DIY Wooden Baby Gym

[@rleddon]

What a cool project!! I love how it turned out. This is so much sleeker looking than the commercially available baby gyms.

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you Berta! I was pretty pleased with the final result! :)

[@thegirlatthefrontdesk3519]

This is the best version I have seen so far! I'm going to try to pull this off tomorrow. I need one for a gift and one for my 5 month old.

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you! I was very happy with how it came out and the people I gave it to love it! Take some pictures and post them somewhere, I'd love to see what you end up making!

[@ashtondookhoo3224]

Nice video Was helpful Thanks

[@TheEveryMaker]

I'm so glad you found it helpful! Thank you for watching!

[@Jacopobancale]

Wow! Cool, nice job! Is it possible to replicate this project? Can you tell me the measurements of the legs, please?

[@TheEveryMaker]

Of course, be my guest! The legs ended up being about 27 3/8 inches long from the edge to the furthest tip. The dowel is 31 1/2 inches long. Hope you have fun building it! If you do, post it somewhere and tag me!

[@saleghaparker2975]

Excellent video, best one around. Well done!

[@TheEveryMaker]

Wow, thanks! My friends were happy with theirs and when I had my own child, I made another one for him. I got a lot of use out of it!

[@makaylapritchard6594]

Best baby gym diy I’ve seen !!!

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you! It was such a fun project and the parents love them, so they make awesome gifts!

[@rachellefuchigami9024]

Very awesome craftsmanship! Love your version of the baby gym! Best one I've seen by far 👏

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you so much! It was a fun project and i'm very happy with how it came out.

[@Knatterbart]

Yup, definetly best so far

[@miketabar2327]

Good idea. I know a few families who might like these. Thanks for the video

[@TheEveryMaker]

Glad you enjoyed it! It was very satisfying giving these to the new parents to be.

[@dhauen]

Just made a gym inspired by your work. Thanks for sharing!

[@TheEveryMaker]

That's awesome! I would love to see it if you are willing to share?

[@MyATCtv]

Nice project! love the positive attitude. Well done Nick!

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you! This was a fun project!

[@MyATCtv]

we would love to share with our community. Would you be open to share on our DIY forum? www.atc-c.com/forum/english

[@TheEveryMaker]

Yes of course! Feel free to share away and thank you for the support!

[@MyATCtv]

We have just shared on our page. If you would like to share more projects with our community, feel free to share your own article on our forum and we will share on a weekly basis to promote your work www.atc-c.com/forum/english

[@danieledolzan1812]

Nice job, Nick! It looks very stable and safe. Just one feature to be understood: how the inside legs are locked-in-place to avoid their possible shifting along the horizontal rods? Thanks in advance

[@TheEveryMaker]

They actually don't lock in place. I have found that it was not as necessary for them to lock and it made it easy to move the gym out of the way as the legs were free floating. However, if you do want to lock them, you can do the same with the inside leg as the outside leg and drill only partway through with the forstner bit and all the way through with the smaller bit. You have to compensate for the additional material so the hanger bolt goes all the way through, but then you can lock both legs in place. I used this design with my child and never really noticed a problem with the legs moving, but if I had to do it over again, I probably would make it so it would lock in place. The plans will have the info for the locking legs.

[@beverlyrobinson448]

This is the nice version that I have seen --- and I love that you use a child-safe, natural finish on yours! I want to make one of these for my first grandchild. I think that I got the dimensions from other comments and have a good idea how to make one. I have not done my projects - and jojoba oil is new to me. Where do you by your jojoba oil? Or what brand do you recommend? I want to make sure I buy the right thing.

[@TheEveryMaker]

Jojoba oil can be found at many places that sell supplements. Natural Grocers, Vitamin Cottage, Sprouts, Whole Foods, heck even Walmart carries it. Just make sure its made for skin or hair and is 100% Jojoba oil. I'd love to see it when you finish!

[@memarti002]

Great job! Yay teamwork 😁

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you! I hope this will be the first of many collaborations.

