NEW Home Gym and Equipment Fabrication

[Menschmaschine]

Hey,

Just been talking to the Rents and have begged them to let me use our 2nd large lounge as a home gym, I have just sold my old rack to a friend and I am now using a Scaffold one in the garage.:icon_mel:
The Plans are to have:

Power Rack
Flat Bench
Olympic Weight tree
Standard plate tree for dumbbell plates and hold handles
Olympic 7ft Bar
145kg Cast Iron Plates
2 x 25 kg Bumper Plates £50.00
Pair of standard 18” spinlock dumbbell handles £18.00
Rubber plates for Dumbbells: £115.00
12x5kg,4x2.5kg,4x1.25kg = 2x 40.5kg dumbbells 3kg - 40.5kg In 2.5kg increases
3 sets of 6ftx4ft 18mm Rubber Mats £100.00

Items in Red I already own!
I have £500.00 Pounds to spend already and can raise another £200.00 easily.
That Gives me £700.00 pounds minus £283.00

That gives me £417.00 for the: Power Rack, Flat Bench, Weight trees which I will be getting Fabricated.

I have decided on 80mm Square 3.5mm wall for the Rack frame which will leave me with a pretty Beastly Rack !:p And it will be 2.3m High x 1m Depth and about 1.1m wide. It will have 32 sets of 32mm Diameter Safety pin Holes with a hole spacing of 50mm centres.

It will look like something like this ( my Rack will have nearly double the safety pin holes though :D:icon_ton:) :

http://www.gymratz.co.uk/weight-training-gym-equipment/usrimage/power-rack.jpg


For The Bench I will be using the 80mm Square 3.5mm wall thickness again and it will be 1.2m long, 42-45cm high and the cushioned bench pad will be 29-32cm wide , I used Competition Rules to Determine the Dimensions.

For The Weight Tree I will Use 80mmx80mmx3.5mm box section again. It will have a simple H Base and one upright Post with several 2” Pegs For the Olympic Plates And a pair of 1” pegs for the rubber DB Plates.

I Have a Contact in the Metal Trade and can get All the Materials, cut to size and delivered for just £250.00. That leaves me just £150 Pounds To Pay a PRO MIG Welder, of Which I also know a few local contacts who I will be contacting very soon for prices, the welds are all very simple But Joints so It wont cost me to much, plus ill hopefully be getting mate rates.

I have 12mm 9 layer ply for the Bench Seat in the garage and I have sufficient free Padding available, all else I would need is some metal Primer and Paint, and a small amount of artificial leather for the seat.

If anyone can notice any flaws in the construction Dimensions and plans then please let me know.
And also if you live in Lancashire then you might of found yourself a very cheap Gym membership.;)

[Menschmaschine]

All SET :D

I sent of the Final Powerack Blueprints tonight along with the Bench

It will me made in a few weeks, once i have the gym finished i will take some pictures and upload them, Cant wait

[cuntos]

Just been talking to the Rents and have begged them to let me use our 2nd large lounge as a home gym...Why not go the whole hog and tap mater and pater for use of the entire East Wing, old bean?! :)

Sorry, but if you will insist on making it sound like you live in a massive mansion... ;)

Good luck with the home gym.

[Menschmaschine]

Haha thanks,
Mansion !:confused: I WISH !
Nope i live in a traditional semi with a double extension

[BIGLAD RUGBY BRAD]

Hey bud, how did you come up with the blue prints for the power rack?

I am the Quality Manager for an Engineering / Fabrication company. I can get a power rack made for me for free but I've been having problems with design, to be honest though I haven’t put much time into the design as I've had a lot on.

Any help / ideas I can rob off you would be greatly appreciated......

[Menschmaschine]

Well I did a bit of research first This was my first Inspiration

http://tsampa.org/training/blog/archives/2005/07/#post_393

And i also Looked at the Gym ratz model Which is pictured above.

