circus dumbbell

[grey27]

Does there exist a circus dumbbell that is NOT plate loaded (load with water, sand, whatever) that costs less than $400?

edit
I am also open to ideas to DIY one without a welder that won't break when overhead and kill me. I do have a bimetal holesaw kit, an angle grinder, a portaband, and other metal working equipment. Just no welder. I hate welding.

[grey27]

I can't open the DIY sticky, this forum is so broken...

[Garage Rat]

Try Ryan Pitts at"strongergrip"he may be able to help you.

[grey27]

Interesting website lol.

I got a lead on a friend of a friend of my dad's that used to be a welder and still has his own equipment, so maybe I can get him to weld me one up. I sent a message but it has to go through the grapevine.... If I don't hear back I'll contact Ryan.

In case anyone is interested, what I have been using is a 24" long 1" threaded rod with tape wrapped in the middle and a fat gripz. Then I got 2 nuts on either side with red loctite to secure them. Then I took some 10lbs standard plates and put them on, and I made some 1/2" plywood spacers with my holesaw kit. I alternate spacers/plates as needed so that the plates fill up the entire length of the rod. You have to have a plate on the extreme inside/outside for one "bell" to rest on your shoulder and the other "bell" to rest on your forearm properly. When you count for the grip and the nuts, I got a little over 8" of space on either end to stack plates. So it is maximal 160 pounds, but of course you can always get a longer rod.

It works, but it looks funny with the wood spacers unless of course you can fill it all up with weights. Also, I don't have anymore space in my small home gym and want to start collecting strongman implements in my backyard. I don't want to have to carry plates from inside to outside all the time to do strongman stuff.

[grey27]

I bought a 15lbs tank today and buying a second one tomorrow. Cost me $45 total. I had to buy a propane grill that was rusted up and had a bad burner or it would have been cheaper. I will make a shrimp boil stand from the working parts of the grill. Got in contact with the welder guy and sent him a link to a website showing what i want built. He is supposed to get a quote to me in a few days. I will post pics and update as this unfolds.

[grey27]

Here is the link i am following
https://drivenstrength.wordpress.com...rcus-dumbbell/

It is taking forever to depressurize the tanks. I have all burners wide open, not on fire just dumping gas. Stinking up the neighborhood......

Both tanks are 39" around, which is 12.4" diameter, and the tanks are about 12" tall without the excess metal. So a 4' pipe will be perfect length.

The guy i am getting to weld this makes competition smokers and does lots of pipe welding.

[grey27]

After leaking all day and night, tank #1 is empty. Draining tank #2. Getting the valve broke loose is tricky. Persuading it with a 3lbs hammer didn't work, and i probably woke the neighbors. The picture best shows how i got it loose. I wedged a long bar in some holes in the top flange to keep the tank from rotating and i put all my body weight on the wrench.

[grey27]

I think propane is heavier than air, so I turned the tanks upside down for it to flow out. The guy I am following welded metal onto the valve opening to make a way for the holesaw pilot bit to do its job. I cannot do this obviously. So I used the holesaw to cut a 1.25 inch plug. I put a 1/4 inch bolt through the plug and chucked it in a drill and spun it on some sandpaper to make a cone. I put the cone shaped plug in the valve opening and I am ready to holesaw the tanks. I left the tank flanges on for now for stability while I drill. Also whenever the holes are cut I can feel easy knowing all the propane is out and do not have to worry about sparks. I am using 2 inch EMT metal conduit. It is a 1/16 inch wall mild steel tube with a zinc galvanized layer. The welder will flap wheel off the zinc layer before welding. This pipe is strong, I used it to help break the valve loose on the second tank and it took a tremendous effort and mangled the tank flange but the pipe did not deform at all. The outer diameter of the pipe is just under 2.125 inch and so I will use a 2.25 inch holesaw to cut the holes.

[grey27]

I started drilling the 2-1/4" holes where the valves were. I initially just set the wood cone plug on top and started drilling, but it was walking all over the place. I had to make the wood plug a bit more cone shaped and take a bit off the diameter and then I threaded it into the tank using some channel locks. That did the trick. Hole sawing this was loud and I had to wear ear muffs and the neighbor came and looked out his window at what I was doing haha. I also woke up my napping wife. The pipe fits fairly tight, I had to take a half-round file and deburr the holes for the pipe to slide in. This is going to work out great. All I have left are the other two 2-1/4" holes and then the 5/8" fill holes.

[grey27]

Just dropped parts off to the welder. He will weld it saturday. My dad is coming to my house 2 saturdays from now and will bring the dumbbell back to me. Here is the cost breakdown:

Tanks $45
pipe $25 (have enough excess to convert old barbell into an axle bar)
Nuts and bolts $5
Sand $10
Welding $30
Gasoline from driving $10

Total cost is about $125 for a piece of equipment i will do 4-8 singles each hand once a week with. It is my favorite weight lifting movement though.

[grey27]

I know there are only a couple people looking at this, but here is the pic before I gave it to the welder. The pipe is 34 inches long. I told the guy I wanted 5 inches in between the tanks.

[grey27]

Got it back today! Just need to spend some quality time with the grinder and sander then paint and fill it! So excited, it feels great!

[grey27]

Last post. Fire engine red. 34.4 pounds empty. I will put 50 pounds of sand in it and start using it as a finisher. I have another bag of sand i will add little by little as needed.