The 'No Excuses Homemade Equipment Crew'

[EleikoFanboy]

OSB to test how it felt.
Extended the handle a few inches and cut the center piece out of a 1.15" thick board.
I'll probably run two more outer pieces from a purple heart board I have to make it 3" thick below the handle portion.
Then I'll router the grip portion rounded and call it version 1.

Try (maybe the OSB one you made first) to put a larger radius on the rounded corner. That might make it easier still.

Also, if it's a bit side-to-side wobbly, you could tack on an extra strip of wood on each side where it contacts the floor to add stability.

Finally, paint it red. Red is faster.

[JustTheDad]

I only put 150lbs of plates on the end of my daughter's bar to test it, but I think the leverage is OK. I could lift that with my index finger. With the added purple heart sides it's stable enough with one plate on the other end of the bar, to let me slide bumper plates off the ridged sleeves (which I hate).

Pretty happy with how it came out.

[HomeGymChains]

Nice!

[EleikoFanboy]

I only put 150lbs of plates on the end of my daughter's bar to test it, but I think the leverage is OK. I could lift that with my index finger. With the added purple heart sides it's stable enough with one plate on the other end of the bar, to let me slide bumper plates off the ridged sleeves (which I hate).

Pretty happy with how it came out.

Looks great. The added panels would give you that stability. Bet it didn't cost $100 either.

[JustTheDad]

Looks great. The added panels would give you that stability. Bet it didn't cost $100 either.

Thank you. Purple heart isn't cheap, so probably $20 in wood and a few cents in glue. But it was fun to make. I think I'll add a few circular cut outs in the bottom portion if I make any more as gifts. Just to save weight and because it will look cool. I also think I could make one to work on a hex bar. Maybe that will be a future project.

[jshaw5]

What are you guys using for padding and cover for benches? I have a two benches I'd like to widen and put on better padding and cover.

[ampire]

I assembled this homemade dumbbell stand. Its a craftsman 113 tablesaw table with 3/4" oak plywood top and dumbbell saddles. It seems sturdy I have tested it with about 280 lb so far, there does not appear to be any flex on the legs. In photo are two 60lb dbs. Got the idea from some of the harbor freight stands out there but I liked the craftsman base better.

[ampire]

About a month later, I made some improvements: added a second saddle to each pair to accomodate longer length dumbbells in a more stable manner, and 1/4" angle iron brackets to keep the saddles from rotating loose and to prevent the dumbbells from sliding off the saddle. Pretty happy with this stand.

IMG_2907.jpg

[irongrandpa]

About a month later, I made some improvements: added a second saddle to each pair to accomodate longer length dumbbells in a more stable manner, and 1/4" angle iron brackets to keep the saddles from rotating loose and to prevent the dumbbells from sliding off the saddle. Pretty happy with this stand.

Attachment 9032871

I like seeing homemade projects! Repped.

[Spoken36]

What are you guys using for padding and cover for benches? I have a two benches I'd like to widen and put on better padding and cover.

$20 exercise/yoga pad that seems like 1/2" neoprene to me. Marine vinyl from Joanne Fabric. 3/4" CDX plywood with extra layer glued around edges. Half the pad and half a yard of the vinyl for 12"x48" pad. Very firm. Takes knees well.

[JustTheDad]

Nicely done. Yellow pine base?

[urbanlifter]

Fun little project last night, yet another reason why I never throw anything away. Kept my Cybex pads and turned the seat into a homemade squat stool for touch and go work. Not bad for $9 worth of wood, couple handles, wood glue at every contact point, 16 screws, and leftover black paint lying around .

Roughly 14 & 1/4" tall.

[Spoken36]

Nicely done. Yellow pine base?

Yes, it is yellow pine. I have another piece made to double up the cross leg. That and the blocking to space it with the center leg. Would theoretically make it stronger and look nice, but it is overkill since I don't think I'll be benching over a ton.

[Spoken36]

Fun little project last night, yet another reason why I never throw anything away. Kept my Cybex pads and turned the seat into a homemade squat stool for touch and go work. Not bad for $9 worth of wood, couple handles, wood glue at every contact point, 16 screws, and leftover black paint lying around .

Roughly 14 & 1/4" tall.

Excellent. That Southern Yellow Pine just keeps on giving. Looks bomb=proof.

[a7stringkilla]

Reverse Hyper attachment I made.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhNIWJvFIhB/

[HomeGymChains]

Reverse Hyper attachment I made.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhNIWJvFIhB/

Extremely impressive!
Beautifully done!

[chadsalt]

Reverse Hyper attachment I made.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhNIWJvFIhB/

Nice, sure a lot better than my wood one lol

[matrix563]

Reverse Hyper attachment I made.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhNIWJvFIhB/

any issues with the bar not centered more underneath?

[a7stringkilla]

@Matrix - Not really understanding the question.

[C123C]

Reverse Hyper attachment I made.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhNIWJvFIhB/

Best homemade one I've seen. Very nice. Love how you integrated it into the spotter arm catches.

[matrix563]

@Matrix - Not really understanding the question.

i thought the swing arm was more centered underneath the pad but i was mistaken. most are near the edge and a few are like yours at the edge of the pad

[a7stringkilla]

@Matrix-The further out the better. It keeps everything more in line when fully extended. If you watch vids of reverse hypers in use - a lot are fitted fine when the legs are at 90 degrees with plates next to ankles, but when the legs are straight out, the plates end up almost smacking them in the knees.
Pivot point further out and a little longer swing arm fixes that.

