Hurley’s A-FrameHi, my name is Hurley and I am a 5 year old Black Labrador Retriever from Anchorage, Alaska. My mom started doing agility with me when I was 3 years old because she said I was “so smart you’re dangerous”. I think it was because I once swam across the ocean after baby ducks. It was miraculous I made it back alive.

A week later, I was enrolled in class and I am really really good at agility. We don’t compete but we do have a lot of fun in our huge yard. Here’s how we built our A Frame.

Materials for the PVC frame

2 10’ piece of 2” Schedule 40 PVC cut into 14” pieces (16 total – 8 per piece)3 10’ piece of 2” Schedule 40 PVC cut into 20” pieces (18 total – 6 per piece)8 2" PVC Elbows8 2" PVC Crosses12 2" PVC Tees100 #8/3/4" pan head screws

Materials for the A Frame

2 3' x 6' sheets of 1/2" plywood8 3' lengths of 1" x 2" wood molding  Sandbox sand  paint4 Heavy duty hinges24 #10 x 1/2" flat head wood screws6 Felt padding, stick on, 2” x 4”100 #8 x 2” screws

Materials for the height adjustment

4 2-3/8" chain link fence tension bands4 1/4" x 2-1/2" bolts4 1/4" wing nuts4 carabineers2 8' lengths of chain

Assembling the Frame

The frame is easy to assemble. It is important that all of the pieces are the exact length. I actually used a hand saw and some clamps on a work table to cut mine and it worked out well but if you have something automatic, that would work better. All of

the 20” pieces run vertical. All of the 14” pieces run horizontal. See the picture at left for the orientation of the pieces and the fittings. You will need to complete 2 brace pieces. After they are finished but not screwed in place, set them aside and start working on the boards.

Prepping the boards

Start by having your plywood cut to size. I usually go through several pieces of ply wood before I settle. Look for pieces without splits, excessive warping or knot holes in them. If you do have any imperfections in the board, start by filling them in with spackle and let the boards dry.

After that, I applied the first layer of paint after stripping out the spots where the slats would be screwed in. I did this by measuring with a right angle ruler 1 foot from the bottom, add a strip of tape, then one foot from the top of the tape, another strip of tape and so on. You will see the slats are pretty well uniform. After a generous layer of paint is applied to one section, apply the play sand and liberally. Keep working each section until you are done with the board. After you are done with one side, let it set for 30 minutes and then remove the tape. This step is important so that the sand has enough time to stick but not enough time to totally dry, cracking the paint when the

tape is removed. You’ll notice I used some left over paint for this section since it was getting covered with sand anyway.

After all of the sand dried, I painted the panels front and back. I used the bottom two sections on the top as

contact zones and the upper 3 sections in the normal blue. Keep in mind that I do not compete with agility so if you have specified contact zones you need, adjust the plans accordingly.

The slats were painted separately. In retrospect, they probably did not need to be. For attaching the slats, I

used some small clamps and centered the slat within the tape line. Then I screwed in the slat about every 4 inches making sure to have the

outside screws at about 1 inch from the end.

The good news about ½ inch plywood is that ½’ is certainly lighter than something thicker and with the brace of the PVC, it is absolutely strong enough to support my 75 lb. dog. The bad news is that when I started screwing in the slats, I went through with several of the screws to the other side since it was thinner than ¾”. I am pleased I went the way I did though. I simply went through the plywood and let the points come out on the other end, then I

took a Dremel cutting tool and took off the screw tips on the other side. I like how this turned out and it only took 20 minutes to smooth out the back side of the board.

Attach the Hinges to the boards

After the slats are all attached and any screw tips are removed, line up the boards face down with the contact zone at the far end each way. Space out the hinges evenly across the board and attach them with #10, ½” flat head screws. You will not likely be able to use

the screws that came with it because of their length. Make sure the hinges are exactly flush to the boards and that the boards are in perfect alignment.

Secure the frame

After the boards are finished, it is time to screw the PVC pipe and fittings together. I measured in lots of place to ensure I had my pipes fully secured into the fittings. You also need to slip the tension band on the 3rd rung down (before you lock the fittings in place is preferable), two per side. Lock them in place with the 2-1/2” bolts and wing nuts. Use the #8, 3/4” pan head screws to screw the fittings to the pipe.

Attach the Frame to the Boards

At this point you need to put it all together. I attached the frames to the

boards using clamps and then used the 2” screws to attach the pipes to the boards. Start with a right angle on the boards and then attach one set of pipe frame at a time.

When attaching the framing to the boards, I used a measuring tape to find the right spot of the location when pre-drilling through the top before I screwed them into place.

I used one screw for each leg of the fitting, so for an elbow, I attached with 2 screws, tee - 3 screws, and cross - 4 screws.

After it’s all screwed into place, I attached a piece of self-stick felt to each fitting that makes contact with the other side at the hinge to prevent wear.

The final step is to set your height and attach the chain. Use the carabiner to lock onto the long bolts fitting the tension

bands. The run the chain between the two sides to secure the height and you are done!

Lessons Learned

In retrospect, I should have attached the slats before painting and I should have mixed the sand with the paint. I am going to end up having to repaint it anyway because of all the exposed screw heads. they are secure but its a whole lot of metal showing now.

The A Frame is very stable. My dog got up on it right away and she has been charging up and down it all night. It might be her new favorite obstacle.