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HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

The Moon Schoolroom Board is used buy some of the UK’s top
climbers including Malcolm Smith, Ben Moon and Rich Simpson.
Building this board and fitting it with a set of Moon holds you will be
able train on exactly the same problems these guys are working on.
We will be uploading new problems as we change our own board
sign up for our news letter and we’ll keep you posted.

Building a Moon board is a fairly simple job, however you will need
basic carpentry skills, Basic tools (see page 2) and a minimum of two
people. The information here is just a guide to how we built our board,
however it may vary a great deal depending on your surroundings
and its structure. It isn’t necessary to support your moon board exact
to ours, but it is essential that your use the same measurements for
the angle of the board, height, width and T nut spacing etc.

If you have any doubts regarding your board and its structure
please seek professional advice. Whilst our information worked for
us, we cannot accept responsibility if your board becomes unstable
or dangerous.

Let us know how you get on, happy climbing!

MOONCLIMBING.COM
HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

CONTENTS

1. AREA REQUIRED
FIG1. AREA REQUIRED / BOARD DIMENSIONS

2. MATERIALS AND TOOLS

3. BUILDING THE KICK BOARD

FIG.3 THE KICK BOARD

4. MAIN FRAMEWORK
FIG.4 MAIN FRAMEWORK

5. T-NUTTING THE 3 PLYWOOD BOARDS

FIG 5. BOTTOM OF 3 BOARDS/DIMENSIONS & OVERVIEW

6. FIXING PLYWOOD SHEETS TO FRAMEWORK

7. MARK OUT THE GRID & SET UP YOUR PROBLEMS

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HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

1. AREA REQUIRED - SEE FIG.1

FRONT VIEW SIDE VIEW See fig.1 for overview of Area and board

To build a full Moon board, exact to the one in Sheffield’s School

PLY SHEET 3
Room, you will need a minimum area of:
TOTAL HEIGHT 3.15M

TOTAL HEIGHT 3.15M

BO
— 3.15m High

AR
DL
PLY SHEET 2

— 2.44m Wide

EN
GT
H3
— 2.35m Deep (for board) although an extra metre

.63
M
40º
PLY SHEET 1
or 2 will be needed for space to fall off and rest etc.
BOARD OVERHANGS BY 2.35M

KICK BOARD 37CM KICK BOARD 37CM

However it may be possible to still build a smaller moon board in the
BOARD WIDTH 2.44M MINIMUM ROOM LENGTH 3.0M TOTAL
(2.35M FOR BOARD) space you have, by shrinking our measurements to suit your area.
Although we cannot guarantee that you will be able to replicate all of
our downloadable problems there still should be many possibilities,
even if you can only replicate the first few moves of our full problems.
MOONCLIMBING.COM
HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

FIG1. AREA REQUIRED / BOARD DIMENSIONS

FRONT VIEW SIDE VIEW

PLY SHEET 3
TOTAL HEIGHT 3.15M

TOTAL HEIGHT 3.15M

BO
PLY SHEET 2

AR
DL
EN
GT
H3
.63
M
PLY SHEET 1 40º

BOARD OVERHANGS BY 2.35M

KICK BOARD 37CM KICK BOARD 37CM

BOARD WIDTH 2.44M MINIMUM ROOM LENGTH 3.0M TOTAL

(2.35M FOR BOARD)
MOONCLIMBING.COM
HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

2. MATERIALS AND TOOLS

Materials Tools

The Materials required to build a full Moon board are as follows The following tools are basic essentials for building a moon board

— 3 plywood boards 18mm thick and 8ft high by 4ft wide — Tape Measure
— 1 plywood sheet 8ft wide, by 37cm high for the kickboard — Pen
— 4 x 2inch by 4inch rough sawn timber 3.63m for framework — Saw
— 2 x 2inch by 4 inch rough sawn timber 8ft long for kickboard — Screw driver
— 200 x M10 T-nuts — Drill
— Approximately 100 wood screws minimum of 1.5 inch long — Hammer
— Moon School Room Holds
However for easier and quicker building, power tools such as mitre
This is just a guide for our moon board, however depending on saws, circular saws, electric screw drivers / drills will come in very
your venue and its structure you may need extra materials to handy.
attach framework to wall or ceiling. If you are unsure about the
buildings structure and how to attatch your framework seek
professional advice.
MOONCLIMBING.COM
HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

3. BUILDING THE KICK BOARD - SEE FIG.3

FRAME FOR KICKBOARD Although the kickboard is fairly simple to build, it is important that
2.44M it is solid and attached to either a brick wall or screwed into the
55CM 55CM 55CM 55CM 37CM floor, as the main framework will sit on top to the kickboard.

32CM
APPROX APPROX APPROX APPROX
Our kickboard was built up against a wall therefore we screwed
through the frame into the wall joists, which meant it was attached
firmly. However if you are not able to fix your kickboard to a wall
at the rear, it may be possible to screw down into the floor.
PLYWOOD SHEETS WHICH COVER FRONT OF KICKBOARD

2.44M
a) We first of all built the kickboard frame using rough sawn
40CM 40CM 40CM 40CM 40CM 40CM 37CM
10CM 30CM
3 inch by 2 inch timber, See drawing 3a for measurements
and assembly details.

b) Secondly we cut a sheet of 18mm plywood, down to size,

and attached our T-nuts in the required position as in picture
3b. We then screwed our T-nuttted plywood sheet into the
framework which resulted in a completed kickboard.
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HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

