Sunday, September 28, 2008

Mushroom Construction

Okay, mushrooms are apparently very hard to come by in the used market. Since I am not mister money bags I decided to take on the task of building one rather than forking out $250+ for a new one. Here's how it went...



I went to Lowes and asked one of the guys working in "electrical" what they did with the empty cable spools when all of the product was off of them. He said, "Shoot... we throw 'em out." Since they had one with about six feet of cable left on it I convinced him to let me take it which he did.


Once I got it home I took a 2X4 that I had in the garage and cut it into pieces that would fit between the two sections of plywood. I nailed them in place and tested the stability of the not quite finished product. It is very sturdy and will support my weight effortlessly.


Next, I had to figure out a way to create a mound on the top of the base that would allow me to add padding. So I purchased a piece of plywood from Lowes and cut 3 separate circles with a jig saw that are each 5 inches in diameter smaller than each other and attached them to the base with wood screws. Here is a picture of what it looks like before the padding and vinyl.






I will add more pictures tomorrow of the finished product... assuming I am able to finish!


Let me know what you think.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Did you finish that mushroom? How did it work for you? I'm considering building one for my son.

Estrella said...

HI I´D LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR MUSHROOM MY BOY WANTS ONE AND ID LIKE TO BUILD IT LIKE YOU DID. dID IT WORK OFR YOU?? SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT IDEA

Unknown said...

I built one just like that. I sprayed foam insulation over the concentric plywood rings. Then trimmed the insulation with a steak knife. Then stretched a leather scrap over the whole thing and stapled it underneath. It works great.

Unknown said...

What is the height of the spool? Does the spool size have a particular name or number?

Unknown said...

Mine's 14" high. Had to scrape the snow off it to measure it. It doesn't have a number on it. Got it at Home Depot for free. It was just the right height for my son a year ago. But he has gotten taller (he's 10 now) and it's a little short. I am planning to raise the height a bit.

~Rachel said...

I'm about to build one myself. The spool I got from Home Depot is rough around the edges. How would you suggest fixing the bottom up so there are no hurt toes?