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dono169
Oct 31, 2004, 8:53 PM
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What is the general rule for the amount of t-nuts per square foot? thanks
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socalbolter
Oct 31, 2004, 10:59 PM
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there's no hard set rule. it really just depends on how many holds you want to be able to put on the wall.
keep in mind though that it's generally far easier to install extras now than it will be to add them later.
however, the average seems to be 4-8 per square foot on most walls.
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saskclimber
Oct 31, 2004, 11:17 PM
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I have about 3/sq ft (and am content with it). The upper end of the 4-8 would have them far too close in my opinion. Not to mention more than doubling (almost tripling) my cost for nuts..
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sandbag
Oct 31, 2004, 11:24 PM
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An effective way to place the holes is to line your panels with a chalkline and do so in a diagonal set of lines from the corner approx 6 inches apart. youll lose anything closer than 2inches to the edges of panels because the MDF or what ever you use will delamenate over time with the torque from use, and its wise to avoid. also depends on the thickness. they arent that expensive, just get good tnuts and buy them by the gross, its cheeap and you figure 144 nuts isnt really much if you get 5 or 6 4x*sheets of plywood.
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johnson6102002
Nov 1, 2004, 12:14 AM
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4 to 6 seems about right to me
deffinitly mark it with a snap line and either use the grid it makes or stay within 2 inches of the snap intersections and it will work great allowing alot of options I did it every 6 inches
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socalbolter
Nov 1, 2004, 12:41 AM
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please ignore the posts suggesting a grid pattern. the only reason to ever do this is if you are going to be using that section of wall for system training.
it's much better to drill t-nut holes in a random disbursement.
if you drill on a grid patern, you will always be limited to the same potential span patterns from hold to hold. it's very limiting both for coursesetting and for discovering/testing your body's span limits.
one poster suggested marking a grid and then drilling the holes (randomly) within 2 inches of the lines. this is the best of the "grid" options suggested above.
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bigwally
Nov 1, 2004, 1:33 AM
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Ya know, this is shallow, but about all that I know is about is the wall that I built 4 years ago. Most of the wall is vertical and 20 ft of it is overhanging.It is 9 ft high and 55 ft wide (great traversing and for playing "twister"). I used 5/8" Plywood and 64 T-Nuts per 4' X 8' sheet of plywood. (More could be better, but after 4 years this wall has just been FINE !! The T-Nut placements are RANDOM (It was Fun!! I used a home-made, "triple-random" numbers generator, employing a roulette wheel, a grab bag and a pair of dice...). I did this as I have set routes in gyms where the T-nut placements are Uniform AND where they were Random... it just always seemed that the Random configuration always worked out better.
Plotted the T-Nut location on graph paper and moved any placements that were too near an edge, or within 3" of each other. Transfered this pattern to one plywood sheet and used it as a template to drill the other sheets. When I hung the plywood on the wall I rotated each sheet 180 degrees from the last, to provide even more variety....and YES, before each T-Nut was smacked into place, I applied a liberal dab of contruction adhesive (NOT wood glue, but Sub-Floor Adhesive i.e. PL400 or Liquid Nails) to reduce the chances of ever getting "spinners".
Texture is a difficult topic; whether to do any or not...Before I drilled for the T-Nut holes I rolled a coat of EPOXY-ENAMEL paint on the surface and sprinkled "sand-box sand" all over, while it was still wet. After drying , I picked up the sheet and kicked/beat the back side until all of the loose sand came off. Another coat of EPOXY ENAMEL paint was applied, dried and we were ready to go !!!
It has been 4 years of intense usage, by ourselves and our guests, the texture is still all looking like New, none of the plywood bows or sags, no "spinner' T-nuts and route setting is still a Gassss!!!! LOTS OF LUCK ON YOUR OWN PROJECT !! please tell us how it all works out ...
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chossmonkey
Dec 14, 2004, 5:32 AM
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bigwally wroteIn reply to: The T-Nut placements are RANDOM (It was Fun!! I used a home-made, "triple-random" numbers generator, employing a roulette wheel, a grab bag and a pair of dice...).
You are too funny Frank! :lol:
On a large climbing wall a random patern may be best, but on a small wall I would argue a grid works better. When I built my wall (9x12) I used a grid pattern. I think using a grid allows maximum holds in a small space. Vertically they are every 6 inches and horizontally they are a combination of 5 and 6 inches to miss the studs. This spacing is close enough for maximum number of holds but far enough apart that most average holds won't be to close to each other. Having the T-nuts this close you don't feel like you are climbing on a grid because the bolt hole on the hold is never centered anyway. Next time I build a wall I will probably go 5 inches vertically instead of the 6, possibly make the grid go diagonal, and put fewer T-nuts in the bottom three feet where most of the holds are screw on jibs. Another nice thing about a grid is that you can label the grid like Battle Ship to record routes. There are only so many colors of tape and color combos not to mention room around the holds for marking.
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overlord
Dec 14, 2004, 12:13 PM
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the ideal amount is as much as possible.
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cliffhanger9
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Dec 14, 2004, 12:48 PM
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In reply to: please ignore the posts suggesting a grid pattern. the only reason to ever do this is if you are going to be using that section of wall for system training. it's much better to drill t-nut holes in a random disbursement. if you drill on a grid patern, you will always be limited to the same potential span patterns from hold to hold. it's very limiting both for coursesetting and for discovering/testing your body's span limits. one poster suggested marking a grid and then drilling the holes (randomly) within 2 inches of the lines. this is the best of the "grid" options suggested above.
I agree...and depending on the size of the wall (a gym vs. a woody) I would stick towards the 5-7/sq ft...defineitly go for the random system. The last wall I worked on, we just threw it up and drilled the hell out of the panels. :twisted: :twisted:
Like I said, it depends on if its a home woody that you dont want to spend tooo much money or if its a gym wall...it is totally worth it to drill the hell out of it now and spend a little extra on nuts as it will be much easier to do then to retro-nut later - once i got into the swing of it you can just set the t nut and pop em with one solid hit and move on...doesnt take as long as you think with some extra nuts
anyway good luck and have fun with your new wall - rock on!! :mrgreen:
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okie_redneck
Dec 14, 2004, 8:10 PM
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I did a compromise. I did a 6" grid, but tried to randomly drill the actual holes up to 2" away from the grid. It breaks up the positioning enough to not appear to be so much in rows up and down. So long as you have a creative eye, you can have the best of both worlds.
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johnson6102002
Dec 14, 2004, 10:39 PM
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In reply to: I did a compromise. I did a 6" grid, but tried to randomly drill the actual holes up to 2" away from the grid. It breaks up the positioning enough to not appear to be so much in rows up and down. So long as you have a creative eye, you can have the best of both worlds.
well this is what i did for part of my wall i did different on different sections
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