small angles on ramp

[Jim Colombo]

I'm building a ramp that is 4" high x 36" long and 48" wide. Could I get some help/ideas on how to cut the shallow angle on the plywood top so it rests evenly on the ground? By the way, all the dimensions need to be multiplied by 10.

Thanks

[joe milana]

I suppose you could feather the underside with a beltsander, but you'd be better of leaving the plywood square. I've seen one that had a shallow rabbet cut into the plywood & sheet metal or aluminum was used for the transition.

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[Jamie Buxton]

Are you willing to cut a tapered nose piece which you attach to the plywood after you taper it? If so, and if you have a good bandsaw with a tilting table, you can stand the nosepiece on edge to cut that shallow angle. Another way to taper the nosepiece is to build a sled for your planer. The sled holds the nosepiece stock with one edge tilted up. You'd want to be making the nosepiece with solid lumber.

[Roger Feeley]

It sort of depends on your definition of 'ground'. If this is going to be inside and ground refers to the floor, wood might work. If ground really means ground and this will be outside, you need to find a way to make the edge of the wood square and use metal to fill the gap.

In either case, the thin edge you have in mind won't last very long. I like the idea of using some sort of aluminum extrusion.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you don't want to separately mill a nosepiece, there's a way to put the shallow angle on the plywood itself. There's a router jig often cited for flattening wood workbenches, but it is also used for flattening wide lumber slabs. There's two rails running lengthwise along the sides of the slab. There's a bridge running from rail to rail, supporting a router. The router bit sticks down to touch the slab. You run the router along the bridge, hunch the bridge sideways one bit diameter, and repeat. If the rails are parallel, the bit tip describes a flat plane. You could use the same technique to mill your tapering edge on the plywood.

Of course, being really precise about this tapered edge only makes sense if you have really flat plywood, and a really flat floor you're mating it to. If the floor isn't flat, or the plywood is bowed, you'll get gaps.

[John Lifer]

My guess is you are trying to make a wheelchair ramp. You don't need to feather down to a sharp point. The wheel will roll up a 3/4" square just as easy as a sharp edge. But I do suggest you get an aluminum angle that would protect the edge.

[Bill Petersen]

I made a ramp for my mother's front door very similar to what you are showing. I used an aluminum threshold from the Borg to make the transition at the lower end of the ramp and it has been holding up well for a couple of years.

[Peter Stahl]

I was thinking a jig for a table saw that holds the piece almost verticle but the blade may not be tall enough to make the whole cut. My other thoughts were like Jamie mentioned above. How wide are the ramps?