How to build a campus board

If you search the web, you'll end up with a whole bunch of different sites claiming to tell you how to build a campus board. The problem is, the whole point of having a campus board is to eventually be able to pull 1-5-9, at which point your body will turn into pure energy and you will become immortal. And you can't say you've done 1-5-9 unless your board is built to standard specifications.

The standard we should all be working to is the School Room Campus Board in the UK (pictured left).

Campus Board Standard Specifications

• Board angle: 12.5 degrees.
• Rung spacing: 22cm from top of rung, to top of rung.
• Rung depth/size: Anywhere from about 1cm to 3.5cm. Some wide boards have several different sizes on them. As a general rule, 6c - 7c climbers should choose a larger rung and 7c+ climbers should choose a smaller rung (about a pad depth).
• Rung incut: No! Purists say - perpendicular to the board! Unless you're going to buy something like the ready-made Metolius Campus Rungs which have a very slight incut.
• Degree of rung-edge smoothing: This is variable. Ensure enough to avoid undue pain, but not so much so as to decrease the effective flat contact surface.
• Rung friction: This is a variable based on wood type, smoothness, temperature, humidity.

Fun facts about 1-5-9 on the Moon Board

• 22cm spacing
• First movement of 88cm, second movement of 88cm*
• Total travel of 176cm
• *This does not take into account the fact of the shorter distance between rungs 8 and 9 on the School Room Board.

Things to watch out for

• Don't build your board all the way to the floor. It has to be suspended. Ideally, the first rung should be around eye level. If you build it to the floor you can't hang freely
• Pre-drill through your rungs to avoid them splitting when you mount them
• Drive your screws all the way through the rung, board, and into the supports behind, and finish each screw by hand
• Don't overtrain. First sign of pain = stop

Left: The original Wolfgang Gullich board in Germany

Keywords: campus board plans, campus board regulations, campusboard, campussing, training finger strength, training power, training contact strength








2010 edit:
This is the most popular article on my site. This saddens me :) So, now you know how to build one, here's why you shouldn't.