Use clamps to hold the wood in place while you are cutting it. This will help ensure that your cuts are perfectly straight. If you are using an electric saw, make sure you follow the recommended safety procedure outlined in the manual for your saw. Wear protective eyewear and keep your hands away from the blade at all times. The “upright” is the piece of wood which will stand upright on your seesaw base. It is the piece of wood which is 28 inches (71 cm) in length, with the 40 in (100 cm) piece being the base.
The 2 pieces of wood should look like an upside down letter “T”, with the upright sitting behind the base rather than on top of it.
It might help to use a clamp to hold the 2 pieces of wood together as the glue dries. For the best results, use waterproof wood glue designed for outdoor use. It should be available online or at your local hardware store.
To keep the screws spaced perfectly, place them 1 inch (2. 5 cm) from the edges of the wood in opposite corners. However, as long as you have more than 1 screw through the wood, the exact spacing shouldn’t matter too much. To make sure the screws go in straight, drill a pilot hole first. Use a drill bit a little bit smaller than the thickness of your chosen screw to drill a 1 inch (2. 5 cm) hole into the wood. The more screws you use, the more secure the stand of your base will be. In most cases, 2 screws installed diagonally from each other will be enough to hold the stand steady. You could also use nails to hold the upright to the stand, but they are often more difficult to work with.
Once you measure and cut 1 piece of wood, you can use it as a guide to cut the other piece. The pieces of wood don’t need to be exactly 30 inches (76 cm) long, but should be between 26 and 32 inches (66 and 81 cm). It is more important that the 2 lengths of wood are the same size so your base remains even.
Your cut lengths of wood should be very long isosceles trapezoids. This means they will have 2 parallel sides, one of them being shorter than the other due to the angled edges. The cuts should go in opposite directions, both moving towards the top center of the wood.
Make sure that the screw that goes through the support and into the upright remains centered in both pieces of wood. If your screw is misaligned, you may risk cracking the wood. Drill pilot holes into the wood beforehand to make inserting the screws easier.
Your stands will need to be almost perfectly identical. If they are too different, your seesaw may not sit evenly on the base, or it may break more easily. When finished, the 2 stands should be a mirror image of the other. Sit them so the uprights are facing inwards toward each other, with the base pieces sitting on the outside.
Use a clamp to hold the wood perfectly still as you cut it. Make sure that the 2 pieces of wood are the same length. To make this easier, cut and measure 1 piece of wood to use as a guide when cutting the second length.
Make sure the 2 pieces of wood sit flush against the side of the base and the bottom of the stand.
Drill the 2 screws into the wood on a diagonal from each other. To make sure you don’t hit 1 screw with another from the other side, use the opposite diagonal for the other side.
The upright should fit perfectly between the 2 pieces of wood. This should create a single seesaw base. The fulcrum with the seesaw board will sit between the 2 uprights.
In some longer planks, the wood will begin to crack towards the end. To prevent this from happening with your seesaw plank, purchase a piece of wood that is 14 feet (4. 3 m) long and trim 1 foot (0. 30 m) off of each end to remove and halt any cracking. Avoid using pressure-treated wood for your plank, as it will be too heavy. If you need to waterproof the plank, paint it with waterproof paint or sealant.
Moving the fulcrum of the plank closer to one end will make sure that the longer side always sits on the ground when the seesaw isn’t in use. If you move too far away from the mid-point, the plank may fall too slowly as your dog walks over it, or it may begin to lift up while your dog is still on it. Don’t make the mark more than 2 inches (5. 1 cm) from the center of the plank.
The pipe straps will be used to hold the pipe that works as a fulcrum for your seesaw. Pipe straps should be available online or from your local hardware store. If you can’t find 3⁄4 inch (1. 9 cm) pipe straps, you could also use 1⁄2 inch (1. 3 cm) straps that aren’t screwed into the plank as tightly. To make sure the pipe fits in the pipe straps properly, place it on the line you have marked across the plank and screw in the pipe straps over the top of it. They should be loose enough that the pipe can still turn freely in the straps.
The standard heights for a dog agility seesaw are 8 inches (20 cm), 12 inches (30 cm), 18 inches (46 cm), and 24 inches (61 cm) from the ground. [16] X Research source The lower heights can be used to train your dog, building its confidence towards the 24 in (61 cm) standard for most dog agility competitions. If you want to use different measurements or mark a different number of points, you can easily do so. Make sure that the space between your marks remains at least 3 inches (7. 6 cm) thick, and that the height of the holes is identical between the 2 sides of your base. By moving the pipe on your plank between these points, you can change the height of your seesaw. Making the fulcrum of your seesaw higher will also make the plank steeper to walk on.
Once the pipe is in place, you should have a fully assembled and functional dog agility seesaw! At this point, you can leave the seesaw as it is and it will still work. However, it will be better protected and easier to use if you paint it properly and make the plank less slippery. If your plank is too heavy, it may be difficult to adjust the height of the seesaw. Ask a friend or someone nearby to help hold the plank while you thread the pipe through. Make sure you use a galvanized pipe, as other piping may not be strong enough to hold the weight of the plank and your dog.
The USDAA requires a contact area of 36 inches (91 cm). The AKC requires a contact area that is 42 inches (110 cm) in length. If you’re not using your agility seesaw to practice for an official competition, the contact area can be anywhere between 32 to 46 inches (81 to 117 cm). Make sure it is the same on both ends of the plank to keep it looking even. The contact area is the space at each end of your seesaw with which your dog must make contact to consider the obstacle completed. This ensures that your dog walks from one end of the seesaw to the other, rather than jumping on and off in the middle.
Use a few bricks or a cinderblock to keep the ends of the seesaw from touching the ground while you paint it. Most standard dog agility seesaws make the contact area bright yellow so that dogs can see it more easily. To keep the lines between the contact area and the rest of the seesaw straight, wrap the edge of your contact area with masking or painter’s tape.
Standard dog agility seesaws will usually be yellow on each end and blue in the middle.
Check the manufacturer’s instructions on your specific brand of paint for more information on the expected drying times.
Make sure the first coat of paint is dry before adding a second coat.
A 10 lb (4. 5 kg) bag of play sand should be plenty to cover your seesaw. The exact amount needed will vary based on how liberally you apply it. Play sand is fine and sterile sand usually used for sandpits or something similar would also work. Large bags of play sand should be available from your local hardware store. Start adding sand to the board from the lower end of the seesaw. Otherwise, the weight of the sand might cause the board to move and damage your paint job.
Make sure that the sand you brush away is taken off of the seesaw, rather than just pushed to a different section of it.
Make sure you give the final coat of paint plenty of time to dry before using the seesaw.
If you want to do more than 1 coat, make sure the paint is dry before applying another layer. Make sure the paint is given plenty of time to dry. Even slightly wet paint may be easily damaged as you try to put the plank back in place.
