my homemade RGC device

[alan_fra]

How accurate could it be ? I know it is not very accurate but maybe within 85 percent accuracy ? That is still far from enough to gauge the RGC of a gripper. This is a test of the COC #2 at 119 lbs and it's 2 mm away from closing

[insane.warrior]

I can say with confidence that this measurement is completely inaccurate 

If you take CPW average for CoC 2, that would be a better estimate.

[mcalpine1986]

Like I've said before, highly inaccurate. 

The likelihood of your coc 2 being 119lb is like me winning the lottery, and I don't even play the lottery. 

[IzzyGrasp]

The rating is certainly not accurate for a COC #2, but maybe something like this would be fine for simply utilizing your own rating system in order to place your grippers in the proper order? Not entirely sure, but I know how confusing it can get when you have grippers that are only different from each other by 1-2 lbs and they are unrated.  

[matek]

Besides being a completely different measurement than RGC, the result is not easily reproducible due to the method, so it is not reliable. 
And if "85% accuracy" means that the probability of being right is 0.85 (out of all the same situations 85% percent of cases your measurement is correct), it is impossible to tell without a lot of experiments, and if you mean you have a margin of error of 15% (- or +), then CPW's table will help you more (what @insane.warrior suggested). Think about it, -besides it would not be possible- it would mean the gripper is between 137 and 101. This information is obviously useless. Btw it is not directly related, but both the max and min values are within +-15% of the average value in the table if you check it out. 

 

[dubyagrip]

I could rate my trainer as 400lbs with this method.  Let's use this instead.

All kidding aside, you're better off assuming the average CPW rating like others have stated.  I can appreciate your initiative to try and find a way to rate your grippers, but I think your energy and time are better spent elsewhere.

Edited November 17, 2023 by dubyagrip
Added constructive comments

[C8Myotome]

I already commented on this on Instagram but I just wanted to say once again that this is awful

[alan_fra]

I recently made a rectangular cut into a tree stump just big enough to fit a gripper. Then I put a huge nail on the spring to hold it. Now that it had a firm surface to rest on I placed the weight of 110 pounds on the gripper and it still would not close. This means that this gripper is in the upper RGC range of 110 to 117 lbs. 

[insane.warrior]

As long as your RGC measuring process replicates every single aspect of "RGC blueprint" you're good.

Refer to:

 

 

[C8Myotome]

2 hours ago, alan_fra said:

I recently made a rectangular cut into a tree stump just big enough to fit a gripper. Then I put a huge nail on the spring to hold it. Now that it had a firm surface to rest on I placed the weight of 110 pounds on the gripper and it still would not close. This means that this gripper is in the upper RGC range of 110 to 117 lbs. 

This is still not good, anything touching the spring will affect how freely it moves, I am guessing you're not doing anything to prevent strap friction

Also the first step to setting up an rgc is to calibrate it using a known cpw measured gripper, you are skipping that completely and claiming you have the heaviest coc 2 ever made when you haven't calibrated to be able to compare to the cpw database by assuming you are replicating their method without actually measuring first to see if you are or not. Unless your plates are calibrated they are probably also not as heavy as you think and you need to actually close the gripper to get an end range measurement 

Edited November 21, 2023 by C8Myotome

[alan_fra]

1 hour ago, C8Myotome said:

This is still not good, anything touching the spring will affect how freely it moves, I am guessing you're not doing anything to prevent strap friction

Also the first step to setting up an rgc is to calibrate it using a known cpw measured gripper, you are skipping that completely and claiming you have the heaviest coc 2 ever made when you haven't calibrated to be able to compare to the cpw database by assuming you are replicating their method without actually measuring first to see if you are or not. Unless your plates are calibrated they are probably also not as heavy as you think and you need to actually close the gripper to get an end range measurement 

Yes, the spring was touching the nail vertically which as you said restricts how it moves so that makes it more inaccurate. I have not done any strap friction prevention because I didn't think of it until you mentioned it today. Yes, it would be great to have a measured cpw gripper so that I know it's accurate. As for the plates... I have weighed them each on the scale and they are 3 kg plates that come out to 6.8 lbs on the digital scale. The loading pin is 1.2 lbs. The rolling thunder handle is 1.2 lbs also. Your're right that I need to close it to get an actual result

[Cannon]

This all seems like more work than mocking up a rating rig. 

A no-weld solution: Use 2 hose clamps to attach a 1-3/4" piece of 1" OD pipe to a strong base (such as 2x1 rectangle steel tube) that can be mounted to anything including that tree. You'd probably get better numbers. 

I agree with the comments that:

1) Assuming the averages from the data is probably more accurate than your measurements.
2) If your process produces consistent results for the same gripper this is totally fine for organizing your grippers, but you cannot assume anything about how your numbers compare to anybody else.

