Swing beams and swings are an important part of any commercial playground equipment. Children love to swing; my kids especially love “under-dogs” and will beg for “just one more!” over and over again! Besides being fun, swinging teaches children coordination as they learn to pump their legs and lean back to get their swing going. It is both a great and sad day when your little one no longer needs you to push them.

King Swings Commercial offers commercial swing beam packages alongside our commercial playgrounds. In this blog post, we will explore five common questions:

• What do we use to make our swing beams?
• How are the swing beams anchored?
• How does the spacing work on our swing beams?
• What types of swings do we offer?
• How do I add swing beams to my commercial playground?

As always, if you have any questions and are not the type that enjoys reading, call Blake at 717-687-8210, and he can help you! Also, you can download a helpful PDF that covers everything on our documentation page. Just scroll down till you find Swing Beams and click on the link for the download.

Let’s get started!

What do we use to make our swing beams?

Our commercial swing beams are made from two 2’x6’ pressure-treated Georgia yellow pine wood beams. Both of these beams are inserted into separate vinyl sleeves and then lag screwed together, the lags covered by our decorative diamonds. This creates a strong, stable swing beam.

The commercial swing beam is attached to the A-frame by a powder-coated metal U-bracket. Four lag screws on each side secure the bracket to the frame. Additionally, two pipe braces add support to the beam by attaching to the underside of the beam and then to the center post of the A-frame.

Our A-frames are made out of three 4’x4’ posts, one vertical, and two beams at angles to serve as braces. The beams all attach to a bottom horizontal 2’x6’. Each beam has lag screws holding it in place.

If you connect multiple swing beams, the beams are joined by a powder-coated T-bracket. This bracket is held in place by four lag screws on each side. An A-frame is centered at the joint with pipe braces on both sides.

I lost most of you during those descriptions. Your real question is, “Is it sturdy and safe?”

Yes, our swing beams are sturdy and safe. Each position can handle up to 250 lbs. That means each beam can handle 500 lbs at once.

How are the swing beams anchored?

This is a common question. Most of the time, it is followed with the second question, “Are they cemented into the ground?”

No, we do not cement our swing beams into the ground. Cementing swing beams into the ground takes a great deal of work, cost, and is not necessary to pass an inspection. Our swing beams are anchored with approximately 3’ rebar anchors that are sunk deep into the ground and then attached to the A-frame with lag screws.

Each A-frame receives one anchor at each end. This means that if you have a two-position swing beam, a total of four anchors will be attached to the commercial swing beam. Each additional A-frame will add two more anchors to your swing beam.

How does the spacing work on our swing beams?

You probably noticed that the spacing between swings differs considerably on residential versus commercial swing beams. For the same length of swing beam, our residential line has three swings attached, while our commercial swing beam only has two. What is up with that?

To pass a safety inspection, a minimum space requirement must be met between the swing and the frame and the swings themselves. Our commercial swing beams meet that requirement, so we only attach two swings per swing beam. This can be frustrating if you are trying to pack a lot of swings into a tight area, but it is a safety regulation that ASTM-certified playgrounds must abide by.

What types of swings do we offer?

Currently, we offer two types of swings: the classic belt swing and our deluxe toddler swings.

Belt swings barely need an introduction as they are the classic swing that generations have swung on and generations will continue to swing on. They are tough, easy to use, and perfect for “under-dogs!”

While called a deluxe toddler swing, our toddler swings, or DTS for short, is made for all younger children, not just toddlers. It has a safety strap on the inside and a supportive plastic back.

How do I add swing beams to my commercial playground?

Swing beam packages can be tricky to add, as you must be careful with the safety buffer spacing. In short, you can add any number of swing beams to your playground if you have adequate space. For examples of how this could work, check out our ready-made packages.

If you are looking at one of our commercial playgrounds, say the Navigator playground, and want to add swings, you first need to ensure you have enough space. You can want to add ten swings, but if you only have space for 4, there isn’t much you can do about it.

After determining your space, you decide on how many swings you want and how many of each kind. If you are a preschool or an organization that routinely handles the same age of children, this shouldn’t be a hard decision. But what if you are a church, park, or other organization that can’t predict ages? What types and how many should you get?

My advice as a dad of three kids who had worked in the swing set industry for a while and has been to many parks is this: error on the side of too many belt swings. Toddlers can use belt swings, but bigger kids can’t use baby swings. Toddlers and babies can’t resort to fist-to-cuffs over a swing, but older kids can. Having an extra belt swing is preferable to extra baby swings. This is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.

Once you determine your swings, let us help you with the placement. Sometimes, your land will settle the placement discussion as the swing beam could really fit in one place. If you have multiple options of where it could go, we can help you discover each position’s various pros and cons around your commercial playground.

Conclusion

King Swings Commercial knows that swings are essential to any commercial playground, but they are a bit more complicated to place to keep within code than the playground itself. That is why we are here to help you. Call Blake at 717-687-8210 or email him at [email protected] with any questions and see how we can simplify commercial playgrounds.

If you are looking for our residential swing sets, go to www.kingswingsets.com.