You will need three 8' furring strips, about 26" of 1x4 and an even dozen 1/4" carriage bolts, matching nuts, and washers.
First we'll make the cuts for the sides and cross members. The sides are 70" long. Cut one, then cut a 26" crossmember from the remains. Do this twice. Take your 1 by 4 inch pine board and cut a 26" crossmember for the bottom. This adds strength here as the "feet" that insert into the base go here. The feet will be 6-1/2" and the filler strips will be 42" each. These come from the third furring strip.
(YOUR base may differ, but I use a welded base that accepts the furring strip) You can buy a couple pieces of PVC, one that fits into the other, then cut a couple pieces to work as the legs, screw them to the 1 x 4 with notches cut into the top edge of the smaller pvc, and sink the larger pvc into concrete on your range. Works pretty good until the piece on the frame gets brittle from use. Just replace it by removing the carriage bolts and inserting a new piece.
The first step in the build is to drill your 1/4" holes for the carriage bolts. I marked the ends of the furring strip cross members 3/4" in and 3/4" down and drilled the holes. Note that I inserted a carriage bolt in the first hole after drilling to insure the pieces didn't move when I drilled the second pair.
- 01 cross members.jpg (469.24 KiB) Viewed 955 times
Mark the ends of your 1 x 4 3/4" in and 3/4" off the top and bottom. These are the location of the holes for the sides to attach. Drill these holes as well.
On your side rails, measure up from the bottom 24" and mark both rails at that location. This will be the bottom edge of the center rail. We have NOT tried to drill matching holes in the side rails. We will begin the assembly with the 1 x4 bottom rail as it will insure stability with the double bolts on each side.
Line up the side rail under the crossmember and clamp. Insure the rail and crossmember are square. Drill the side rail hole using the crossmember as a guide and drill the upper hole first insuring the components don't move. Insert a carriage bolt down thru the hole and place a washer and nut on the bolt and tighten. Drill the second hole and repeat.
* IN these pictures the carriage bolts are incorrectly installed, they should be installed DOWN thru the 1x4 with the washer and nuts on the underside. Installed as seen they will interfere with the target laying flat. (Here on the base isn't critical, but on the center and upper crossmembers, it makes a difference. I had to go back and reverse mine. DUH.)
- 02 attaching 1x4.jpg (495.1 KiB) Viewed 955 times
- 03 attaching 1x4.jpg (435.66 KiB) Viewed 955 times
Once the lower 1 x 4 crossmember is installed... clamp and install the center crossmember. The carriage bolts go DOWN thru the crossmember into the side rails. (DUH) Move up and install the upper crossmember as well.
- 04 attaching cross members.jpg (436.7 KiB) Viewed 955 times
As you see here on the base, the feet are installed with double bolts in each leg for stability as well. You can see how they fit into the welded base. It makes for a stable arrangement. (The feet measure 6-1/2" when you cut them, 3-1/2" are the width of the 1x4; the feet protrude 3" to match the depth of the slots in the base.)
- 05 base detail.jpg (569.95 KiB) Viewed 955 times
The 42" filler is added to each side between the center and upper crossmembers. This allows support for the target backer all along the edges.
** The fillers are attached with only drywall screws as they hold no weight and when the targets are fired upon the fillers are pinched between clamps. Drywall screws are easily removed to replace the fillers as needed.
In this picture you can see that I have reversed the carriage bolts in the frame and the target will lay flat as it should. I didn't bother with the lower bolts as they don't affect the target backer position, but if I built another frame I would insure all the bolts faced the same way. I'm anal like that.
- 06 filler.jpg (517.05 KiB) Viewed 955 times
This picture of the completed frame still shows the reversed bolts, but you can see the completed frame anyway... You get the idea.
- 07 2nd b27 frame done.jpg (519.65 KiB) Viewed 955 times
If anyone has any questions, I'll try and answer them. If you want any other measurements, feel free to ask.
