DIY training mannequin

Mannequins in sports are designed to develop muscles, work out strokes, exercise endurance, etc. A wooden simulator that imitates an opponent used at home. It’s easy to make a simulator with your own hands; you need tools and effort.

Choosing quality wood

For a mannequin, you need to choose a quality material. This will serve as a guarantee that the finished simulator will not crack, swell, parts at the joints will diverge.

The wood of various tree species has different properties, depending on the following:

  • Texture - is formed from layers of wood, is clearly visible on the trunk cut. It affects the quality of processing, the appearance of the finished dummy for training.
  • The core is the central part of the tree, solid. Not all trees contain a core.
  • Sapwood is a piece of wood around the core. Less durable than the core. Before using in the manufacture of wooden simulators, sapwood requires drying, as it contains a lot of moisture.

The most suitable for the manufacture of mannequins tree species growing in Russia:

  • Oak has a beautiful texture. Strong solid material. Resistance to decay. Oak has a core separated from sapwood by dust. Dust significantly reduces the quality of wood. An oak without dust is about 4 times more expensive. Oak logs and boards are subject to cracking, therefore, they need to be thoroughly dried. In the building materials market, bog oak is the most appreciated - dark-colored wood aged in water. Very expensive and rare material.
  • Pine is the most used tree species. Stronger in the direction of the fibers, but in other directions susceptible to cracking. It is difficult to stain, not etched. In the center there is a core. Resistance to decay.
  • Ash - has a core with a fuzzy transition to sapwood. For springy parts of training dummies, the most ideal option. The wood is strong, flexible. Used in the manufacture of oars, bows.
  • Maple is a tree without a kernel. Maple wood has many knots and requires careful processing. Strength and resilience are lower than that of ash. Easy to process.
  • Birch and poplar are sapwood, do not contain a core. Easy to process, but not strong enough. Therefore, these types of wood should be used with caution, not suitable for all parts of the dummy.

The most suitable types of trees for making a figure for training with your own hands are oak, ash. You can use maple, but the choice must be approached with great care. Some parts that do not require exposure to heavy loads can be made of birch, pine and poplar.

Material preparation

For the basis of the product ("body") you need well-dried wood. The easiest, but also the most expensive way is to buy a dried round log. Industrial-dried wood contains no more than 12% moisture, ideal for further processing.

You can save by drying the material with your own hands. To do this, the selected log is placed under a canopy or in the attic at a height of 0.5-1 meters from the floor. The room should be well ventilated. Air, flowing around the workpiece from all sides, dries the log to a moisture content of 15-18%. Depending on the quality of the material and the degree of ventilation, the process will take from six months to several years .

The danger of drying wood for a mannequin on its own is that cracks appear on the ends of the workpiece. If coated with chalk or oil paint, cracking can be avoided.

Make sure that no sunlight or raindrops fall on the workpiece.

Home craftsmen offer to dry wooden blanks with:

  1. Cement floor. Cement draws in moisture, taking it from the wood. The workpiece must be constantly turned over, monitor the tightness of the material to the floor.
  2. Wood shavings. Wood will crack less if kept in dry shavings or in dry ground.

Training mannequins: types and manufacturing

They are divided into two groups:

  • Mimicking individual parts of the human body;
  • Similar to an opponent (humanoid).

The first group includes a wooden mannequin - makiwara. On the simulator, direct blows are practiced, it teaches to pull out the hand after interaction. Increases the technicality of strokes, trains strength, endurance.

Making makiwara (wooden mannequin) is easy. For wall makivara, you need to take two strong, but elastic planks. Ash will do. A rectangular block is placed at one end between the planks. On the other hand, a piece of felt or other soft material is glued (nailed) between the boards. Done. The design is nailed, tied to the wall. To strengthen, you can put on each side another board.

You can make a wooden mannequin makivara in human height. Take a log with a diameter of 7 to 15 cm. The upper part is wrapped with twine, the bottom is dug into the ground or the tincture is strengthened if it is intended to be used at home.

The Wing Chun mannequin is used as a humanoid wooden figure for training. Imitates a human body, arms and legs. The simulator most often contains three “arms” and one “leg”. It can be stable, mounted on a spring or on a rotating platform. For each athlete, an individual Wing-Chun mannequin is made, observing the following proportions:

  • When the knees are bent, the middle “arm” of the figure is directed to the navel, and the upper two in the middle between the upper point of the shoulder and the armpit.
  • The two upper “arms” are located in the same plane. When drilling (hollowing out) holes under them, inside the “body” they will necessarily intersect.
  • The length of the "arms" of the simulator is measured in part of yours, from the knuckles of a palm clenched in a fist to the elbow.

A strong log is taken for the “body” of the simulator. Extra wood is removed from it. With the help of a planer and a pattern (you can cut a circle of the required diameter in cardboard and constantly try on the workpiece), a cylindrical shape is given.

The “body” is polished: first with a skin with large grain (not more than 60), then with fine grain (100 or more).

The mannequin's hands can be of different shapes and can be attached in different ways: with the help of an internal or external spring, a wedge or a rubber band. Additional mountings help the “hands” to move in different planes, helping to practice blows.

The holes for the "arms" and "legs" of the simulator can be hollowed out manually with a chisel or drilled with a tool. You can not make parts from cuttings for garden tools, they quickly break.

Depending on the desired configuration of the leg of the figure (the degree of bending in the "knee"), the material is selected. You can perform the “leg” not only of wood, but also of metal. For decoration, the metal is wrapped with rope.

All details of the training mannequin are sanded, treated with stain, varnished.

After collecting the product for training is fixed to the wall. Rubber gaskets are installed between the wall and the simulator.