Michael Tong

Hey all,

I spent part of my rest day today making more stuff.

Apollon's Axle
I made it with an extra Olympic bar I had. I used:

a) one 1.5" iron pipe approximately 48", threaded both ends ($10)
b) two 1.5"-to-1" iron pipe reducer ($2.49 each)

The inside diameter of the 1" side of the reducer was a bit small, so I took a Dremel tool to it and ground off the threads - very easy to do. After grinding, it slid right over my Olympic bar. The entire assembly weighs approximately 55#.

The reducers are just to take up the slack between the O-bar and the inside diameter of the iron bar. I've read others who simply use a lot of athletic or duct tape and wrap tape to fill the void.

Sure, it's not the real thing but I am excited to add more spice to my grip training, plus, it will last me for a while until I need a real Axle.

Sorry about the quality of the pics. Hopefully, you can make them out enough to get the idea.





Climbing Rope
I used:

a) one 1.25" manila rope bought at a local industrial construction supply company - $20
b) two metal braces (bought at a local hardware store, in the section with hinges and such) - $2.50 each
c) four .25"x2" bolts, nuts, lock washers, spacers - $2.00

I used two 1" metal spacers; one at the top bolt and one at the bottom. This way, I could crank down the nuts and bolts tight against the metal braces.

The black strips are just zip ties, to keep the braids together (but honestly, I don't think they're going anywhere). I plan on taking my Dremel to the bolts to cut them flush against the nut, then wrapping all the metal with some duct tape. This is the best way I could think of to be able to hang the rope easily.

Note: if I had to do it again, I would use at least 1.5" rope. Oh well, when I make my sled, I will use the 1.25" rope for the tug, and get a new 1.5" rope for climbing.






The next projects will be some Farmer's Walk implements, a tire sled and a sandbag.

Roger Smith

Nice ideas... Is the bolts threaded threw the rope or did you drill holes?

Michael Tong

Roger - I just forced the bolts through the 3 braids of the rope. I did not drill it - didn't want to compromise the integrity of the rope. If needed, you can just twist the rope the opposite direction of the braids, and the 3 strands will separate enough to force the bolt through. It was really easy. It took all of 5 minutes to put the rope together. The bulk of the time was spent at the hardware store trying to think of the best hardware to hang it.

By the way, the top bolt is a hardened bolt, for extra insurance since it is carrying all the weight. The three bottom bolts are regular bolts, and are not threaded for the first 1" closest to the bolt head. I did not want the threads to potentially cut into the manila fiber with repeated weight tension.

One more note: I would have used a 2" pipe for the Axle (more challenging grip training) but I could not find a reducer from 2"-to-1". I thought about using end caps (instead of the reducers) and drilling a 1" hole in the middle of the cap.

James Falkner

That's an awesome homemade rope hanging rig and attachment scheme!!

That manila rope looks like it would be tough on bare hands - what does it feel like? Are you using gloves when climbing?

I bought a thick nylon tow rope from home depot for this purpose, and it is way too slippery for bare hands so I haven't really used it, plus I don't have anything high to hang it from. What are you hanging yours from?

Michael Tong

James,

The manila material is not too bad on the hands. I am not "climbing" with gloves. Come to think of it, I am not climbing at all yet, as I cannot grip and hold my bodyweight. I am using it now to do rope pull-ups.

In the pic, it is just hanging from my power rack/cage pull-up bar. That's where I do the rope pull-ups. This spring, I plan on moving my gym to the garage, where I have a 9.5' ceiling. Once I out-grow 9.5', I might mount an eye-hook in my living room, where I have a 16' cathedral ceiling. It will look funny in the living room but who cares :-) Unfortunately, no mature trees in my yard.

Pierre Auge

Michael,
a bit of advice, get a second REAL carbiner, that quick clip will not hold safely.

James R. Climer

I love the homemade stuff.

To second Pierre's advice, you might want to get a rigging shackle or a quick link to replace the
carabiner. You're always stronger when you have confidence in your spotter.

Mcmaster-Carr link, type in 'shackle' to find:
(caution pix of completely naked tools)
http://www.mcmaster.com/

James Falkner

Can't believe McMaster-Carr hasn't been mentioned before! If I would have known about that earlier my home gym would be super-sweet. I've already placed 2 orders and am working on more. That's like a Homemade CF equipment candy store. I mean.. how cool are "BEI Incremental Optical Encoders" ?? A total prototypers dream.

Jay Ploss

This thread is ancient but people are still digging the DIY designs. Here's my contribution:

For the rope, when strength and security are paramount a "soft" interface (rope -on-rope) beats any hardware you can buy. Better yet, it's cheap and easy to install as well.

The simplest way to go about this would be to tie a loop (google "double-fisherman's knot" for how to do this) in roughly 24" of stout nylon cord (the supple white cord at the hardware store). Wrap the loop around the top of the rope as if it were an elastic band (google "prusik knot" for this one), cinch it down, and then clip the remaining bit of the loop through your carabiner or hardware-store quick-link. Yank on the rope and then put your weight on it to set the hitch for good. All done.

One slight downside of this solution is that the climbing rope will hang slightly diagonally at the top. If you don't like this you could use a "Valdotain Tresse" hitch in place of the prusik. Check page 4 of this .pdf for to how tie this very nice hitch.

http://www.treebuzz.com/pdf/climbing_hitches.pdf

Either way you go, you'll have a cheap (less than $5 for the cord), uber-strong attachment and learn a knot or two while you're at it.

Jay

Henry Miller

I'd replace the hardend bolt with a normal one. A hardended bolt will hold more, but when it fails it tends to break, while a normal bolt will just bend a little. You will feel it bending, and hopefully be smart enough get off and fix things.

Of course if your bolts are anywhere close to the maximum you really shouldn't be using them anyway. Anytime a human is trusting their life (or at least bones) to something it should have a very large margin of safety. I'm not sure what your bolts are rated at so I can't comment there.