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Very crude tree step

denots

denots

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2017
Messages
2,088
Location
Denham Springs, Louisiana
Well I made a very crude tree step out of aluminum t-bar yesterday using a portaband and a Dremel. I did find a guy that would Mill the hole for the strap for $10 a piece. The notch in the bottom is so I could add a small piece of angle cut in a V shape so it added some teeth to help bite into the tree and to put the step at a slight upward angle to keep your foot wanting to slide towards the tree. I tried to cut that Notch at first with a jigsaw but it was too hard to keep the jigsaw level on such a small piece of material. So it cut it crooked and I had to come back and straighten it out with the Porta band. Also I cut the Step at an angle just to remove some material and cut down on weight but on the next step I believe I will cut them out in notches so your foot will grip better on the step. I'm going to keep playing with it I'll post pictures of the next one I make.
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ImThere said:
cool idea. what is you stock metal?
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I bought a two foot section of 4 inch 6061 extruded T Bar and I am cutting inch and a quarter cross-sections. My first one didn't come out quite like I had hoped but it was pouring down rain and my feet were wet and I was soaked and cold. I bought some high-speed cutting bits that hopefully won't clog up like the Dremel bit did. I used a 1/8 inch drill bit and that seemed to help so I think my next one will go a little faster I'm hoping to have at least five or six done for saddle palooza so I can bring them with me. But it's just around the corner so time is not on my side not to mention I still have a few days of deer hunting left.

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I like it. How much does the step you made weigh? Sweet thing about these is you could make some 2” wide for the main ones you stand on and some narrow 3/4” ones to get around the tree for the shot! Great idea.


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ImThere said:
I like it. How much does the step you made weigh? Sweet thing about these is you could make some 2” wide for the main ones you stand on and some narrow 3/4” ones to get around the tree for the shot! Great idea.


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I haven't weighed it yet. I like the idea of making some of the steps wider and some thin. The only problem I could see is anything more than 1 1/2" wide its going to be really hard to cut the hole for the strap. I may be easier to position a couple of steps close together for the main step steps. At 1 1/4 I can make 16 steps for under $100. I'm going to see if these new bits cut the hole for the strap any faster. If not I may pay the 10 buck each to have that milled. When I get to the house I'll weigh it and let you know. Since I'm doing it all by hand and not on a mill they will all be a little different, but it will be close enough for a rough guesstamation.

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I would try to bolt on the part that holds the strap instead of cutting it out and weakening the step. They had to take for ever to make! Looking good though.
 
Wirrex said:
I would try to bolt on the part that holds the strap instead of cutting it out and weakening the step. They had to take for ever to make! Looking good though.
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I'm not sure how I could bolt a piece on to hold the strap. And yes the first one took a while to make. I'm hoping the process speeds up a little bit with these new high speed Cutters I bought. My goal is to hopefully not take more than an hour per step to make. The first one took me about two.

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suicyderider said:
Id want the curvature on bottom n flat where foot rests

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Yeah that makes sense thanks for the idea. I'll definitely do that on next one maybe just cut some little bitty V notches out the edge on the top side to help keep my foot from slipping.

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denots said:
I'm not sure how I could bolt a piece on to hold the strap. And yes the first one took a while to make. I'm hoping the process speeds up a little bit with these new high speed Cutters I bought. My goal is to hopefully not take more than an hour per step to make. The first one took me about two.

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I would do it just like you did. I see no problem with it. I might start a little lower and have more meat on top. I may move the strap more to the front. Cut slot close to exact size. On the bottom of the step drill and tap it put a couple of sharpened 10/32 bolts
 
ImThere said:
I would do it just like you did. I see no problem with it. I might start a little lower and have more meat on top. I may move the strap more to the front. Cut slot close to exact size. On the bottom of the step drill and tap it put a couple of sharpened 10/32 bolts
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Yeah I didn't like the fact that I got so close to the top on this one so I'm going to try to leave a little more room on the next one. I would like to only go 1/16 inch on the hole for the strap. The problem is I would definitely just have to use a regular old drill bit to do that the smallest size shank on an End Mill that I could find was an 1/8 inch. Since I'm using a Dremel I am limited to what size I can use.

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The same place I was the last time I saw you. I have a day off today due to the rain but it's tax season and I have to get that done. I'm hoping to work on them in the next couple of weeks. This is the busy part of my life as far as my work goes. But as soon as I make some new progress I promise I will update this thread and make sure I put a couple to the side for my buddy!

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Well I finished cutting the rest of my blanks out and drilled a couple. I'll have to start drilling the rest out on a drill press and then cutting out the hole for the strap with my Dremel. At an inch and a quarter wide I was able to get 18 steps out of 2 foot of T Bar. It's going to take a decent amount of time to make them but I'll have 18 steps for under $100 when I'm finished.
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That Tbar in the picture with the two lines cut out... Is that to run the strap through? I've been mulling ideas over in my mind for making some lightweight simple steps and I like the T Bar. Also fiddling with a cam over idea. Issue being obviously that it would be way more difficult to cam over a ring of steps because they would initially be too loose to stay put until they were all cammed over.. If I get it done I'll post a pick.
 
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