Good luck with it!  

[Charlie Hayes1]

Hi, New to the site today!

I have been training with grippers for a good while - decades off and on, made some progress and had some stagnation. At the moment, injury (plus age and disability) prevents much heavy weight training for the rest of the body, so am really focused on grippers. I am trying to regain some lost strength and am realising I need to inch my way up as the jump between current best and the next gripper feels huge. I'm in the UK and not near any one who can calibrate the grippers and posting them is both expensive and prevents me from using them while they go out and back.

So I have been looking into alternatives to sending them away.

Trying to compare an unknown gripper with something with a known resistance based on reps and feeling falls down because my strength/fatigue vary day to day - I don't have the consistent experience to say "this feels like a CoC #1" and feel sure this is accurate - and because my only gripper with the "known" resistance(s) is the Ivanko Super Gripper - a totally different sort of device. The only other possibility is to rate them myself. With my injury and other issues, I don't feel up to plate loading a proper RGC set up.

However, I recently saw a youtube where the Korean makers of GD Iron Grip (adjustable grippers) compared their IG 90 with various CoC grippers to see how close the GD gripper came to its marked ratings compared to CoC and their advertised - package - strengths. The machine uses a digital scale - the same kind you might use to weigh a suitcase or (if you are old enough to remember) a baby. In this case, the set up is horizontal and a crank tensions the cable which pulls the handle to closure. Unlike RGC, the handle being pulled is secured by a chain - presumably this fits into cogs in the mechanism. The digital scale appears to be commercially available and quite expensive - so it is presumably quite accurate.

Today, I found an Italian RGC Steel Construction Hand Gripper Rating Machine on ebay which is virtually identical to the one used by GD.

It is table top and appears to be a lot simpler and safer to use than weight plates.

Does anyone have any experience with machine like this or do they have any ideas about whether they are any good?

Here is the link to the GD comparison film (without the leading www.):  youtube.com/watch?v=USuu-3qD4Fs

Here is the link for ebay, again without the leading www.: ebay.co.uk/itm/115920635319

I didn't put the entire link because I wasn't sure of the etiquette of posting someone else's youtube or ebay page without permission.

Thanks. esp. for your patience.

[Busa]

Hi welcome,

The Italian rating machine is the same as the ones used in Russia.

This was the first chanel I found out about this type of machine: https://www.youtube.com/@navalranks/videos

There are loads of youtube videos https://youtu.be/2C4fVsy2F4o?feature=shared

Another option: https://youtu.be/vOa1d2iDd_Q?feature=shared

I did look at getting one pre covid it was just so much hard work I gave in. I also looked into making one but trying to figure out just how to make the actuator has been a massive problem could not find anything commercially available.

As has been mentioned before many times a rating is just a comparison between one gripper and another under the same conditions. For it to be viable it just needs to be consistent. For it to relate to other peoples grippers. The gripper would need to have been rated by someone else and then your measure checked against theirs. With doing this obviously the more grippers you can cross check the better the chance of your rating being accurate.   As  a device I do like it as well and think it is not too bad an option. But it is costly compared to a simple RGC bracket and weight plates. Many people make them an the instructions are easy to find.

 

 

[Busa]

Just throwing this out as an option.

On just a pure maths side of your question the machine costs £400 shipped getting 4 rated grippers (The sweat spot I have found to get it under the £135 tax point) from CPW costs around £35 each including shipping they normally take around a week to arrive. The cheapest CoC gripper (The only brand found worth buying in the UK) I have found is £29 not including post if still available most over £30 now. So to get a new rated gripper costs £6 extra each and it is from both a sponsor of the site and from the place that has recognized ratings world wide. You would need to own 66 grippers already that need rating to break even in buying the machine (not including the rating discs if you want something like that on your gripper). Unless the grippers you own are very special, or have a desire to rate your own due to say filing them, you could buy rated grippers and slowly sell off the ones you already own which would help with the funds needed to buy rated grippers.

Edited November 25, 2023 by Busa

[EmilBB]

7 hours ago, Charlie Hayes1 said:

Hi, New to the site today!

I have been training with grippers for a good while - decades off and on, made some progress and had some stagnation. At the moment, injury (plus age and disability) prevents much heavy weight training for the rest of the body, so am really focused on grippers. I am trying to regain some lost strength and am realising I need to inch my way up as the jump between current best and the next gripper feels huge. I'm in the UK and not near any one who can calibrate the grippers and posting them is both expensive and prevents me from using them while they go out and back.

So I have been looking into alternatives to sending them away.

Trying to compare an unknown gripper with something with a known resistance based on reps and feeling falls down because my strength/fatigue vary day to day - I don't have the consistent experience to say "this feels like a CoC #1" and feel sure this is accurate - and because my only gripper with the "known" resistance(s) is the Ivanko Super Gripper - a totally different sort of device. The only other possibility is to rate them myself. With my injury and other issues, I don't feel up to plate loading a proper RGC set up.

