The 'No Excuses Homemade Equipment Crew'

[My2BoysDad]

That is really impressive. How much did materials cost you?

Material costs were roughly: $300 before taxes. Satisfaction of building my own rack :Priceless.

The costs was substantially less than buying a comparable rack plus shipping to/within Canada

The first picture is closer photo of rack plate storage. I put storage on both sides which makes easier access within the cage for such things as the tricep bar.

The second photo shows the J-hook. It is made from 2" x 3/8" Flatbar in which 1 -1/4" cold rolled round bar is welded into a pre drilled hole to form the pin. The wrap around safety retainer is made from 2.5" x 2.5" x .25" HSS

[My2BoysDad]

Hers is a weight tree made for my York standard 1" hole plates. It is made from 2.5" x 2.5" x 1/8" HSS with 1" solid bars extending through the HSS. It is designed to fit up to 50 lb plates although none are present in photo.

[Vermonter]

Hers is a weight tree made for my York standard 1" hole plates. It is made from 2.5" x 2.5" x 1/8" HSS with 1" solid bars extending through the HSS. It is designed to fit up to 50 lb plates although none are present in photo.

Cool design, looks super solid.

Material costs were roughly: $300 before taxes. Satisfaction of building my own rack :Priceless.

The costs was substantially less than buying a comparable rack plus shipping to/within Canada

No doubt, that rack is a tank with plenty of room. I bet it is extremely satisfying!

[irongrandpa]

My2BoysDad- that's great looking equipment, and you're right about the satisfaction of building your own equipment.

[My2BoysDad]

Before last night I didn't even know what a barbell jack was, but after reading a few reviews I figured I could whip one up with shop scraps. I made this jack in 35 minites and it works great. When I get enough post to embed photos I will do up a step by step procedure for this very simple project (as I took lots of photos).

[lrd3]

Before last night I didn't even know what a barbell jack was, but after reading a few reviews I figured I could whip one up with shop scraps. I made this jack in 35 minites and it works great. When I get enough post to embed photos I will do up a step by step procedure for this very simple project (as I took lots of photos).

nice work!!! i would like to do some thing like this....
Hope to see your # come up soon........... im sure it will

[ProtienandIron]

Heavy duty, overkill- an unnesessary amount of metal used....

I like the cut of your cloth My2boysdad. A crew number is on the way, but first I will bestow you with the gift of reps.

[morebarbell]

Here's my home built power rack. It uses 2"x2"x3/16" (7 gauge) HSS with 1.125" solid safety bars with plate storage. Hole spacing is 2" in the bench zone as well as the J-hook areas for benching and 4" higher up.

Photos prior to and after paint.

That's awesome! Repped!

[MattMan44]

I've been meaning to post this for a while but I've been busy with work and school. My brother and I have recently build a Leg press and a power cage.

[MattMan44]

video of the leg press

[lrd3]

video of the leg press

+ repped
what do you guys have it "gliding on" sounds great. fare better than my attempt was.....
why so wide though?

[MattMan44]

+ repped
what do you guys have it "gliding on" sounds great. fare better than my attempt was.....
why so wide though?

The sled "glides on a piece of angle iron that is running up both rails. On top of the angle iron we have flat mount pulleys that roll on the angle iron.

We made it that wide because we were not sure how strong it would be if it was narrower. We were also not sure how stable it would be because we are using 7' olympic barbells for the weight posts, and the length of the bars would place the weights further away from the machine.

[My2BoysDad]

The sled "glides on a piece of angle iron that is running up both rails. On top of the angle iron we have flat mount pulleys that roll on the angle iron.
We made it that wide because we were not sure how strong it would be if it was narrower. We were also not sure how stable it would be because we are using 7' olympic barbells for the weight posts, and the length of the bars would place the weights further away from the machine.

Nice job Matt. Good old down home engineering.

I have been thinking hard on a concept for a leg press using the power cage as the base and perhaps the safety bar as a fulcrum.

Reps given.

[thebraj]

made up a simple deadlift platform

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...63&pagenumber=

[oakoen]

Hers is a weight tree made for my York standard 1" hole plates. It is made from 2.5" x 2.5" x 1/8" HSS with 1" solid bars extending through the HSS. It is designed to fit up to 50 lb plates although none are present in photo.

That is awesome looking!!

[ProtienandIron]

made up a simple deadlift platform

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...63&pagenumber=

Great job, that looks very professional.

