stationary. In childhood, everyone had a favorite swing, swinging on which one could imagine oneself as a bird or an airplane, and fly, fly … Adults love very much this childish feeling of serenity and peace, which appears when swinging on a swing. Therefore, they are happy to put a garden swing in the country. How to make them with your own hands, what material for manufacturing to choose and where to install, read on.

Types of swing

There is a conditional division of all possible types of swings by the age of those who ride them, by the material of manufacture, the form of installation and the type of swing.

• Portable. These include small products with a stable frame frame, which are most often designed for very young children to ride. They are easy to carry by grasping the frame. While the baby is swinging, adults can go about their business, while the baby will always be there. Pendant models of a simple type are also referred to as portable. For example, an ordinary wooden seat on metal chains with carabiners can be hung on any horizontal bar, a branch of a garden tree or a horizontal bar.

• Stationary. They are installed in a recreation area in a permanent place, using a concrete screed for reliability, in which the supports are strengthened. A stationary swing is equipped with a sturdy frame made of wood or metal. The side supports are usually A-shaped, they evenly distribute the force of gravity, and withstand vibrations well. Such a swing can be safely equipped with two or three separate seats or one large one for 2-3 people..

• Suspended and frame. Stationary and portable models are suspended and frame. From the name it is clear that some are attached to the support on hangers, while others have a rigid, stable frame. A pendant view is very easy to make from scrap materials. The main thing is to choose a base for the seat and a rope or chain as a suspension. It takes more time and materials to make a wireframe model. In order for the product to turn out to be even and suitable in size for a child or adult, a drawing is required.

• For the whole family. To fit the whole family, including adults and children, you need a lot of space. Therefore, the family swing is distinguished by a large roomy bench with a backrest and a reliable stable frame that can support a weight of about 200 – 250 kg. Such a swing is equipped with a canopy, so it is convenient to sit on them during the rain and in sunny weather. The area around such a swing is landscaped: they set up a barbecue, plant ornamental greenery and flowers, lay out a garden path.

• Baby. Swings for children are very diverse: pendulum, suspended, in the form of boats, with armchairs and ordinary wooden seats, portable, frame, in the form of a hammock. They come up with an interesting design for them, select an unusual shape and bright colors, but most importantly, they always provide for safe use. If a child of younger preschool age will ride them, then it is better to equip the seat with seat belts.

Important. While riding, children can put their arms or legs to the side, while catching on the side stand. It is better to think about such a situation in advance, and place the racks a meter from the seat for safety reasons..

• Pendulum swing. They are also called a balancer in another way, since children balance on them. This model differs from all previous ones in the swing style. You can only ride them together, pushing off the ground with your feet. When making a rocking chair for children in the country, it is important to concrete the base well. This will provide stability and strength of the structure..

What can you make a swing from??

If ordinary swing is made mainly of metal, wood or bright plastic, before home-made homemade models are very different. They can be made from any materials at hand:

• From the tire. The tire is suspended horizontally from the support. To do this, it is drilled in four places, ropes are pulled through the holes and tied. The ropes are hooked from above with a carabiner to the crossbar. Instead of a rope, you can use a chain, which is fixed with a bolt from the bottom of the tire. Tire chain can be slung over a thick tree branch.
• From rope and log. They take any wooden base – a log, a plank, a chair without legs – they drill holes in the corners, stretch a rope in them and hang the swing on a tree.
• Of steel hoop. Hanging swing is made of steel hoop. To do this, it is wrapped in a cloth or foam rubber, the inner part is braided with a rope in the form of a spider web. It should be well taut. After the hoop is suspended from the support using a chain or rope.
• From tarpaulin. A tarp or a piece of thick fabric will serve as a seat. To make a seat from it, you need to fold it in several layers until you get a rectangle. It is stitched around the perimeter and fixed with rivets on two steel triangles, suitable in size. The triangles are attached to the chain and suspended from the crossbar..

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Swing to the country with your own hands: step by step instructions

To make a swing out of wood for the whole family on your own, you will need some skill, desire, as well as a set of power tools and materials:

• jigsaw;
• a circular saw;
• screwdriver;
• sanding machine;
• plane;
• boards and beams of pine or oak;
• wood varnish or stain;
• metal corners;
• self-tapping screws, strong chain and carabiners.

First you need to purchase lumber according to the dimensions shown in the diagram. All wood is sized, trimmed and carefully sanded.

When all the parts are purchased and prepared in accordance with the diagram, you can proceed to assembly. First, all the parts of the swing seat are connected. For this, the back and transverse boards are attached to the side parts of the seat. Pay attention to the grooves with which the entire structure is attached (both the bench and the support).

After attaching the armrests to the seat, proceed to assembly of the support frame. It is necessary to assemble two identical side structures in the shape of the letter A. To do this, take two beams, in the upper part of which oblique grooves are cut, and in the lower part, straight. Two beams are connected together in the shape of the letter L, after which a transverse board is attached to give the structure of rigidity.

When the side support frames and the swing seat are assembled, treated with stain with varnish. Preferably in several layers. The varnish is allowed to dry completely. After that, the frame is completely assembled by installing a transverse beam on the support structures. The internal joints of the beam and the side structure are fixed with metal corners. Hooks are screwed into the corners. Next, the roof frame is assembled, which can be covered with an awning or sewn up with plastic.

Now you need hang the seat on the support. For this, metal corners are bolted to the four edges of the seat as shown in the photo. A chain is attached to the bolts with nuts. The upper edges of the chain are suspended with carabiners on hooks attached to the crossbar.

The swing is assembled, but you cannot swing on it yet. They need choose a place in your garden. Dig a wide hole 15-20 cm deep according to the size of the structure, install a swing in it. After that, concrete them, and let the concrete screed harden for a week. If you do not wait this period, concrete may crack..

Swing to the cottage with your own hands

To see with your own eyes the entire assembly process of the presented wooden structure, watch the video. On it, the craftsman shows in the most detailed way the process of assembling the product, and, in addition, gives useful advice on working with wood. As a result, he gets a beautiful and durable swing..

You can make a metal swing with your own hands if you know how to work not only with wood, but also with metal. For work, you will need a metal profile, a large chain, wooden beams and polyurethane sheets for the roof. The height and width of the finished swing turns out to be 1.90 m.But you can change the dimensions at your discretion.

So, for a summer residence, you can do it yourself with a complex garden swing that will last for many years, and a simple suspended children’s swing. In any case, your efforts will be appreciated by all the inhabitants of the cottage, from small to large.