Building my own power rack - help needed

[dumb.bell]

Impressive Work.

Did you end up using 2 1/2 inch 11 guage tube? What is the hole size and how far apart are they?

[boxertim]

nice....but i think you will need more holes.

tim

[xuerebx]

Impressive Work.

Did you end up using 2 1/2 inch 11 guage tube? What is the hole size and how far apart are they?

We used a 2" gauge tube (not sure what the '11' stands for). Holes are around 17mm and they're 5" apart.

I do agree now that we may have to drill in a few more holes between the holes - on the bottom part at least. I'll have to test it out first though.

I gave it a white undercoating today. The finished product will be all white, except for the J-hooks, the safety bars and the pullup bar. Btw we brought a steel tube today which the safety bars will go in through (as per Essexlad's post).






The reason why I want a black/white colour scheme is so it matches my bench:

[NRLCRAZY10]

Holy mother f#@k! that looks so good dude! ^^.. almost like a professional power rack.. cant wait to see the final version! keep it up.. reps for sure!

[captmorganm6]

Looking good! repped

[xuerebx]

Cheers lads. I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for the advice in this thread and in the other threads in this section!

[wolfdragon]

I'd second Ironwill. Get in the rack with an empty bar and see where you will need the safety-rods to be for your various lifts. Have someone mark it, then put a new hole if needed. And it's looking good in white.

[Bryan88MA]

Nice work.

I'd recommend adding a few holes in between. 5" spacing seems really big to me. You've got plenty of room too, since your thru holes look like they are less than 1" in dia.

[xuerebx]

Thanks! I realise now that the bottom holes should have been more frequent, I'll see how it goes and then I might drill in another couple of holes.

I've got a question - how low do you position the safety bars usually when squatting? This will be the first time I'll be using this box rack for squatting.

Thank you!

PS: I gave it a gloss white finish today, painted the pullup bar black, and finished making the J-hooks. I also gave an undercoat to the J-hooks and the safety bars (+ the steel tube which will go around the safety bars). These will be painted black soon.

So by the end of next week everything will be finished and I'll show you guys the finished rack.

I learnt a couple of things and if I ever build another rack next time I'll perfect it!

[pumping4life]

Hey xuerebx, how did you bend your j-hooks? I am trying to make some hooks to hang a bar higher on my rack w/thinner metal than you used. A large vise, 6# sledgehammer and torch haven't gotten the job done.

[xuerebx]

The only way we managed to bend the j-hooks was use a rather powerful machine at the metal worker's shop. He's an ex-ship builder and had managed to get one of the tools used from back in the day. I forgot how much it's able to bend, but it was in thousands of pounds.

Maybe you could find a metal worker whose willing to bend it for you? The job is done in a few minutes.

EDIT: It's 10 tonnes/22 046 pounds. Works with hydraulics.

[BisonPhoenix]

Hey xuerebx, how did you bend your j-hooks? I am trying to make some hooks to hang a bar higher on my rack w/thinner metal than you used. A large vise, 6# sledgehammer and torch haven't gotten the job done.

Are you using an oxy-acetylene torch?

If not, that's what you need. You have to heat it up until it's cherry red along the line where you want it to bend, and then it should bend easily with a 2 lb hammer.

Or just take it somewhere with a hydraulic press brake.

[Jimbo.]

repped, great job OP, love the walk thru design

[xuerebx]

Thanks Jimbo.

Hey xuerebx, how did you bend your j-hooks? I am trying to make some hooks to hang a bar higher on my rack w/thinner metal than you used. A large vise, 6# sledgehammer and torch haven't gotten the job done.

My dad told me you could cut a line using a grinder in order to weaken the metal strip, and then use your torch and hammer to bend the metal. When it's finished fill back by welding the line you cut. Do you know what I mean?

[JJ-]

Really great work. Very impressed. I know you can't wait to try it out.

[Skidmarx]

Saweet.

[WlLD]

bloody awesome mate, very impressive

[Wildtim]

Nice build!! Your dad has some skills.

As far as where to put the safeties for the squat you want to put them as close to the heaight of the bar in your complet bottm position as you can without having them in a place where you are going to hit them.

This is as far as you go down in an deep squat with a fair amount of weight on it. You need to measure this with weight because you just don't get as low with an empty bar, unless 45#'s is a significant part of your max. This is going to take someone else to measure it as you do the squat, you aren't going to be able to pause in the hole and take a look.

[xuerebx]

Thanks guys.

And thanks for the advice Wildtim, I'll have my father do the measuring while I squat then.

I finished painting everything today (second finish) so I'll wait 2-3 days for the paint to completely try up and then put everything together, and take some photos.

[Bryan88MA]

What diameter are the safety bars?

[xuerebx]

The safety bars are 16mm in diameter, and since some of you told me it's a bit thin I shall insert them in a half-inch (in diameter) metal tube, as you can see in this picture (on the left):

[Essexlad]

The safety bars are 16mm in diameter, and since some of you told me it's a bit thin I shall insert them in a half-inch (in diameter) metal tube, as you can see in this picture (on the left):

I still think the rod will be fine, but get some bigger tubing. Something like 40-50mm on diameter. 2" Galvanised scaffolding tube was the sort of thing I was thinking of. Then you'll have a safety that'll never give up on you, with half inch tubing I'm not so sure.

The safety bars are always the weak link in a rack, but are the most important part, the bigger you make their cross sectional area (and wall thickness if you're using tube) the better.

[xuerebx]

You're right actually. I'll keep this tube till we find one like you mentioned and then I'll replace it. It's not a bother even though I painted it black already since it only takes around 5 mins to paint the tube.

[Mitrovski]

Nice work man, she's a beauty.

We used a 2" gauge tube (not sure what the '11' stands for). Holes are around 17mm and they're 5" apart.

Even 5" holes could work if they are in the right spot, although I like the idea of at least splitting the holes at bench height. I had 2" spacing on my old rack and it was as tight as I think you really need. I now have 3.5" spacing and it leaves a little to be desired, but can be worked around easily enough.

[mcdelio]

I'm impressed ! Looks great.

[xuerebx]

Thanks guys.

It's finally finished.









Loads of work but I'm quite proud of our work! What I've learned and what I'd fix if I ever had to make another squat rack:

1) Closer hole spacing.
2) Thicker holes so the safety bar is thicker.
3) Spray paint or something similar where the paint does not scrape off easily.

As you can see I think I managed to use a colour scheme which resembles my bodysolid bench in the background (white body with black accessories).

The J-hooks have a hole on the 'pin' which goes through the rack where I'll add another pin of sorts so that the J-hook will be tight packed against the rack.

We've cut a Hilux tyre and put it under the rack's feet for stability - it does not budge when doing pullups now! (tested this without weight on the bar, I would guess it would be even sturdier?).

Now I can get something to eat!

[Josephbd]

Thank you guys. And thank you ironwill for the suggestion. I do think we'll end up drilling another hole, although I'm not really worried about the paint job even if I'll have to repaint the part we drill. Heck technically I could leave it without paint however I think I should finish the job a 100%.

Praise should all go to my father really. Although now he doesn't want to paint it so I'll be doing the painting on my own - if I ruin it blame it all on me.

Very well done.
Congrats!!!!

[xuerebx]

Cheers mate!

[xuerebx]

Bumping this for people who were following my progress and haven't seen the final pictures yet.

[Bluerain]

Great job !