This past week we made our first ramp model. As teams you each will be making a model park that should fit on two 22 x 28 Foam Core Boards.
Each student should be working on one (1) skate ramp or obstacle that works with the dimensions of the half-pipe we built together.
Here is the 6' Halfpipe model template we used for our model ramps:
Or try this bank ramp template:
Materials for Model Making
Material for model making include:
- Card Stock, Poster Board, or Cereal Boxes for Top Sheeting of Ramps
- Matte Board, Chip Board, or Foam Core for Sides of Ramps
- Wood Sticks for Framing and Supports
- Wooden Dowels for Coping
- Paint Markets, Paint, or Sharpies for Ramp Art
Tools Include:
- White PVA Glue (Elmer's, etc.)
- Glue Gun (with Adult Supervision)
- Sharp Scissors
- Exacto Knife (with Adult Supervision)
- Light Sand Paper for sanding edges
- Blue Painter Tape for Temporary Hold
How to find the length of a quarter pipe with a transition radius of and a height of feet
There is a lot of math behind building skate ramps. Below is how we figure out the transition radius on ramps.
According to the Pythagorean theorem, given a right triangle with sides of length a, b, and c, the following equation will always be true:
a2+b2=c2
So we make a right triangle:
As you can see above, the hypotenuse ( longest edge ) of the triangle is the transition radius of 7 feet, the length of the second edge (vertical) is equal to the height minus the transition radius, 7-3=4 feet, and the length of the third edge is unknown and what we are trying to solve for.
All that remains is to substitute a=length, b=4 feet, and c=7 feet into the Pythagorean theorem and solve for length.
length2+42=72
length2+16=49
length2=33
length≈5.744563 feet
Here is a great Ramp calculation app: https://www.xtremeskater.com/ramp-plans/ramp-tool/