Homemade Dumbbell Rack?

[Biggerfoot]

I am wanting to try and make a homemade dumbbell rack.

I was planning on using some old bed rails and 4 x 4s.

Has anyone made one or seen photos of one so I can get some ideas?

Thanks.

[Rocket]

Here is a picture of one I made. it is made out of old bed rails and some 2x2 tubing, but you could use some 2x2 wood I am sure!

[Biggerfoot]

Here is a picture of one I made. it is made out of old bed rails and some 2x2 tubing, but you could use some 2x2 wood I am sure!

Thanks.

What did you use for the plate holders on the rack? I have produmbbells too.

[Rocket]

If you look close you can see I used small pieces of Angle Iron. You could use a nut and bolt in yours if you do not weld. The only problem is Bed Rail is hard to drill.

[Biggerfoot]

If you look close you can see I used small pieces of Angle Iron. You could use a nut and bolt in yours if you do not weld. The only problem is Bed Rail is hard to drill.

Thanks

I have a small arc welder but it will only weld 1/16 so I would not trust it for heavy dumbbells. I do have a 14" cut off saw that rips right through the bed rails.

Unfortunately, after hitting the thrift stores, I only found one set of bed rails. I would have to buy the how bed for the rails elsewhere that would defeat the purpose of saving money on making my own.

I am thinking about using some steel pipe on my rails.

My main concern is that the dumbbell are from 65-90 pounds so strength is necessary.

[Rocket]

If you have a "Spring Clean-up" in your town. you can pick up six or eight sets of bed rail just driving around. I love building stuff out of other peoples junk!

[Biggerfoot]

Well, I went ahead and made a dumbbell rack with what I had. I have about $10-12 invested in it.

I used an old bed frame and posts from an old bench.

Four of the bed frame rails were 29 inches long, so I went ahead and made the rest of the rails 29 inches and this pretty much used up the railing I had and just happened to fit into a space I wanted to use perfectly.

Rocket was right, the bed frame is a bear to drill through. Luckily, I have a drill press, a high speed air drill, cobalt drill bits, and a metal cut-off saw. There is no-way a hack saw and electric drill would have done the trick.

I ended up with four tiers that will hold either 3 pro-style dumbbells each or a mix of other things. I made the bottom rail wider to hold either my Olympic dumbbells or my Wrist Leverage Bars. Since I could not really angle the tiers, I made wood spaces that staggered the tiers.

Here is what I started with:

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/..../rackstart.jpg

The finished rack:

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/....nishedrack.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/....ishedrack2.jpg

The staggered tiers:

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/..../racktiers.jpg

Loaded rack is very sturdy:

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/....loadedrack.jpg

Last year, Walmart was getting rid of their Gold's Gym racks and I picked this one up for $12 (I searched all over at other Walmart for more, but no luck):

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/....ldsgymrack.jpg

While I was at it, I went ahead and painted my dumbbell plates so they all would match. I had a bunch of used Walmart light gray plates so I match the other plates. I used Rust-Oleum's hammered paint to match the plates and a good primer. My one regret is that I wish I would have spent more time and money and would have just painted all of the plates a hammered black, but it would have taken more time and money I really did not have to spend.

The rusty plates:

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/....ustyplates.jpg

The paint and plates after using my bench grinder's wire wheel:

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/....iredplates.jpg

Since it is winter time here, I made a paint box and used an old broom stick so I could rotate the plates to paint them:

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/....s/paintbox.jpg

We had one nice day and I painted a bunch outside (I used my jack stands and a pipe to paint 45 lb plates before:

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/....ntedplates.jpg

While I had everything apart, I clean up some of my older handles (about 15 years old!) in my bead blaster...you can see the difference between the before and after:

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/....ellhandles.jpg

Here is a stack of painted 10 pound plates (I figured I painted about 1200 pounds of plates):

http://homepage.mac.com/biggerfoot/....ntedplates.jpg

[Rocket]

Nice Job!!

[david4zero8]

Impressive work! It must be nice to have access to all those tools. The plates came out great. Call me weird but i actually prefer the hammer tone gray look over the black.

[billy]

Very nice indeed. I probably need to learn how to make my own stuff too. All I have is this crappy 2 tier rack that can't even fit 3 pairs of prostyle dumbbells on each tier. Most of my db have to remain on the ground for now but things will get organized soon enough.

[WIGuy]

Biggerfoot, thanks for taking the time to post your pictures and work you've done. You do excellent work.

[Biggerfoot]

Impressive work! It must be nice to have access to all those tools. The plates came out great. Call me weird but i actually prefer the hammer tone gray look over the black.

Thanks.