[BigAlexG]

I finally read through the whole thread. As soon as I hit 50 posts and can post pictures, I will. I love this type of thing. I built my own competition sized(17"h x 12"w x 48"l) bench out of wood, an 8'x8' Olympic lifting platform, homemade farmer's walk handles, and some heavy Kroc dumbbells that I can post pictures of. And soon I will be making home made jerk boxes.

[ProtienandIron]

I finally read through the whole thread. As soon as I hit 50 posts and can post pictures, I will. I love this type of thing. I built my own competition sized(17"h x 12"w x 48"l) bench out of wood, an 8'x8' Olympic lifting platform, homemade farmer's walk handles, and some heavy Kroc dumbbells that I can post pictures of. And soon I will be making home made jerk boxes.

Sweet, stick around brother, it doesnt take long to get to 50. Look forward to seeing some pics.

[Vermonter]

I finally read through the whole thread. As soon as I hit 50 posts and can post pictures, I will. I love this type of thing. I built my own competition sized(17"h x 12"w x 48"l) bench out of wood, an 8'x8' Olympic lifting platform, homemade farmer's walk handles, and some heavy Kroc dumbbells that I can post pictures of. And soon I will be making home made jerk boxes.

In the meantime, you can attach the pictures to your post as attachments. We can embed them for you.

[thebraj]

added a deadlift jack to my old post

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...post1044548893

[BigAlexG]

In the meantime, you can attach the pictures to your post as attachments. We can embed them for you.

Good to know.

[Accutron]

Before last night I didn't even know what a barbell jack was, but after reading a few reviews I figured I could whip one up with shop scraps. I made this jack in 35 minites and it works great. When I get enough post to embed photos I will do up a step by step procedure for this very simple project (as I took lots of photos).

Very nice work - repped!

[TwoBitHit]

Before last night I didn't even know what a barbell jack was, but after reading a few reviews I figured I could whip one up with shop scraps. I made this jack in 35 minites and it works great. When I get enough post to embed photos I will do up a step by step procedure for this very simple project (as I took lots of photos).

I love this and some of the other things that you've done, it really makes me want to pester my grandad to teach me to weld and fabricate steel.

[My2BoysDad]

I love this and some of the other things that you've done, it really makes me want to pester my grandad to teach me to weld and fabricate steel.

Thanks I appreciate it. Welding is a great skill to learn and once you get some gear and the know how, only your imagination will limit what you can fabricate.

[BigAlexG]

Picture 1 - My 8'x8' lifting platform when I was building it. It's just 2 sheets of plywood across, 2 lengthwise, 1 centered, and a horse stall mat cut in two and screwed down.

Picture 2 - My homemade heavy "Kroc" dumbbell. I made this by taking apart an old rusted 2" dumbbell, removed the sleeves, put a bicycle grip on it, and put weights on it. The other parts of the 2" dumbbells were used fore the farmer's walk handles.

Picture 3 - My homemade wooden bench. In this picture I hadn't put the cloth down on it yet. It's 4 4"x4" posts holding up a 2"x12", with a 1"x12" on top of that, with the foam and cloth on it. It's exactly 17" tall, 12" wide, and 48" long. It took forever to find a 2x12 and a 1x12 that were actually 12" wide. Most shrink a lot when they dry. But I was persistent.


Picture 4 -My homemade poor man's farmer's walk handles. These are simply the collars off an old rusted unused 2" dumbbell. I have a set of 45lbs grip plates, I slide the dumbbell collars through, and attach other weight plates. I grab the handles of the grip plates and I carry them. Not fancy, but effective.
Picture 5 -A picture of my whole gym.

[irongrandpa]

I've been getting a little better with my welder, I built this flat bench out of 11ga. 2x2 tubing, I already had the scrap steel, plywood,rubber feet, only had to buy the vinyl and t-nuts & bolts( about $16). It's 48in long, 12in wide, and 17in to the top of the pad. The pad is from a large piece of ultra dense 2in foam I had.

[KBKB]

I've been getting a little better with my welder, I built this flat bench out of 11ga. 2x2 tubing, I already had the scrap steel, plywood,rubber feet, only had to buy the vinyl and t-nuts & bolts( about $16). It's 48in long, 12in wide, and 17in to the top of the pad. The pad is from a large piece of ultra dense 2in foam I had.

That's a great looking bench. Nice job!

[irongrandpa]

That's a great looking bench. Nice job!

Thanks!

[ProtienandIron]

Great bench IG, Im really impressed by the upholstery- looks sharp. Reps inbound.

[TXBRASS]

Nice job on that bench!