Son's 15th birthday today, need your opinion.

[tobmaster]

Today my youngest turns 15, I was supposed to go do side work (as always) but cancelled to spend the night with him. Today is a gorgeous 60 degree day (one of the first here in Illinois). My question is this: I was thinking of rushing home after work, and tossing batteries on the two chargers we have, then asking him to help build a ramp. I have some 1/2" x 1/2" steel square tube laying around. He recently took a welding class in school, sooooooo I was thinking of spending a couple hours with him to knock out the frame and then cover it with some 1/4" plastic I have laying around. The steel is flexible enough that we could even put a curve in the ramp using the vice before welding it all up.
It won't be painted, It won't be perfect, but we should be able to play a bit....maybe

That said:

Question #1: I have searched ramps and few have dimensions. What are some quick dimensions to start? We are NOT looking to jump power lines, more just get some jumps in to see what the Talion EXB and Notorious will do. What middle of the road jump should we build?

Question #2: Is this a dumb idea? After my boys hit 12 or so, the interest is video games, tv, movies, and more video games. They both love spending time with me but usually that time is working. I run a handyman side business AND build animatronic props for Halloween both for our own huge display as well as a local pumpkin farm so my time is normally spent working. I figure this would be time spent doing something fun, but I am usually wrong.

110% open to criticism, ideas, etc.

Thanks!

 

[BashTillBroken]

Well jump in a street is a bad idea unless its an parking lot due to the cars going 50+ and making the ramp out of steel will make it heeeaaavy depending on the thickness but a steel ramp would be good to start off with then eventually make a wood one when you don’t have to put a down payment on your house to buy wood but jumping in the street has the danger of hitting houses and cars unless your willing to slow down a bit but if your taking it somewhere else wood is your best bet due to weight

 

[tobmaster]

Well jump in a street is a bad idea unless its an parking lot due to the cars going 50+ and making the ramp out of steel will make it heeeaaavy depending on the thickness but a steel ramp would be good to start off with then eventually make a wood one when you don’t have to put a down payment on your house to buy wood but jumping in the street has the danger of hitting houses and cars unless your willing to slow down a bit but if your taking it somewhere else wood is your best bet due to weight

We won't jump in the street. He already learned that the street is bad when he smacked full speed into a mailbox and we needed to rebuild the whole truck. the 1/2"x1/2" tube I have is roughly 0.384 lbs/ft. I am estimating the ramp to be about 3' long x 18-24" tall so steel will be about 9-12lbs. once I add a top surface and paint, we may be about 20lbs I would estimate.

 

[BashTillBroken]

Sorry my bad i though you where building a larger ramp in was playing in the street also i have made a few ramps and i tend to like a 63* ramp best of height and distance there are a few threads on angles

 

[Roadkill69]

Do it take anytime you can with them

 

[~Kaos911~]

this is a from another thread here but i just watched it the other day. Maybe have some ideas for ya.

Happy 15th to your son.

 

[Jchammbone]

Well.. what did you come up with?

 

[tobmaster]

Well.. what did you come up with?

I got home about 4, stuck both batteries on charge and ordered Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza (his favorite).
Then started work on a ramp. (will post a build thread once I pull the pictures from my son's phone).
By the time we were done with the frame for the ramp, and finished eating, the batteries were charged (desperately need to upgrade the two 80w chargers we have as the 6s 6000mAh Gens-Ace batteries simply take too long to charge). We headed just up the street to the open grass park area and went nuts. Within minutes, I had torn the wing off my ride. We let the 1-year old puppy off the leash and let him chase the two cars till he was dragging. About then we hit low battery so we headed home to finish the ramp. It is 100% welded, cleaned and painted. We only need to mount the top.

I am pretty confidant he had a good time, as grandma called to wish him a happy birthday and he talked nearly an hour about the RC cars and the build.

All in all a truly great night!!

 

[~Kaos911~]

Sounds like you both had a great time! As a father of 3 boys (20, 21, and 26) those bonding moments when they are young are priceless memories when they get older.

 

[Jchammbone]

That's awesome!@! Glad he had a good time!

 

[ruhroh]

I got home about 4, stuck both batteries on charge and ordered Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza (his favorite).
Then started work on a ramp. (will post a build thread once I pull the pictures from my son's phone).
By the time we were done with the frame for the ramp, and finished eating, the batteries were charged (desperately need to upgrade the two 80w chargers we have as the 6s 6000mAh Gens-Ace batteries simply take too long to charge). We headed just up the street to the open grass park area and went nuts. Within minutes, I had torn the wing off my ride. We let the 1-year old puppy off the leash and let him chase the two cars till he was dragging. About then we hit low battery so we headed home to finish the ramp. It is 100% welded, cleaned and painted. We only need to mount the top.

I am pretty confidant he had a good time, as grandma called to wish him a happy birthday and he talked nearly an hour about the RC cars and the build.

All in all a truly great night!!
View attachment 206595

That's so sweet!! Sounds like he had an amazing time, RC is really quality bonding time and I think it's sweet how much thought you put into it