All-in-all, I think if one had a decent power drill and a good set of sharp bits and the time to use a hacksaw, it could be done in a day or so. I know when I was drilling the rails, I was thinking to myself that I wish I would have forked out the bucks for a new rack (now I am glad I didn't).

I do like the gray paint but was having painter's remorse and wishing for another color. I figured these will last me another few years before will need to paint them again.

Very nice indeed. I probably need to learn how to make my own stuff too. All I have is this crappy 2 tier rack that can't even fit 3 pairs of prostyle dumbbells on each tier. Most of my db have to remain on the ground for now but things will get organized soon enough.

You got some nice heavy dumbbells there!

When I find more bed rails, I plan on putting another shelf on my two-tier rack. I figured at least I can put one rail on the front feet, at an angle, and that it would place the ones on the floor at an easy angle to pick-up.

[blackdove212]

Here's a dumbbell rack with a curling bar stand and some weight plates too. It's easy to build from wood.

[cgc]

Here's a dumbbell rack with a curling bar stand and some weight plates too. It's easy to build from wood.

Crap man, what did you do...look up every ancient DIY post to link your stuff?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking your innovation, but with post 3-5 years old some of the members asking about this stuff probably still aren't here.

make a new post if you want to show off your stuff, man...

[blackdove212]

Crap man, what did you do...look up every ancient DIY post to link your stuff?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking your innovation, but with post 3-5 years old some of the members asking about this stuff probably still aren't here.

make a new post if you want to show off your stuff, man...

Okay. Sorry for that.

[dparty82]

Crap man, what did you do...look up every ancient DIY post to link your stuff?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking your innovation, but with post 3-5 years old some of the members asking about this stuff probably still aren't here.

make a new post if you want to show off your stuff, man...

Hahahah.....

I was like....wtf!! Why doesn't biggerfoots' links work?

Now I know why

[Biggerfoot]

I noticed that my old .Mac links are long gone. It is hard to believe this was six years ago! After six years of use, this rack is still going strong and never had a problem, even with a move. Regarding the painted plates, they are also holding up very well after six years. There has been some chipping where I hit them together but overall, they still look great.

Here are some of the photos that I previously uploaded:




Here it sits six years later with a York rack. I use the homemade one every work out still!

[Northernmoris]

Nice rack. Glad you reloaded the photos.

[jackbravo]

Is there any reason not to make/use a cubby style dumbell rack and store prostyle dumbbells upright on one end?

[cmarti063]

Is there any reason not to make/use a cubby style dumbell rack and store prostyle dumbbells upright on one end?

It is easier to leave them prone than standing them on end - think 100's

[jackbravo]

It is easier to leave them prone than standing them on end - think 100's

Personally, I find them easier to handle when supine. ease of use notwithstanding, any chance of damage to a prostyle bell being up on one side for extended periods of time, up to 150 lbs?

I'm thinking of asking a fabricator to weld me a cubby style dumbell rack to save floor space.

[cmarti063]

So long as the cup accommodates for the end cap somehow I can't see any harm. You could argue that, theoretically, you are more likely to apply lateral pressure (shear force) to the end of the handle/nut when racking it, but I honestly doubt that you would cause any damage to a quality dumbbell - I've seen hundo-fitees dropped from several feet and survive without a scratch, I doubt that racking the dumbbell is nearly that rough. I still have doubts about ease-of-use on the bottom tier, but I will be stoked for you if I'm wrong! Be sure to keep us updated. Also, are you just getting dumbbells in 10 lb denominatins and using plate mates for space too?

[jackbravo]

So long as the cup accommodates for the end cap somehow I can't see any harm. You could arguat, theoretically, you are more likely to apply lateral pressure (shear force) to the end of the handle/nut when racking it, but I honestly doubt that you would cause any damage to a quality dumbbell - I've seen hundo-fitees dropped from several feet and survive without a scratch, I doubt that racking the dumbbell is nearly that rough. I still have doubts about ease-of-use on the bottom tier, but I will be stoked for you if I'm wrong! Be sure to keep us updated. Also, are you just getting dumbbells in 10 lb denominatins and using plate mates for space too?

Actually, I'm sure you're right. I'd like to only have one tier waist height. But even with that, I'm sure it's not pleasant to be half hammer curling 100s off the rack and back on. Also, I'm not sure if what I'm suggesting is even practical, since I don't know how much space 40 dumbbells will take up sitting next to each other.

I just happen to have more wall space than floor square footage and got the idea from those dumbbell stands TJLynch and HNMD got from Reflex.

[cmarti063]

The pro-style racks use about 1.5 ft per pair iirc. I think the cups are ~6" with ~2" between dumbbells, so I'm guessing 30 ft for 20 pairs. I can measure today after work if you would like