However, I recently saw a youtube where the Korean makers of GD Iron Grip (adjustable grippers) compared their IG 90 with various CoC grippers to see how close the GD gripper came to its marked ratings compared to CoC and their advertised - package - strengths. The machine uses a digital scale - the same kind you might use to weigh a suitcase or (if you are old enough to remember) a baby. In this case, the set up is horizontal and a crank tensions the cable which pulls the handle to closure. Unlike RGC, the handle being pulled is secured by a chain - presumably this fits into cogs in the mechanism. The digital scale appears to be commercially available and quite expensive - so it is presumably quite accurate.

Today, I found an Italian RGC Steel Construction Hand Gripper Rating Machine on ebay which is virtually identical to the one used by GD.

It is table top and appears to be a lot simpler and safer to use than weight plates.

Does anyone have any experience with machine like this or do they have any ideas about whether they are any good?

Here is the link to the GD comparison film (without the leading www.):  youtube.com/watch?v=USuu-3qD4Fs

Here is the link for ebay, again without the leading www.: ebay.co.uk/itm/115920635319

I didn't put the entire link because I wasn't sure of the etiquette of posting someone else's youtube or ebay page without permission.

Thanks. esp. for your patience.

Gods of grip is located in UK and they rate grippers, also sell some of their own grippers pre- rated.

https://godsofgrip.com/products/pre-rated-hand-grippers

https://godsofgrip.com/pages/hand-gripper-rating-service

Edited November 25, 2023 by EmilBB

[MyMindsEye]

11 hours ago, Busa said:

Just throwing this out as an option.

On just a pure maths side of your question the machine costs £400 shipped getting 4 rated grippers (The sweat spot I have found to get it under the £135 tax point) from CPW costs around £35 each including shipping they normally take around a week to arrive. The cheapest CoC gripper (The only brand found worth buying in the UK) I have found is £29 not including post if still available most over £30 now. So to get a new rated gripper costs £6 extra each and it is from both a sponsor of the site and from the place that has recognized ratings world wide. You would need to own 66 grippers already that need rating to break even in buying the machine (not including the rating discs if you want something like that on your gripper). Unless the grippers you own are very special, or have a desire to rate your own due to say filing them, you could buy rated grippers and slowly sell off the ones you already own which would help with the funds needed to buy rated grippers.

Hi,

This is my first post on the board, so I thought it would be useful to direct you to some CoC grippers that are cheaper than £29 in the UK.

https://www.crucialfitness.co.uk/captains-of-crush-coc-grippers-all-sizes (found this just earlier today)

https://www.pullumsports.co.uk/products/ironmind-captains-of-crush-gripper?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA04arBhAkEiwAuNOsIj3Ay_icGdarjxx_s2Zfgcx81nq9s00gM_3hZmXyaJi7n-0E4ZZCmRoCQUcQAvD_BwE

https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/products/captains-of-crush-hand-grippers

https://mirafit.co.uk/amp/captains-of-crush-hand-gripper.html

 

[Cannon]

This thread is taking some crazy turns. It's not about where to find cheap IronMinds in the UK. 

Let's track back toward the topic; alan_fra's rating woes. 

 

[Charlie Hayes1]

Hi to all who replied to my post on the rating machine.

I had no intention of highjacking the page, did not know the protocol, sorry!

Just a brief reply to those who were kind enough to reply.

The economic argument obviously makes sense, esp. if I send them to someone in the UK. Cannon Powerworks prices are great, but shipping is prohibitive. Also, sending my training grippers to be rated means they could be away for a good long time. (I do have a Vulcan and an Ivanko, however.)

My first Torsion Gripper was CoC #1 and I could not close it, so I bought Heavy Grips (yes, I know, not high quality) and they varied so much in resistance that the seller sent me an extra set for free. So I now hav CoC Sport, CoC Trainer, CoC #0.5 plus a variety of HGs. As a retired person, I have little cash but lots of time on my hands. I thought doing my own rating could be interesting, esp. if there was a device that didn't require me to lift heavy weights onto a gripper handle.

[John Knowlton]

Can you weld or do you have a friend that can weld.

[Charlie Hayes1]

Hi, John

I can't weld. Did a very little at school, but my disability means I wouldn't feel confident having to handle a welding torch!

I do have a friend who can weld and do most do it yourself repairs around the house. He has done a lot for my wife and myself over the last few years, so I am a little reluctant to ask him but . . . I am thinking of showing him the youtube film I originally viewed and see what he thinks. 

Of course, the welding of the box is only one aspect, there is also the gearing/cranking mechanism. 

Thanks for the suggestion. I will give it a go.