Campus board cost

I'm thinking of putting a small campus board along the lines of this or this in my attic. What would you suspect something like this will cost? I am thinking about 35-40 USD:(2 2x10s for the vertical support, a 2x4 cut into two pieces to make the angle at the top, a few screws, a piece of plywood, and ~5 rungs)

Probably about that price range. Campus board is probably the easiest training equipment you can make that gives you the best return... as long as you can stay injury free.

I don't think you can do it quite that cheap if you have to buy the holds shown in the picture too - but good luck. rough guess on cost

3/4" Plywood - good one side will cost around $30
8' 2x6 are roughly $5 each - you'll need a couple
Screws won't be much
One set of Metolius Rungs will be $44
Add in tax and or shipping and I figure $100

Looks like a great idea -- inspiring me to try to sqeeze something more into my little place. If nothing else you can do uneven-level hangs (save training time by hitting finger-grip strength with arm lock-off simultaneous) and uneven muscle-ups and pull-ups.

Keep in mind that most wood campus rungs are designed to be used attached to a board that overhangs like 15 degrees. So perhaps a bit too "easy" to grip when mounted pure vertical. What I've done is put a shim behind the top of the wood rung (but not its bottom). Then drive the screws (slightly upward). So the gripping surface is oriented like on a "normal" campus board.

Another way to get more grip-size options -- and more range-of-motion options -- is to just get some long thin pieces of hardwood and cut and file and sand them to whatever gripping shape you want. (Though the shaping of the Metolius rungs is really good for campus moves, I think worth paying for, then can still fine-tune the depth of grip by placing a shim above it).

You can inter-leave different wood thickness sizes horizontally at the same level (e.g. on left 5 inches of 1 inch thick, next to the right 5 inches 3/4 inch, next 5 inches of 1 inch, far right 5 inches of 3/4 inch) to get two campus-grip-size options into the same size board area as only one.

A way to get even more move or grip options is to mount a small low-height thin-profile fingerboard (say like this ?) in the midst of the wood rungs -- then can make campus moves from a rung below to the fingerboard. Or launch moves from holds on the fingerboard, or uneven with one hand on the fingerboard and ohe other on a wood rung below it.

Ken

mountainproject.com/v/campu…

Chris Rice wrote:http://www.mountainproject.com/v/campus-rungs/109662398

Good to see this detailed demonstration of manufacturing campus rungs.

I've seen rungs from two other manufacturers used in climbing gyms in Europe (in addition to Euro gyms using Metolius). Also some homemade ones.

I do lots of campusing in lots of places, and overall I like the Metolius grip shapes best (for use on a 15-degree overhanging board).

My problem is that I like to use a 4-finger open grip, and the non-Metolius rungs tend to tear up the skin on my pinky fingers. Because they're just a little too "positive".

On the other hand, one German gym had the Metolius rungs mounted on a board that was too steeply overhanging, and I couldn't do anything with them. So I think it's important to match the shape design of the rung with the steepness of the wall.

Ken

P.S. If building a public campus board ...
Most people (including young serious climbers) really want to do their campusing on holds much bigger than the big Metolius holds.

Chris Rice wrote:I don't think you can do it quite that cheap if you have to buy the holds shown in the picture too - but good luck. rough guess on cost 3/4" Plywood - good one side will cost around $30 8' 2x6 are roughly $5 each - you'll need a couple Screws won't be much One set of Metolius Rungs will be $44 Add in tax and or shipping and I figure $100

Ah, I wasn't planning on buying the rungs (manufacturing my own), which seems to drop me into that ~$50 range...

kenr wrote:Keep in mind that most wood campus rungs are designed to be used attached to a board that overhangs like 15 degrees. So perhaps a bit too "easy" to grip when mounted pure vertical. What I've done is put a shim behind the top of the wood rung (but not its bottom). Then drive the screws (slightly upward). So the gripping surface is oriented like on a "normal" campus board. Ken

That's exactly what I was planning on doing. I'll post some pictures of a rough sketch of plans so you can critique it.

kenr wrote:just get some long thin pieces of hardwood and cut and file and sand them to whatever gripping shape you want. Ken

Once again, that was my plan. What dimensions would you suggest for a beginner (at campus boarding, not climbing)?

Also, is there a particular dimension I should be using for the actual board (spacing between rungs, rung width and depth, and number of rungs)?

From my very limited research there seems to be 2 spacings most commonly used. Metolius spacing and Moon spacing. Metolius has a nice article on making a Campus set up - and a quick Google search will bring up dozens of pictures with several write ups. I think we all tend to make it more complicated than it really is to make one.

Chris Rice wrote:From my very limited research there seems to be 2 spacings most commonly used. Metolius spacing and Moon spacing. Metolius has a nice article on making a Campus set up - and a quick Google search will bring up dozens of pictures with several write ups. I think we all tend to make it more complicated than it really is to make one.

Some people also employ a half rung in addition to the standard moon/metolius spacing, seems to be helpful for making smaller difficulty jumps

kenr wrote: Most people (including young serious climbers) really want to do their campusing on holds much bigger than the big Metolius holds.

That hasn't been my experience.

Long moves off small holds, that's the ticket.
If you can do it.

I suppose it might depend on the size of holds on one's goal routes, however.

Mark E Dixon wrote:I suppose it might depend on the size of holds on one's goal routes, however.

On a campus board at a public gym, I think the "goal route" of most climbers is just to show off on the campus board. Which means visibly big moves. Most easily worked out quickly if done on holds bigger and more positive than the big Metolius rungs.

. (just like the main use of public fingerboards is to do pull-ups on the buckets on the top) .

For those minority of climbers using a public campus board for serious training, of course the strong young climbers use smaller rungs. But they still like big moves on the big Metolius rungs. Those well-practiced on the board don't need super-big holds because for them the big Metolius already feel like buckets.

Ken

scienceguy288 wrote:Also, is there a particular dimension I should be using for the actual board (spacing between rungs, rung width and depth, and number of rungs)?

For boards tall enough for doing a "ladder climb" of 8-10 moves (or 4-5 ladder double-moves), the typical vertical spacing for a ladder of rungs of the same thickness is 20 cm or 22 cm.
Then to me it makes sense to inter-leave a second ladder of rungs of a different thickness, placed 10 cm or 11 cm above each rung of the main ladder.
So then for serious "ladder-climb" training, the top rung is about 2 meters above the bottom rung, which is more than 1 meter above the floor -- so you need a ceiling at least 3.3 meters or 10 feet.

But for a home board lacking the height for more than 4-5 single moves, need to think about what exercises you're actually likely to be doing. Which might include "laddering" up and down and up and down and up ...
Well I would not plan on that exercise staying interesting.
So I would think more toward offering more options of vertical range and between holds of different thickness, and don't worry if some of those options require diagonal moves.

Metolius sells their rungs about 16 inch / 40 cm wide. But if your shoulder width is not giant, 12 inch / 30 cm might be enough. Or two 5-inch wide rungs with 5-inch horizontal separation.

Thickness: Typical what I've seen at different gyms in USA and Europe are ... Big wood 28-30mm, Medium wood 24-25mm, Small wood 20mm. Many public gyms also have super-big rungs, like say 50mm or 2 inches -- or I prefer bigger cylindrical plastic slopers or domes.

If you're already strong climber, I'd use limited home space for the small and medium thickness holds. If not so strong, some bigger 28-30mm ones will help get started. Or just rest your feet on a chair underneath to make it easier to start.

Anyway if some aspects of your first configuration don't work for you, the answer is a drill-and-screwdriver away.

Ken