My recent builds

[blackfreedom]

I just made an order on this 2x2 and 2mm thick power rack and i hope you would be able to tell how much weight this power rack could possibly hold ? The seller claimed that it could hold 200kg easily.
Did i dun goof or nah




BTW your build is phucking beautiful man

[Greybird2]

I would not want to work out under those bar catches. If you already bought this, look into some new j-cups or something.

[Domicron]

It's different, which is always good. A few trial and error moments however, which I could do without.

i'm sure it's nice for some new challenges other than the monotony of another monolift

hopefully the errors aren't too expensive or time consuming.

excited to see this thing come along.

[Mech6]

I just made an order on this 2x2 and 2mm thick power rack and i hope you would be able to tell how much weight this power rack could possibly hold ? The seller claimed that it could hold 200kg easily.
Did i dun goof or nah

BTW your build is phucking beautiful man

The uprights will hold 200kg, easily. For the rest, will depend on welding, but I would be very surprised if it didn't.

[Mech6]

i'm sure it's nice for some new challenges other than the monotony of another monolift

hopefully the errors aren't too expensive or time consuming.

excited to see this thing come along.

Well, all mistakes cost money, but it's part of the deal. Good news is I'm making 2, so the mistakes are made on mine, and the 2nd one (for Alex) get's the mint parts. Although with enough welding and sanding, you can fix anything and make the repairs invisible once powder coated.
Some stuff I just had to scrap and redo. The pulley on top of the weight stack for example. First one I did warped like a pringle during welding. Forgot to put one more clamp and I paid for it.

[mrcheeze36]

Well, all mistakes cost money, but it's part of the deal. Good news is I'm making 2 for now, so the mistakes are made on mine, and the 2nd one (for Alex) get's the mint parts. Although with enough welding and sanding, you can fix anything and make the repairs invisible once powder coated.
Some stuff I just had to scrap and redo. The pulley on top of the weight stack for example. First one I did warped like a pringle during welding. Forgot to put one more clamp and I paid for it.

There I fixed your 2nd sentence 😁

[a7stringkilla]

May be a little late to chime in design-wise, but could you have swing out / in dip bars like this Power-Lift cable column in the picture? Just have them swing further towards the back when not in use. Could be used as a dip assist with the FT if Alex trains with someone who can do full body weight yet. Also, are those gonna have to be bolted down? 125 pounds of resistance from each pulley is ALOT. So far though, those are looking to be fantastic!

[alexthaman]

May be a little late to chime in design-wise, but could you have swing out / in dip bars like this Power-Lift cable column in the picture? Just have them swing further towards the back when not in use. Could be used as a dip assist with the FT if Alex trains with someone who can do full body weight yet. Also, are those gonna have to be bolted down? 125 pounds of resistance from each pulley is ALOT. So far though, those are looking to be fantastic!

Yes mine will be bolted down. I really like the idea of dips handles but it was on the bottom of my "want to have'' list. I already have a dip attachment for my power rack and a dip belt so i was not sure i would use it or not. I had to stop somewhere, budget wise, so the dip handles were out!

[Domicron]

can you do anything with those handles other than dips? i'm not sure i'd want something like that uglying things up if it were only there for dips. i feel like by the time you get one of these things, you'd have another way of doing dips anyway...

[C123C]

So thanks to this damn forum now I'm looking at functional trainers...I have no room currently but they've somehow made it on my "when I move" list - which isn't actually that far in the future. Really interested in seeing what you turn out for yourself and Alex. So many designs out there it will be interesting to see what you come up with.

[Mech6]

There I fixed your 2nd sentence 😁

Heh, lol. Shouldn't you be taking photos?

[mrcheeze36]

Heh, lol. Shouldn't you be taking photos?

Close...very close

[Hardgains88]

So thanks to this damn forum now I'm looking at functional trainers...I have no room currently but they've somehow made it on my "when I move" list - which isn't actually that far in the future. Really interested in seeing what you turn out for yourself and Alex. So many designs out there it will be interesting to see what you come up with.

C123, I am with you. I now have a list of things I never would have thought i wanted before this forum corrupted me. I first used a FT a year ago on a cruise. I never go into commercial gyms except for the occasional hotel gym. The cruise just had crappy machines, some dumbbells (which suck when a boat is rocking) and a FT. I wound up using the FT a lot. It was not great at everything but did many things extremely well and some things better then any other machine i used. I liked that it has many of the stabilizing requirements of free weights. I have some machines in my gym to add variety but always felt in a home gym single movement pieces take up a lot of room for a limited amount of use. I have a selectorized leg curl, leg extension, row, shoulder press, plate loaded leg press, smith, calf , and high and low pulleys. i do not see myself adding many if any new machines to the mix except for a FT. They allow for so many movements and a unique feel that i can justify adding it. I only use machines for about 20% of my movements but I like some variety.
I was pretty well set on getting a standard FT with regular pulley set up and thought that would cover my needs. The problem with looking at Mechs stuff is he always designs and builds equipment that has the best configuration available. Now I feel like if I get a standard light commercial FT with regular adjustable pulleys Ill regret it... now I need the added versatility of the extended arms! I have started my search all over again. Im too far away to have Mech build one so I have started scouring around for one that has the adjustable arms. Even when I do find one there is really nothing with the combination of features Mechs FT has. The arms adjust height and width along 3 seperate planes, I haven't seen that anywhere else. Worse is even the ones that seem to offer decent arm placement options tend to have anemic weight stacks, usually 160 # max with a 2:1 ratio, so 80 # at the handle. The ones available with larger stacks seem to only have the traditional pulley set up with no arms. I like using the FT for pressing (replacing dumbbell presses) because the movement feels better to me with the FT and you can configure the resistance to start in a way that eliminates the need to wrestle the weight to your starting position but still gets any amount of pre stretch you want.