[@TheWoodYogi]

Very well thought out Nick :) Great work ॐ

[@TheEveryMaker]

The Wood Yogi Thank you, glad you liked it!

[@akramyani]

This is an amazing job simple and smart, do you have more activity baby play gym ideas to create by wood?

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you! I do have more ideas, though nothing made yet. I belong to a Woodworkers Association that does make a ton of wooden children's toys, so I'll probably be doing some of those in the near future.

[@cfidellmt]

Another great video! What a cute idea and I like the use of the natural wood finish. Did you put any type of finish on the danglyboppers? :-)

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you! I did, I should have put the finish on before we made them (lessons learned). I used the same paste wax on the wood parts of the danglyboppers and it really made them pop.

[@gsp911]

2:39 Clamp a triangle at right angles so the drill hits perpendicularly, no chance of the drill wandering.

[@TheEveryMaker]

That's what the block in the back was for, to keep everything nice and square. If you have a good triangle you can clamp to, that would work great!

[@gsp911]

I just watched it again. Nice to see a safe use of a table saw. Thumbs up for that. Too many people show a dangerous use of a table saw, and this can affect those who are new to woodworking and do not know better.

[@TheEveryMaker]

@@gsp911 Thank you! I have a couple of friends who have lost fingers, so I always try to work safely. As much as it is about showing other people how to work, it's also about making sure that I'm being safe for me.

[@Dubayxx]

awesome. Thanks!

[@TheEveryMaker]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!

[@jorjsal]

Great project. My daughter wants one. what is the length and width of the a frame boards and how long is the dowel. Thanks

[@TheEveryMaker]

The dowel ended up being 31.5 long. The boards on the side started at I think 2.5" by 29" long, then got trimmed down to the final length of around 27.5" (on the long side). I'm glad she likes it, I'd love to see a photo if you build one!

[@AlejandroGarciaIglesias]

Very nice. One question about the finishing: what jojoba-beeswax proportion did you use? I've seen many different recipes of and I'm in doubt between making it 1/2 oil + 1/2 wax, or 3/4 oil + 1/4 wax. Many thanks in advance.

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you! I believe with my recipe I actually split the difference and did around 3 parts oil to 2 parts wax. I wanted kind of a medium hardness to the wax, still workable, but enough to give a little bit of protection.

[@AlejandroGarciaIglesias]

The Every Maker - Nick thanks! Would it be reasonable to say the more oil the softer the paste and less protection, and the more wax the harder the paste and more protection? If I wanted less protection but more oily finish I would then go with the softer? Thanks in advance!

[@TheEveryMaker]

@@AlejandroGarciaIglesias Beeswax isn't going to offer a lot of projection in general, but it does add a little more protection than just the oil. You can use straight oil to penetrate the wood a bit more and put a pastewax over the top and buff it into the wood. I haven't played too much with the different amounts of wax and how it affects the finish over long term, but check out James Wright, he also makes different paste waxes and does a good video on his process. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZqwqGpniqedaa8

[@petterbrenna5053]

So good! Can I ask you what size dowel (width and length you cut the dowel to?) Also, what size hanger bolt? I have never used them before but I love the ability to disable the item so easily:) thanks so much!

[@TheEveryMaker]

I had to go back and look at my plans, the dowel was 1" in diameter x 31.5" long. The hanger bolt was 1/4" x 2 1/2" long. It needs to stick out of the dowel by about 1 1/4" to allow enough of the bolt for the nut to grab.

[@leighanneho9031]

Beewax and jojoba sounds much safer than whatever you'd get at a box store!

[@TheEveryMaker]

Ultimately, once a finish cures, it's considered safe, even food safe, but I just like the idea of using the natural products when dealing with a baby. Besides, you can apply it as many times as you want and it just makes it feel so smooth and still feel like wood! Plus, it doesn't stink and won't eat through your hands.

[@rubenvandenberg8585]

What angle would you advise to use for the legs?

