Basketball has become a prevalent sport, with people from all walks of life playing it both professionally and recreationally.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the time they need to head to their local gym or hit the basketball court at the park.
Not to worry though, you can easily make different types of basketball hoops using inexpensive materials, placing your new hoop in various areas around your home.
How To Make a Homemade Mini Basketball Hoop for Your Room
Making a basketball hoop that you can hang up in your room is relatively easy to do, and you only need a few affordable items. Below are the steps to follow.
1. Acquire the Necessary Items
The things you will need include:
- A wire hanger
- A large and flat piece of cardboard
- Masking or duct tape
- Scissors
- String (optional)
- Paint or markers
2. Bend Your Wire Hanger Into the Shape of a Circle
Take the wire hanger and reshape it into a circle for the hoop.
3. Bend the Hook of Your Wire Hanger
Do not cut off the hook. Instead, bend it so that it’s at a 90-degree angle with your hanger.
4. Cut Your Cardboard To the Shape and Size of Your Preference
Grab your cardboard and cut it into the shape and size you prefer. Standard backboards are rectangular, so we recommend replicating that appearance.
Also, ensure that the scale of your hoop and backboard is reasonable. The NBA basket opening is 18 inches wide, and the backboard is six feet wide.
This ratio means that the width of the basket is always a quarter of the backboard’s width.
5. Paint the Hoop and Backboard
After the backboard is complete, take your paint and markers and decorate the backboard and the hoop to your liking.
6. Tape the Hoop and Backboard Together
After the paint dries, you can attach your hoop to the backboard. Take the hook you bent earlier and tape it to the backboard’s lower backside.
7. Attach a Net To the Rim
Make a net out of either twisted tape or string and attach it to your basketball rim.
8. Hang Your New Hoop To Your Door or Wall
Masking tape is perfect for this because, unlike duct tape, it won’t leave behind a sticky mess. You could tape along your backboard’s front perimeter and extend the masking tape onto the wall.
Alternatively, you could make tape rings and use them to attach your backboard to the surface of your choice.
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How To Make a Basketball Hoop for Outside
Here are the steps to follow if you want to make a hoop to hang outside.
1. Form the Ring
Though the diameter of a standard basketball ring is 18 inches, you can make your ring any size you want.
Get your rim-form and clamp it onto a bench with a bendable rod or wire in between. Pull the rod around the rim and cut off the straight ends.
Using a bar clamp, squeeze the ends, weld them together, and bash your ring till it’s flat.
2. Make the Ring Frame
Bend a flat piece of metal 0.16 inches thick, drill four holes on it, and weld it to your ring’s flat spot. Cut two rods measuring 12.8 inches long and fuse them.
3. Make the Backboard
Cut a board according to the dimensions you prefer, working with the size of the ring you have made. Mark the center and the holes where you will attach the ring frame.
4. Paint the Ring
Start by sanding the ring, then use a spray can to paint it the color you prefer.
5. Assemble Everything
Bolt your ring to the backboard with the ring’s metal frame facing down. If you would like to have a net, you can clip it to your ring using metal brackets.
6. Mount Your Hoop
You can mount the hoop on the side of your house or shed using heavy-duty wood screws.
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How To Make a Basketball Hoop Using Wood
Here’s how to make your hoop using wood.
1. Make the Backboard
Start by cutting a wooden board, measuring 6 feet horizontally and 3.5 feet vertically. These measurements are the standard backboard size, but you can adjust it accordingly.
2. Make the Rim Outline
Take another piece of wood that is at least ¾ inches thick and 20 inches long and wide. Using a compass and a ruler, draw a circle at a center point on the piece of wood.
Make sure the circle is 18 inches in diameter. At that same center point, draw another circle, 18.75 inches in diameter. Cut along the lines of the two circles.
Round the edges to create a cylindrical shape that is roughly 5/8 inches in diameter, then screw the rim onto a 6-foot x 6-foot woodblock, ensuring that the top of the block and the top of the rim are level.
3. Attach the Rim
Attach the rim on the backboard’s horizontal center, aligning the 6-foot x 6-foot block with the backboard’s bottom edge.
4. Paint the Outline
Take a ruler and draw a two-inch-thick square directly above the six-inch block. Paint the outline in any solid color you prefer.
5. Mount Your Hoop
You can now mount your hoop on your garage wall or use a mounting pole that you cement to the ground.
How To Make a Basketball Hoop Out of Paper
Shape the paper into a square. Fold it in half from top to bottom and unfold it to create a crease. Fold and unfold the paper again, this time from left to right, then along both of the paper’s diagonals.
This process will leave you with four creases that all meet at one central point.
Pinching the sides of the paper, push the paper’s center down. Cut the two adjacent tips of your piece of paper to make a hoop that you can attach to a wall using masking tape.
How To Make a Basketball Hoop Out of Only Cardboard
To make your hoop by using only cardboard, you will need the following items:
- Four pieces of cardboard
- Tape
- Glue
- Marker
- Scissors
Start by cutting the cardboard pieces into the shapes you will need. Two pieces should be 2cm wide and 60cm long. Another piece should be 2cm wide and 17cm long. The fourth piece of cardboard will act as your backboard.
Bend each of the long cardboard pieces into a “C” shape and use glue to stick them together. Take the other cardboard piece, and, using glue, attach it to the shape you just made to make a “D” shape.
Attach the flat side of the rim to your backboard. Using glue once more, hang your cardboard hoop onto your door.
How To Make a Basketball Hoop for Your Pool
To do this, you will need:
- 7 feet of ½-inch PVC
- 10 feet of ¾-inch PVC
- PVC cement
- 8 - ¾-inch 90-degree elbows
- 8 - ¾-inch by ¾-inch by ½-inch T-joints
- Basketball net
- Zip ties
- One or two pool noodles
1. Cut the PVC and Noodles
Use a box miter saw and cut the PVC pieces to length. Sand down the burrs on the ends. Cut the ½-inch pipe into four sections, 20 inches long.
2. Assemble the PVC and Noodle Pieces
Place the noodle pieces on the eight-inch long sections if they can slide over your ¾-inch pipe. If your noodles don’t fit, either cut it lengthwise or use a drill and spade to widen it. Once you have done this, cement the PVC together.
3. Put on the Noodles and Net
Put your net on your hoop and slide your noodle pieces over your pipe. You can use zip-ties to secure them better.
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