[Mech6]

FT

Ouput with spindles. Yes, I turned my own threads. I don't like snap rings for bearings.


And these are what lets the arms index in both directions. With a quick mock up to test. Didn't install lever for pop-pin and the white plastic is polished stainless underneath.

[Synthetickiller]

Generally speaking, what's the time spent to build these? I can't tell if this is labor intensive or if it's a "simple" build.
Looking forward to the end result.

[Mech6]

Generally speaking, what's the time spent to build these? I can't tell if this is labor intensive or if it's a "simple" build.
Looking forward to the end result.

I'd have to check the hours, but this one is quite long. Much more than a rack for example.

[2MoreRepz]

Damn.

[C123C]

I missed the FT update above. I can't wait to see this thing. It's going to be glorious.

[Mech6]

Getting there

[Domicron]

everything going as you planned? any big hiccups as you've gone along?

[Mech6]

everything going as you planned? any big hiccups as you've gone along?

No, it's going pretty much as planned. Just a lot of hours because I have to do a setup for every weldment. A lot of lathe work as well, which also eats up the hours.

[Mech6]

Some custom gusset plates and xmember for a rogue rack



And pretty much the last welding for the FTs. All that's left are the counterweights. Have to assemble first to figure out how much I want to add.

[Hardgains88]

nice, was wondering when the next installment of the FT Build was coming!. So if it isn't too late, if you have the ability drill out the plate for doing horizontal adjustments to allow a little more internal rotation thats a nice feature. On mine its pretty good, but at full up or down I would have liked one more adjustment to get the two pulleys a little closer. Not a huge deal but just something I noticed that would be good for a few exercises. They get plenty close once the arms are projecting farther out but they ae still about 21" apart at full top and bottom position.

[matrix563]

awesome i can't wait to see how these turn out

[Mech6]

So as I iron out the last details for an indexable chinup attachment, here's a question: is there any point to having the handles spin? Not the bracket that will be able to pivot accoring to hand position, but the actual grip. It doesn't spin on chinup bars. It doesn't spin when people use a rowing triangle... Any use? Can it actually cause a problem? I assume it makes holding on harder.

[matrix563]

i can see why some would prefer a rotating handle but i don't. i do on stirrup lat handles but thats about it.

[Domicron]

would it be possible to make the handles adjustable with a pin or something? so you could turn them for different hand positions but they wouldn't rotate freely unless you wanted them to?

[Synthetickiller]

would it be possible to make the handles adjustable with a pin or something? so you could turn them for different hand positions but they wouldn't rotate freely unless you wanted them to?

I agree with this.
My hands will naturally track to the most efficient position (I assume most people's will). The infinite angle option is overkill & not necessary. If anything, I feel that it's a detriment. Parallel, perpendicular & either 45° or 22.5°, 45° & 67.5° (so 3 angles vs one @ 45° only). Think of it like a swiss or football bar. No need for all of those angles. A 1 or 3 angle option should suffice will do. I'd prefer 3, but I have no clue how much more work that is to do.

Allowing the handle to spin freely isn't a bad thing & a nice option, but at least being able to lock in specific angles is a necessity imho.

[Mech6]

I agree with this.
My hands will naturally track to the most efficient position (I assume most people's will). The infinite angle option is overkill & not necessary. If anything, I feel that it's a detriment. Parallel, perpendicular & either 45° or 22.5°, 45° & 67.5° (so 3 angles vs one @ 45° only). Think of it like a swiss or football bar. No need for all of those angles. A 1 or 3 angle option should suffice will do. I'd prefer 3, but I have no clue how much more work that is to do.

Allowing the handle to spin freely isn't a bad thing & a nice option, but at least being able to lock in specific angles is a necessity imho.

The brackets will lock down when you apply your weight to them. I'm more interrested on opinions for the grips.

[mrcheeze36]

So as I iron out the last details for an indexable chinup attachment, here's a question: is there any point to having the handles spin? Not the bracket that will be able to pivot accoring to hand position, but the actual grip. It doesn't spin on chinup bars. It doesn't spin when people use a rowing triangle... Any use? Can it actually cause a problem? I assume it makes holding on harder.

Some argue the rotating movement increases muscle recruitment, however from this study's abstract, it doesn't look like it does when compared to a conventional pull-up or chin-up (in the study the perfect pull-up has the rotating handles).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21068680/