Grayson Blanchard Bench Swing

 May 23, 2021 This past week I have made lots of progress. I began work on the bench part of the porch swing. I started off by cutting the pieces to their rough length. Then after that I did multiple dry fits to make sure everything will go together properly. Because of the dry fits, I found some issues that may have otherwise gone overlooked. This includes changing the angle of the backrest to make it more comfortable and general changes to make the overall project more structurally sound. After double checking that everything went together properly, I started assembly.  After a couple days of work the bench was finished and ready to get mounted. Greg and I found the ideal height and got lengths of chain and other hardware to attatch the bench to the stand. IT"S COMPLETE!!! Weelllllll, not quite. ALthough it is "finished", there are still a couple of finishing touches that I would like to add such as removing pencil marks, sanding any rough enges, adding grease to the c

May 21, 2021 Today I started working at 8:45 and finished at 3:30. During this time I took the entire bench apart and sanded everything to make sure no one will get splinters. After reassembling, I set the bench on top of some buckets underneath the stand to find the rough height. The reason I did this was to be able to find the length of chain needed to hang the bench at the proper height. After finding the length needed. Greg and I picked up the required chain and hardware to attach the bench to the stand.  After attaching the bench to the stand and testing it out, the swing was perfect and stable if used properly. Taking into account that this swing is at a high school, it is not going to be used properly. Kids will try and see how high they can swing and that could lead to possible tipage. In order to counteract this, I made leg extensions that bolt to the bottom of each leg that widens the footprint, and in turn, adds more stability. 

 May 20, 2021 Today I got to work at 10:50 and worked until 4:15. During this time I worked on assembling the bench. Because of the multiple dry fits, I had done previously, it was really easy for me throughout the entire assembly process. I started by adding the slats that people will be sitting on. After that, I added the slats to the backrest. The reason I did the slates first was that if I had the armrests attached, I would not have been able to fit the drill to screw the slats down. After everything was assembled, I gave it a once-over with some sandpaper to knock down any noticeable rough edges.

 May 19, 2021 Today I worked from 8:40 until 1:30. In this time I continued to work on the bench part of the swing. After completing the backing of the swing yesterday, I started progress on the armrests. These too were made out of 2x4's and were also planed down to the same width as the others to save weight and give a nice and clean finish. The armrests were also dry fit to see how they would look. I had about an inch of overhang on the front of the armrests and decided to round them over to give a cleaner look.

  May 18, 2021 Today I started the day at 9:30. I started work on making the bench that will attach to the swing. I changed the design a little bit and gave the backrest more of an angle instead of being 90º. I did this because it will be more comfortable to sit on. After I made the change to the backrest, I rough cut the rest of the pieces I needed in order to have them ready for the next day. I ended work at 4:30 Today was a lot of measuring and cutting with no building other than the dry fit.

  May 17, 2021 Today I started working at 8:10. I started on building the bench that will attach to the stand and become the swing.  I followed the plans I had and rough-cut all the pieces to length. This allowed me to lay out the pieces and see if there are any issues with the design. Although the pieces would fit fine, Greg was concerned about the weight of the bench. The bench will be made out of 2x6's for the frame and 1x6's for the slats. Taking Greg's concern into consideration, we planed the boards down to make them thinner. Not only did this reduce the overall weight, it also gave the boards a better/smoother finish.