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Homemade Challenge Dumbbell


John McCarter

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Hey guys, in my log I noted that I'm not really doing anything with grip or lifting at the moment but that hasn't stopped me with coming up with a few things.

Been wanting a challenge dumbbell for a long time, only reason I didn't have one is the cost. Trust me, if I had the money for an Inch or a Circus Dumbbell I would lay the money down right then and there, but that's not the case.

The other day while looking at photos of older weights, it dawned on me out of nowhere, make one for cheap. Was going to get an atlas stone mold but wanted to test this method out first. The item only cost me close to 40 dollars (a few extra items were added to be on the safe side). All you need are two 5 gallon buckets, two 80 lb bags of concrete mix, a 2 inch black pipe. That's it. When everything was done it all came out to weighing 187 lbs

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ARG-EFiBkT92rxwJ9gv_WenP2vrUg-1eoggHJyvly2E/edit?usp=sharing

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Very cool!

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Now that is an idea I've never seen before! Great stuff, John. If I ever make it out your way I'd like to give that a shot. Is the pipe slick (painted), or is there a slight texture to it?

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Very cool. Just gave me an idea for how to do that with spherical shape on the inside portion pretty easy. One would have to cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket to slide the handle through for pouring though and cut the bucket off when done or precut in half and duct tape together for the pour. You could use an old basket ball and either cut in half to duct tape each side into the bottom of the hole for the form or fill the bottom of the bucket with say plaster to make a mold and press something like a basketball or beach ball into it to create the negative shape. That might be an interesting project to try.

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Very cool!

Thanks

Very cool. Just gave me an idea for how to do that with spherical shape on the inside portion pretty easy. One would have to cut a hole in the bottom of the bucket to slide the handle through for pouring though and cut the bucket off when done or precut in half and duct tape together for the pour. You could use an old basket ball and either cut in half to duct tape each side into the bottom of the hole for the form or fill the bottom of the bucket with say plaster to make a mold and press something like a basketball or beach ball into it to create the negative shape. That might be an interesting project to try.

Thanks, going to be interesting to see what you come up with.

Now that is an idea I've never seen before! Great stuff, John. If I ever make it out your way I'd like to give that a shot. Is the pipe slick (painted), or is there a slight texture to it?

Thanks Ben. If you ever do come this way you are welcomed to lift it. The pipe is slick, haven't had a chance to try to lift it right now.

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That's a great old school method. My Uncle, and Dad have made barbells that way in their younger days.

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That's a great old school method. My Uncle, and Dad have made barbells that way in their younger days.

Yep my dad used to have barbells like this too

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While walking into the weightroom the other day a woman stopped me and asked if I wanted some weights she was throwing away. 170lbs of old 1" standard plates and some dumbbell handles so I loaded them up. I cut up an old 1" barbell I had laying around and then broke out the Miller. Old cast weights don't weld so good, especially when you aren't a good welder to begin with. But anyways, here is my addition to this thread. 150lbs of weights (by adding the #'s on the weights, I did not weigh each plate), each welded individually to the bar making it solid, bar and old collars to center the handle are 15lbs and then my welds add about 273lbs of weight, lol.

All told it's 165lbs-ish and has much-o spin-o.

The handle is a 6" piece of 2" ID pipe welded to a set of collars welded to the bar and then welded to the 25lb plates

Total cost not counting welding wire is................ $1 - they made me pay of the 6" piece of pipe scrap

homemade%20bell-web_zpsi8pfuxcr.jpg

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While walking into the weightroom the other day a woman stopped me and asked if I wanted some weights she was throwing away. 170lbs of old 1" standard plates and some dumbbell handles so I loaded them up. I cut up an old 1" barbell I had laying around and then broke out the Miller. Old cast weights don't weld so good, especially when you aren't a good welder to begin with. But anyways, here is my addition to this thread. 150lbs of weights (by adding the #'s on the weights, I did not weigh each plate), each welded individually to the bar making it solid, bar and old collars to center the handle are 15lbs and then my welds add about 273lbs of weight, lol.

All told it's 165lbs-ish and has much-o spin-o.

The handle is a 6" piece of 2" ID pipe welded to a set of collars welded to the bar and then welded to the 25lb plates

Total cost not counting welding wire is................ $1 - they made me pay of the 6" piece of pipe scrap

homemade%20bell-web_zpsi8pfuxcr.jpg

Awesome work!

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Here is mine. My friend is metal worker and he did it for free. Very good and I put more plates with super magnets.

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Here is mine. My friend is metal worker and he did it for free. Very good and I put more plates with super magnets.

Awesome Bell, I bet that dumbbell is going to stop a lot of people.

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I have a loadable I'm planning on making when I get caught up on some of the other projects. Have the materials already just need some time for the machining. Will be plate loadable all cast iron but I am planning on doing a fine thread like that on the Axle on the handle as well as the ID of the plates and cut them to a spherical profile. Base weight with full spheres mounted should be about that of the Inch but more solid plates will be able to be added in the middle at the sphere apex as well since the handle will be about 27" long. That is the plan anyway when I get a chance to get to it. I already have an Inch DB but this one would be just for fun and to load higher.

- Aaron

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Here is mine. My friend is metal worker and he did it for free. Very good and I put more plates with super magnets.

That is a great piece of hardware!

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