FIG.3 THE KICK BOARD

FRAME FOR KICKBOARD

= SCREWS OR BOLTS INTO WALL

55CM 55CM 55CM 55CM 37CM = WOOD SCREWS

32CM
APPROX APPROX APPROX APPROX

FRAME BUILT FROM 3BY2 ROUGH SAWN TIMBER

2.44M

PLYWOOD SHEETS WHICH COVER FRONT OF KICKBOARD

= T-NUTS
40CM 40CM 40CM 40CM 40CM 40CM 37CM
T-NUT SPACING
10CM 30CM 1ST ROW: 40CM INTERVALS FROM EITHER SIDE,
10 CM UP FROM BASE
2.44M
2ND ROW: 40CM INTERVALS, 30CM FROM BASE
MOONCLIMBING.COM
HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

4. MAIN FRAMEWORK - SEE FIG.4

The main framework was constructed out of 2 inch by 4 inch rough e) Fix two down pieces form your top strut down the middle
sawn timber. Again the framework design may need to be altered 2 frame pieces.
slightly depending on your building structure and how you are
attaching the framework. You should now have a solid framework, although depending on
your climbing area more attachments may need to be made into
a) Cut 4 lengths of timber to 3.7m and using a mitre saw either sidewalls or ceiling joists.
or protractor cut the bottom of the timber to a 40 degree
angle.

b) Fix the top beam to either the ceiling or sidewalls running

across the width of the board from a distance of exactly
1.8m from your kickboard and a height of 3.15m from the
ground. This will enable the correct board angle to
be achieved.

c) Fix your 4 timber struts from the top of your kickboard into
the main top frame, at variable intervals throughout the
width of the board.

d) Fix another 2 inch by 4 inch timber along the top of the

board approximately 75cm away form your kickboard and
again 3.15m from the ground.
MOONCLIMBING.COM
HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

FIG.4 MAIN FRAMEWORK

FRONT VIEW SIDE VIEW CROSS BEAM WITH

2 DOWNWARD STRUTS
4BY2 INCH CROSS BEAM

PLY SHEET 3
TOTAL HEIGHT 3.15M

TOTAL HEIGHT 3.15M

3.6M LONG 4BY2 INCH TIMBER

4BY2 INCH TIMBER

70CM APPROX 70CM APPROX 70CM APPROX

3.6
3M
PLY SHEET 2

40º
PLY SHEET 1

KICK BOARD 37CM KICK BOARD 37CM

TOTAL WIDTH 2.44M OVERHANGS BY 40º, OR 2.35M FROM

BASE OF KICKBOARD
MOONCLIMBING.COM
HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

5. T-NUTTING THE 3 PLYWOOD BOARDS - SEE FIG.5

2.44M/8FT
Due to the systematic design of the Moon board it is essential that
18
the T-nuts are drilled and placed in the correct place so that your
17
T- nutted grid design is exact to ours, which will then allow problem
1.22M/4FT

16 setting to be straightforward and exact.

15
To allow the 3 plywood sheets to be drilled exact we clamped our
14
sheets together on top of each other, this also saves time when
13 drilling through and marking the sheets. We then marked the top
sheet ready to drill 10 mm holes straight through, which is where
12
we would place the T-nuts.
11

Once we had drilled out holes through the 3 sheets, we then

1.22M/4FT

10
hammered the T-nuts into each hole on the back of the plywood
09
sheets, i.e. the opposite side to which you will climb on. The T-nuts
08 should be held firmly into the plywood sheets, by just hammering.
07

06

05
1.22M/4FT

04

03

02

01
A B C D E F G H I J K
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HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

FIG 5. BOTTOM OF 3 BOARDS/DIMENSIONS & OVERVIEW

12CM

GRID IS MARKED OUT 1-18 UPWARDS ON 3 SHEETS OF PLY

6
20CM
5
20CM
1.22M/4FT

20CM
3

20CM
2

20CM 20CM 20CM 20CM 20CM 20CM 20CM 20CM 20CM 20CM 20CM 24CM
1
A B C D E F G H I J K 10CM
GRID IS MARKED OUT A-K 2.44M/8FT
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HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

6. FIXING PLYWOOD SHEETS TO FRAMEWORK

Once all the sheets have been drilled and T-nutted, they will then
be ready to be screwed up onto the framework.

Note* It’s important that the first sheet is placed downwards, so

that the first row of t nuts start at 10 cm up and also that the T-nuts
are onto the back of the board.

It is also important that the T-nuts are not covered up by the

framework; if this is the case it may be necessary to move the
offending piece of framework a few inches to one side.

We fixed our sheets up to the framework by using several 1.5 inch

screws and an electric screw driver. We screwed straight through
the plywood and into the rough sawn framework several times for
each plywood sheet.
MOONCLIMBING.COM
HOW TO BUILD THE MOON SCHOOL ROOM BOARD

7. MARK OUT THE GRID & SET UP YOUR PROBLEMS

2.44M/8FT
To enable you to replicate our problems, we have used a simple
18
grid. This determines what T nuts should be used for each hold.
17
Our grid used letters along the width of the board, in our case from
1.22M/4FT

16 left to right we went A to K, and numbers going up the board, in

15
our case from bottom to top, 1 to 18.

14
To exactly replicate the problems we are training on you will need
13 to use holds from the Moon School set. You can find these in the
Bolt on Holds section of our website. The full set of School holds
12
contains 40 hand holds and 20 footholds. All the Moon holds are
11 numbered and have an orientation mark to indicate which way up
each hold shuld go. Our Problem guide will incicate the hold rotation
1.22M/4FT

10
using compass directions: N / NE / E / SE / S / SW / W/ NW. The
09
guide will also list the hold number and grid location.
08

07 Your moon board should now be built and ready to be climbed on,
all you need to do now is download some boulder problems and
06 set them on your board. It is also possible to randomly scatter some
05 holds around your board which will enable you to make some new
problems up. Let us know how you get on.
1.22M/4FT

04

03
Enjoy and be strong.
02

01
A B C D E F G H I J K