I decided to got for 80x80x3.5mm Box section for the rack frame and bench, 4mm thicknes for all plates , 100mm box which has been modded for the hooks and 10mm plate for the hooks, 30mm Bar for spotters and 50mm hole centre spacings. i allready had a powerack and took some dimensions and measured my ceiling height, i made the rack as tall as possible. And then i spent 4 hours 3 nights on the run working everything out and checking it . Once the Rack is made and I know its right :s ill Send you my dimensions and Blueprints :D

[Menschmaschine]

And I have also made sure That Once i Know It works :P

I can further Modificate it INTO THIS BAD BOY !

http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&cid=167&pid=921

[Funky_monkey]

Haha thanks,
Mansion !:confused: I WISH !
Nope i live in a traditional semi with a double extension

I have a semi, which often comes with an extension :p:p

Sorry i couldn't help myself.

[Menschmaschine]

Wot are you on about Funky Monkey ?

[cuntos]

You'd better not have a fucking semi (with or without extension) when we're squatting tomorrow Funky!!!!!

[Menschmaschine]

Hahaha i just re read it, sorry im slow today funky monkey ;)

[LiamGTR]

Spunky Monkey more like

[Menschmaschine]

hahah i love how off topic this has become ... :p

[BIGLAD RUGBY BRAD]

Time gents please!

Menschmaschine - thanks a lot mate. I'd really appreciate any help you can give, I havent got the time to dedicate to blue prints and design at the moment.......

Cheers,

[Doc D]

You'd better not have a fucking semi (with or without extension) when we're squatting tomorrow Funky!!!!!

I'm sure that there is a potential pun here involving 'getting out of the hole', but I can't manage it at this early hour.

[Hellspawn]

if your building your own bench then one thing worth metioning is dont upholster it the way that guy who built the rack did ! i have even had to pull some companies that build kit about how to upholster.
when you have cut your ply to size just round off the corners and sand down all square edges , then depending on how thick the board is say half inch then cut a piece of "high density foam" so it has a border half an inch wider all around than the board size then evostick it to the board , use "backed ambler" to cover the bench top and staple it with the biggest staple gun you can get hold of (also just tap the staples in after with small hammer so it cant pull through) start from the center to get the first staple in and two more either side of the first then work from the oposite side and make sure the vinyl is stretched very tight before putting the next three staples in , do the oposite ends next starting in their centers after these first twelve staples are in you can start working round the board just make sure the vinyl is stretched very tight before you bang in the staple and you keep working from oposite sides .
I tried using thick leather hide but found it wore out faster than vinyl.

[Doc D]

Hellspawn - if you'll excuse my ignorance, where do you get these kind of materials?

[Hellspawn]

any upholstery shop will sell you the foam and ambler or look in markets or some old car garages sometimes have an upholstry shop they no longer use but its still got an industrial sewing machine and the materials .
Backed Ambler is the material of choice its what car manufacturers have always used to cover car seats (other than leather or material) i was a coach builder when i first left school so had to learn all the trades involving building trucks, cars and even pulman carriges.

[Hellspawn]

Better just add dont use any unbacked vinyl material it will split , also before you start upholstering place your vinyl in a warm room or even over a radiator before you start so its supple , cold vinyl is hard to stretch tight enough and brital , use something like 2" thick "High Density Foam" it that stuff that looks like lots of bits of different colored foam glued together , ordinary foam will just colaps and you will sink through to the wooden board .
if you dont get a border of foam to cover the edges of the board then the wood will split a hole through your vinyl very quickly even if a dumbell just knocks against it it will split

[Menschmaschine]

Thanks Hellspawn really apreciate that.

[Hellspawn]

NP Mate
One other thing is when cutting your foam i use a fine toothed bread knife as i dont have all the proffesional kit available otherwise you can make a right mess trying to cut it with anything else

and if you had not already worked it out the staples are put in from underside of board (dont forget to tap them in with a hammer after and put them in crosswise to where the vinyl is stetched from not longwise ) come in about an inch inside from the outer edge of your board for your first row then when looking ok put another row further in to help keep it strong and to tidy up the loose material , try to maintain a consistant tension when stretching the vinyl so there are no lumps , your finger tips will get very sore as your not used to it.