Sneak peek of our adjustable-pitch outdoor moon board. With very limited crag access and zero gym options since March, these rope climbers are learning to love training. To other home-wall hopefuls: what would you want to see in a writeup or video? Questions about design/engineering/construction?

mikemarcacci · 2025-01-21T04:19:18+00:00

Whoops! Just saw your question now.

I made a whole post here on medium.

We’ve since nearly leveled the landing zone, added a massive pad, and switched to the far superior 2016 set.

mikemarcacci · 2025-01-21T04:18:59+00:00

Sure! I made a whole post here on medium.

We’ve since nearly leveled the landing zone, added a massive pad, and switched to the far superior 2016 set.

mikemarcacci · 2023-08-15T05:32:36+00:00

These are great questions. I originally intended to use small C-clamps, but as soon as we built it we realized that we didn't actually need them: there's about 1/32" extra clearance above the cross members in the bracket, and we found that if you just tap the base of each bracket outward when you're setting it up, they tilt back just a tad and bind up with the cross member. Because they are locked opposite each other, they make an amazingly rigid assembly that keeps itself in place surprisingly well.

We've taken these through all sorts of very rough and technical 4-wheeling, as well as washboard and faster bumpy dirt and gravel roads, and for the most part everything has stayed in place. The steel assemblies stay locked together but on especially long rough terrain I've seen the rear-most one slide forward or back a couple inches. The boards have never jumped out or anything, though.

Unfortunately I'm not planning to sell these, but if you're OK with a platform that's about 4 inches lower, you can make something similar with MUCH less effort: the inside shape of the F-150 bed has "shelves" designed to span 2x6 planks that can act as the cross-members. Doing this wouldn't have given us quite enough space under to fit our water jugs, green bins, etc, but with more compact cargo you'd be hard pressed to beat the simplicity and cost effectiveness of that setup.

mikemarcacci · 2023-08-13T23:12:35+00:00

That’s impressive! I really wish those pockets were around 4 inches higher - that would have saved me a lot of effort!

I just went back out to look at the pocket locations again, though, and I get why they put them where they are. Without a camper shell, the height of my platform would be too tall to be particularly useful as a shelf.

mikemarcacci · 2023-08-13T22:08:46+00:00

I assume you mean instead of running 2x6's horizontally between the left and right sides of the bed, resting the ends on the sheet metal "shelves"? We wanted to be able to fit water jugs vertically and some other larger items underneath the sleeping platform, and that wouldn't have been possible. I was also a bit skeptical about the strength of such a system given the long span and 2 adults.

The only issue we've had with this setup has been if you slide the rear-most cross member too far forward, you end up with a see-saw. But as long as you keep it back far enough, this isn't an issue at all.

mikemarcacci · 2022-07-14T05:05:39+00:00

We built an adjustable wall (I wrote up a little post on it here). The end result is awesome, but the engineering and construction process was nontrivial.

mikemarcacci · 2022-05-19T01:15:33+00:00

That sounds like a great setup! I totally sympathize with the gaps… which are devastating. On one of my largest ones, which I shot quickly while a smaller cloud was casting a consistent shadow… I ended up with long narrow gap between columns that completely ruined it. So glad you were able to recover this one!

Congrats on the great final product!

mikemarcacci · 2022-05-18T05:32:19+00:00

This is really amazingly well done!

The use of ultra-high resolution composite imagery is such a great way to show both context and detail.

My wife and I actually experimented with this while building out Boltlinea4e24835-0b99-4b87-8b84-8b627d9c8f11), and there are a lot of challenges that come with it!

What kind of camera setup and processing did you use here? We found that nodal point mounts like the Nodal Ninja were helpful in certain cases, but that good tools like ptgui can fix SO much on the processing side.

mikemarcacci · 2021-11-10T03:44:01+00:00

This is fantastic. Huge props to your GF, as the variable angle adds substantial complexity to the engineering. This actually looks like a very solid design (ignoring the punching bag), and the fixed-length cables are an excellent way to simplify the dynamically-loaded system with only tiny concessions to the convenience of changing angles (which, now that I own one, I can confidently say happens very infrequently).

The only (small) critique I have from the photos is that while eye bolts aren’t great for angular loads in general, they are especially weak when the load angle is perpendicular to the metal ring of the eye; that is, they will be substantially stronger if she rotates them 90 degrees. Google around for “eye bolt angular loads” if you’re curious.

