I am an electronics / electrical guy and want to run a couple things by the outdoor board before I do something dumb.

My teens want to make a volleyball net pole holder with two poles cemented into tires.

I have two, 8ft 3in x 3in aluminum 1/4 inch thick pieces of square tubing that I want to use as poles.
I have an almost 4ft section of 4in x 4in 1/4 inch thick, section of steel square tubing I would like to cut into two pieces. I want the 4 inch pieces to be sleeves that the 3 inch sections fit into then have a bolt with a wingnut to keep it together while in use.

The inside of the steel is 3.5 inches so I will have a 1/4 inch gap all the way around. Will that be too much of a gap or will tightening the net after installation take care of that? Do I need some kind of shim, or maybe make a bag of wedges for them out of scrap wood.

These are teen boys who also play co-ed. The boys are just hard on stuff. They want the ability to have their friends come over and help them load the heavy tires in the truck and take their setup to wherever they play.

The reason for square tubing versus round pipe - The square tubing is all scrap I have had on had for years just sitting in the garage. I will get tires from the junkyard or tire shop. Bags of concrete will be the only real expense, which isn't much.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I don't want to spend a lot on this. I think the main reason they play volleyball is because of the girls so I am not sure how long this lasts. They learned really quick it's better to play a sport with the girls where you can be teammates versus playing against them and then talking trash after winning.

Go bigger on tire size. Did this back in HS and just the net pulled the poles inward. Had to end up putting tire into ground because we were running into it and we also had to string wire to an anchor from the top of pole. It ends up not being mobile and you have to find a place that fits and keep it there. If your not worried about movement on net and some sag it will work.

Put some thought into it. We had already concreted the pole into the tires and had to dig a pretty good size hole to burry them. Luckily we left the poles long and had enough to keep net at the right height.

SGrem said:

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The poles will need secured down to the outside no matter what or the net will dip. Also if one of them falls into or runs into the net it is going to tip those poles with a heavy tire slamming down.

Just go to Academy and get a portable volleyball set that has tie down auger to secure poles. You will spend less and wont have to call a disposal company to get rid of your tire and concrete when they are done.

Heaving concrete filled tires and poles for mobile play is not a good plan. You wouldnt even be considering this if you didn't already have that scrap.

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Agree with this. I had a setup like what the OP is talking about. I still had to use anchor ties on each pole to stabilize the poles and keep the net tight.

Our volleyball setup ended up turning into a huge hobby for one of our guys. It turned into tiger sports complex and they do camps and travel teams.

John Cocktolstoy said:

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Our volleyball setup ended up turning into a huge hobby for one of our guys. It turned into tiger sports complex and they do camps and travel teams.

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Interesting to know the origin of the place as both of my girls have played there.

Can't PM you. Or I would give you the rundown of the history. All started with 8 HS guys playing city league volleyball. Seguin was a hotbed for baseball and volleyball, little league and city.


And now the girls volleyball part is gone from what I understand.

SGrem said:

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The poles will need secured down to the outside no matter what or the net will dip. Also if one of them falls into or runs into the net it is going to tip those poles with a heavy tire slamming down.

Just go to Academy and get a portable volleyball set that has tie down auger to secure poles. You will spend less and wont have to call a disposal company to get rid of your tire and concrete when they are done.

Heaving concrete filled tires and poles for mobile play is not a good plan. You wouldnt even be considering this if you didn't already have that scrap.

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Agree.

We had a DIY filled concrete tire set of volleyball standards growing up. Agree, the middle of the net dipped. Regardless, you'll need to secure with anchors.

just set 2 treated 4x6 for ours and used some screw eyes and a turnbuckle to keep it tight it last as long as the net did. It dipped after a couple years buy just tighten the turn buckle.

I would worry the square aluminum would also bend over time. And for sure would need some shims.

Growing up we played a ton of volleyball in our front yard. We used 1 1/2" metal pipe for the poles with PVC pipe permanently installed and covered by sprinkler valve boxes to insert them in. One end had wires with loops to anchor and the other had a ratchet strap to tighten it all up. Anchor points were in the ground permanently with sprinkler valve boxes as well.

I could have that net set up in less than 5 min and it was tight. Don't waste your time on concrete and tires. You will never get it tight.