[@TheEveryMaker]

They are at a 60 degree angle, or 30 depending on where you are measuring from.

[@BruceAUlrich]

Babies really are lazy! ha ha. Nice medullary rays at 2:03. These turned out great, Nick! I really like the way they look. Another great video!

[@TheEveryMaker]

Bruce A. Ulrich Thank you! I had a lot of fun with this one and seeing the look on the soon to be parents faces made it all worth it. I tried to pick interesting wood, didn't know that was the term, thank you for the education!

[@beckiwalkowski3534]

Great video! I have a question though, where did you get the beads and loops and such for the danglyboppers?

[@TheEveryMaker]

My wife and I collaborated on this project and she found all the bits and bobs, I'll find out and get back to you.

[@TheEveryMaker]

We found them all on etsy.

[@onenoeneo402]

Music it’s so loud, awesome video thanks

[@TheEveryMaker]

Yeah, I'm not sure what happened, it wasn't as loud when I did the video originally, but when I exported and uploaded something happened. Glad you liked the video though!

[@colinkrapernick1661]

So I’m now making this for my second child, I don’t have any power tools besides my drill. Have any tips?

[@TheEveryMaker]

This project can easy be done with hand saws and whatever you might have to finish boards, be it hand planes or sand paper. If you can get boards cut to width, that will help. Drilling through the boards for the rope will be tough, so I'd suggest a jig and just drill straight through. The angle isn't as important. If you need some hand tool guidance, check out Matt Estea, he has some great tutorials on hand tools.

[@colinkrapernick1661]

The Every Maker - Nick thanks! I actually started tonight and it’s going good for my first time!

[@RebeccaRam27]

How long did you cut each of the side legs?

[@TheEveryMaker]

The dowel ended up being 31.5 long. The boards on the side started at I think 2.5" by 29" long, then got trimmed down to the final length of around 27.5" (on the long side).

[@theguyver6397]

Awesome stuff man.

[@TheEveryMaker]

Thank you! This was a really fun project.

[@HKStageTech]

It is so nice, i want to make one for my daughter, can you share the dimension please?

[@TheEveryMaker]

The dowel ended up being 31.5 long. The boards on the side started at I think 2.5" by 29" long, then got trimmed down to the final length of around 27.5" (on the long side).

[@HKStageTech]

@@TheEveryMaker thank you so much, will make it right away.

[@TheEveryMaker]

@@HKStageTech That's great! I'd love to see what you come up with! If you post a photo somewhere, tag me @TheEveryMaker.

[@HKStageTech]

@@TheEveryMakerWhat is the angle of the diagonal cut?

[@TheEveryMaker]

It's about 30 degrees.

[@ennvee1989]

Is it foldable?

[@TheEveryMaker]

It is, since there inside leg just sits on the dowel, when you pick it up, it folds up. You can also take the dowel ends off, if you want to fold it up completely for storage or shipping.

[@brianwelch2678]

How much of each did you mix of the jojoba oil and beeswax I have been looking for something safe to coat the one I'm going to make

[@TheEveryMaker]

I used about 3 parts oil to 2 parts wax. It makes as slightly more firm paste wax that buffs out real nice.

[@samanthafigueroa6634]

Are you making these still?? And would you sell

[@TheEveryMaker]

Hello Samantha, I do have them on my project list to make more and start selling them.

[@dekeros-recreationalwoodwo6456]

That intro! lol. :-) Another well executed project and video! All the best to you!... (and yeah - babies are lazy)

[@TheEveryMaker]

Ha! Thank you! I hope you are doing well!

[@evankeefer5321]

No dimensions? No sizes? Tools? Is this a DIY guide? Or a show off?

[@TheEveryMaker]

The video is to inspire people to get out in the shop and build something. I've had several people build this project to their own dimensions. With enough people showing interest though, I will have plans as soon as I get my website up and running.

[@marlboros4me]

Babies are lazy. Lol

[@TheEveryMaker]

To be fair, so am I.