[Blinky22]

I fabricated up some dumbbell spotters in November. It was a single piece unit worked well but a pain to take on and off and reset different lifts so I decided to turn it in to a two piece setup that just needs to be cleaned up and painted now.

A few of the other things I have built include a weight tree for some of my plates, dumbbell rack and 2 barbell racks and need 1 more as I am setting up straight bars.

Blinky

[HomeGymChains]

Very nice!!!

[RestoringTally]

I fabricated up some dumbbell spotters in November. It was a single piece unit worked well but a pain to take on and off and reset different lifts so I decided to turn it in to a two piece setup that just needs to be cleaned up and painted now.

A few of the other things I have built include a weight tree for some of my plates, dumbbell rack and 2 barbell racks and need 1 more as I am setting up straight bars.

Blinky

Embedded links for you.

Nice. I like the dumbbell spotters. Did you bend the sheet metal or is that a cut up pipe?

[Blinky22]

Embedded links for you.

Nice. I like the dumbbell spotters. Did you bend the sheet metal or is that a cut up pipe?

it was a piece of pipe we had around the shop I thought of using other pan designs but the pipe was the easiest way to go

[Skidmarx]

it was a piece of pipe we had around the shop I thought of using other pan designs but the pipe was the easiest way to go

that's a great idea, using pipe. Your wooden racks are nice too. Thanks for sharing

[jshaw5]

$20 exercise/yoga pad that seems like 1/2" neoprene to me. Marine vinyl from Joanne Fabric. 3/4" CDX plywood with extra layer glued around edges. Half the pad and half a yard of the vinyl for 12"x48" pad. Very firm. Takes knees well.

Nice. I finally got around to uploading some pictures of mine. I used some 3/4" plywood I had lying around for the base, some of the anti-fatigue foam mats from Harbor Freight for the padding, and a canvas drop cloth from HF for the upholstery.

For the incline bench the 3/4" plywood was cut 12.5" wide. Started off with 2 layers of the foam. It was a bit too stiff for my liking, and the edges felt sharp, so I added another layer and wrapped the top layer down the sides, so it ended up more like 13.5" wide. For the seat portion, the layers are stepped so it's like 3 layers tall in the back and 7 layers tall in front to match the original shape.

The flat bench the plywood is 14.5" wide. I didn't wrap the top layer, but I went 5 layers high on the foam. It's still pretty firm. In the process, I also added some 1/8" thick angle iron to both sides of the center frame for more lateral stability.

I'm not really concerned about the incline bench since I don't use it near as often and I don't care as much if the padding gets worn down, but I'm skeptical how the flat bench will hold up. I wouldn't be shocked if the foam mats compress over time. The canvas drop cloth provides great grip though. I was going to get the gripper vinyl like the fat pad, but the cheapest I could find was going to cost me close to $100 for enough to do both benches compared to $5 for the canvas.

I didn't want to post to many pictures since they're huge, but here's the finished product for the both benches, and the before picture of the incline bench. There's more pics of the benches (and the rest of my gym) here if anyone wants to see. https://imgur.com/gallery/NKRuZBO

[elefoot]

I've attached some photos of the belt squat I have made from scrap I had around the shed and at work, it didn't cost me a penny (and some will probably say that was still too much) but I've been looking at ways to incorporate a better belt squat and when Sorinex brought out the J squat I new that was the idea I wanted to copy.

You'll notice that it is mounted to a small spotter platform at the back of the power rack, that thing bounces up and down like a diving board when in action so I will need to look at securing that but at the moment it does the job.

The kickstand is made from 50x50 steel angle, welded together to make two channels, welded together near the pivot point so both sides tuck in around the arm. I used 4inch parallel flange channel as the upstand and as the base for the plate holders, it fits nicely over the 80mm box section arm, but this thing now weighs a ton and I plan on keeping it upright so I don't have to drag it in place when I want to use it.

I've had 3 plates on each side and is fine, I just make sure to hold it steady when loading and unloading.

It gave me a chance to play around with my new inverter welder, as my AC one was not complimenting my lack of welding skills in the slightest.

I have now given the attachments a coat of paint, purely to keep the rust at bay rather than for any aesthetic purpose.

[elefoot]

I've attached some photos of the belt squat I have made from scrap I had around the shed and at work, it didn't cost me a penny (and some will probably say that was still too much) but I've been looking at ways to incorporate a better belt squat and when Sorinex brought out the J squat I new that was the idea I wanted to copy.

You'll notice that it is mounted to a small spotter platform at the back of the power rack, that thing bounces up and down like a diving board when in action so I will need to look at securing that but at the moment it does the job.

The kickstand is made from 50x50 steel angle, welded together to make two channels, welded together near the pivot point so both sides tuck in around the arm. I used 4inch parallel flange channel as the upstand and as the base for the plate holders, it fits nicely over the 80mm box section arm, but this thing now weighs a ton and I plan on keeping it upright so I don't have to drag it in place when I want to use it.

I've had 3 plates on each side and is fine, I just make sure to hold it steady when loading and unloading.

It gave me a chance to play around with my new inverter welder, as my AC one was not complimenting my lack of welding skills in the slightest.

I have now given the attachments a coat of paint, purely to keep the rust at bay rather than for any aesthetic purpose.

rest of the photos