A few weeks ago, I went online and bought my son a swing set. My wife and I had done a lot of research, and we decided that we did not want to get the uber expensive wooden sets that are all the rage these days, but rather the metal kind that was more similar to what we had growing up, and would hopefully save our son some splinters.
So, after lots of looking around, we settled on a Flexible Flyer (yes, the sled people) swing set. American made, and only a few hundred dollars, as opposed to the $1000+ for the wood sets from the Home Despot. We waited, and the swing set was delivered while I was out in Missouri early last week.
This weekend, having gotten a good leg up on my homework, I decided that I wanted to bolt together a little love, and headed outside to construct the swings. Please keep in mind that I have a well stocked workshop and build cars for fun - I did not expect this to be a challenge.
My initial impression was a good one. The set was well packaged. The hardware was very well organized in blister molded packs. The instructions, though, were a bit dubious - as they were clearly just photo copies stapled together and not the booklet that I would expect.
As I began to assemble the swings, things started going wrong. The metal poles had the mounting holes punched instead of drilled. The "hanging chads" were all simply bent into the structure. Also, the holes were much larger then the supplied hardware. The bolts and keepers wallowed in the assigned mounting holes. One very important tool not listed in the "required tools" section of the instructions was a 6 foot step ladder. Many of the connections can only be made if the opposite side of the upright is properly supported, and the only way I could find to get that support is by resting it just so on the step of the ladder, so that I could get the mounting holes to align and bolted in.
The other little bit of joy this swing set brought us today was the concrete issue. All over the Flexible Flyer website they have notes saying things like " we do not provide anchors for our swings. We suggest mounting the legs of the swing in concrete to keep it from moving." However, when we opened the box, we found a set of anchors. Interesting. Reading the instruction booklet, we found this: "If you choose to place the swing set in concrete, make sure to set the anchors in the concrete and not the legs of the swing, as doing so will cause the chains to be too short." This led to a, shall we say, debate between my wife and I. She taking the side of the Website, and myself taking the side of the instruction booklet. This debate has not been able to be brought to a close, so we are going to have to call Flexible Flyer on Monday for a ruling.
So, the swing set sits in the back yard, half built and unanchored. No reason to install the slide and swings until we have the frame fully anchored.
There is simply no reason for this to have been so complicated. What should have been a fun exercise in backyard engineering has left both parents frustrated with each other and with our recent purchase. I am still of the opinion that the wood swings are not what I wanted, but I did expect a better built unit then what we received. More consistency between the website and the packaging of the swings would have averted an argument that I am sure is enacted just about every time these sets are put up. As it is, I am considering welding an extra foot of pipe to the bottom of each leg so that it can be concreted in w/o putting the swings on the ground.
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