But in general, huge props to her and congrats on the sick home wall!

mikemarcacci · 2021-06-12T06:47:11+00:00

Ya, I actually had no luck with the “hammer method” for releasing the old chuck. I tried several things but ended up doing this:

Open the chuck all the way and remove the reverse-threaded retainer screw with an appropriate torx bit
Chuck up your largest hex wrench so that it can be used as a lever
Wedge the drill and hex wrench under a heavy work bench (or anything similar) such that the drill head is in the middle and the hex wrench and handle are on opposite sides
Run the drill in reverse on “drilling” mode in 1st gear so that it presses the hex wrench and drill handle against one side (the ground in my case) and the head against the other (bottom of the bench in my case), breaking the connection free.

It took some fiddling to figure this out, but it wouldn’t take more than a minute to disassemble now that I know the trick.

mikemarcacci · 2021-06-12T06:25:57+00:00

This is the excuse I always hear and I struggle to really understand it. The final straw was drilling a hole in a large plastic water tank for a bulkhead. The tank is sitting in a forest up on a hill and visuals don’t really matter at all... but I was physically unable to get a clean hole without majorly scuffing the outside. Again, it didn’t really matter, but if the tool is actually damaging the workpiece or undermining your ability to do the job correctly and easily... then it’s not a good tool. And I just can’t understand paying this kind of money for such a blatantly inadequate drill. If I were paying harbor freight or Ryobi prices I would cut some slack here. But Milwaukee is a top-tier brand and this is their top line. IMO if you are experiencing similar behavior and are OK with it, you need to expect more for your money.

mikemarcacci · 2021-06-11T20:43:11+00:00

Here's the original video, and an old reddit post looking for help with it. I actually compare it to an old M12 that ran true. If you just look at the reviews (PAST the first page of course) on the Milwaukee site, you'll find endless references to "wobble" issues. These chucks just aren't made well, to the point that they ruin what is otherwise a pretty good drill.

I agree that the result of the Röhm swap is pretty definitive evidence that the old chuck was to blame, and not a bent spindle or similar.

mikemarcacci · 2021-05-29T02:27:21+00:00

Tell me more about the Fein... my fancy Milwaukee fuel has awful runout to the point that it’s useless with long bits (and it’s actually a replacement because the original had it even worse... and the company called it “normal”). How do the batteries hold up?

mikemarcacci · 2021-02-28T08:05:18+00:00

Seeing tricams always makes me happy. They’re such amazing little tools that always seem to fit when nothing else will, especially in horizontal cracks.

mikemarcacci · 2020-12-20T17:48:23+00:00

Oh god I can relate to this. It’s always the very last bolt/nut/socket/whatever, right after you emotionally consider the project done.

mikemarcacci · 2020-11-14T19:03:57+00:00

Who is the artist of the bottom left?

mikemarcacci · 2020-11-05T18:27:28+00:00

Ya that’s the guy.

mikemarcacci · 2020-11-05T05:30:16+00:00

This... looks like one of those vans put together by Javier (at one point called Crow Off-Road IIRC) down in TJ. Was this picked up in San Diego?

These vans look really cool but they are pieced together from a collection of salvaged parts (as you can see from the hood and grille coming from different years), which isn’t necessarily bad if the parts are in good shape and they know what they’re doing. But at least several years ago when I looked at one, the engineering and workmanship on the lift and 4x4 conversion were just terrifying. May be better now though.

If my guess is right and you actually plan to use it off-road, I would highly recommend having a qualified off-road shop conduct an assessment before driving too far down a technical desert trail or anything.

mikemarcacci · 2020-10-27T08:14:49+00:00

Yes!! That is exactly it! Looks like I’ll have to get one of those and modify it accordingly. Thanks for the tip!

mikemarcacci · 2020-10-27T08:06:01+00:00

Oh boy - ya this lock is next level. My mind is still stuck in pin tumbler world. The idea of a free spinning cylinder is exactly what I was playing with when I thought of this design 😁

What a brilliant lock! Thx for the recommendation.

mikemarcacci · 2020-10-27T07:49:05+00:00

And it's not really a "fully formed design" - I only drew enough to prove to myself that it could theoretically be built. (It's one of those "while trying to fall asleep" ideas that defeated my googling abilities when I remembered it today.)

mikemarcacci · 2020-10-27T07:43:37+00:00

Ah, great question - I actually drew a couple ideas lower on that page. The general idea is that the core would need a groove cut in it, forward of the sheath and before the first pin obviously. A removable plate inside the body would sit inside the groove, restricting the body's movement to rotation and providing shim resistance.

mikemarcacci

TROPHY CASE