How to Build an O-Beam

The brown lines are 2x4's 14 feet long
The black line is a 1x4, 14 feet long.

So you wanna build an O-Beam eh?

As far as O-Beams go, the bigger, the better.  Space can be a real concern however, so if you can't squeeze a 14 foot O-Beam into your tiny apartment, you really should consider getting a different place.  If you insist on residing in some squalid cubicle, you could go with a shorter O-Beam but you'd probably be best off just buying a 6 foot section of 4x4.  Longer sections of 4x4 tend to warp, however, and do not make good O-Beams.  Longer O-Beams allow you more room to walk and also allow multiple people to train at the same time.

Here's what you'll need:  Two 14' 2x4's;  One 14' 1x4, wood glue, 2" wood screws, screwdriver, and something to clamp the wood together.

Assembly:  Lay down a bead of glue on the broad side of a 2x4, clamp the 1x4 onto the glued surface of the 2x4 and screw them together from the 2x4 side.  Then lay down another bead of glue on the exposed broad side of the 1x4.  Clamp the remaining 2x4 to the 1x4 and screw it down.  Let dry and viola!  You are the proud owner of an O-Beam!  Stand back and admire it from different angles.

Now for safety reasons, you can sand it smooth so that you won't get splinters walking on it in bare feet.  Even if you plan to wear shoes, some drills require you to crawl on your feet and hands so it's best to sand it smooth!  If you want to get really fancy, you can use a router to round off the edges and make it more difficult to walk on.

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