jklove41 Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 I was reading Kinney's description of his negative gripper station in the book, Captains of Crush. He describes essentially a metal pipe which one handle of the gripper fits into and then the pipe is inserted into a receiving hole in a tree or post or some other fixed object. You then force the gripper closed using hand strength and body weight and let your body weight off to perform the negative. Yesterday I purchased a straight piece of 12" metal water pipe from Lowes. The diameter of the hole in the pipe measured 3/4". The outside diameter measured 1". The pipe had been threaded on both ends for about 1". My gripper handles fit perfectly in this pipe and the pipe fits perfectly in my rack. It works great! I am a recent #2 closer and can hardly even budge the #4. So naturally I tried the number 4 and was able to force it closed using this method fairly efficiently. The pipe cost around 2 bucks. CAUTION: Be very careful using this device. Kinney recommends using a heavy glove on the off hand to hold the coil stable. I didn't follow this advice and sure enough it slipped on me and during the slip, I sliced my thumb on my gripping hand on the threads of the end of the pipe. It wasn't serious but it did bleed a lot. Today I'm going to cut off one of the threaded ends and smooth the new end out with a file. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGuy Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Are you able to take and post a pic of this setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apdwler Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Cool and cheap idea!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Edgin Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 Old Guy, the idea is basically that you stick one end of a 1" diameter pipe into one of the holes in your squat rack or power rack and put the gripper handle into the other end so it looks kinda like the extended handle pictures posted in the gallery. I picked up a 8" piece of pipe to do this with too and the threaded end screwed right into the holes in my squat rack. I stuck my hardest #4 handle in the other end, leaned down on it to shut it, then took my body weight off it so I was just holding it with my hand. The only downside to this is that you are essentially doing a negative at 1/8" since when you think about it the gripper handles are sandwiching a piece of pipe wall 1/8" thick. If you could somehow file a notch in the pipe to expose the handle in it so you could crush the other handle down completely onto it, you'd get more bang for your buck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGuy Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 I get it now Clay. I would use a 1'' pipe nipple, but for stability screw it into a t fitting and also cut the thread from one end, and do something to prevent the pipe moving around on the handle. My rack has small holes not 1'' or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AP Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 you could just file down the handle on the #4 (the one without the pipe on it of course). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apdwler Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 You might need to try different pipe sizes. Water pipe was a fraction too big for my rack, but I had some other pipe laying around that was perfect. So save your receipt if you need to purchase. I had all the pipe already... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 Great minds think alike, I posted about this in the buy and trade section on tettings extended handles. I put tape on the handle inserted in the pipe. This helps to stop the handle getting scratched up and also helps a bit with the slippage risk. I took Kinney's advice and hold the spring with a heavy glove with my free hand just incase though. I'm thinking of cutting a window in the pipe so that the grippers handles can actually touch. Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Browne Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 Great minds think alike, I posted about this in the buy and trade section on tettings extended handles. I put tape on the handle inserted in the pipe. This helps to stop the handle getting scratched up and also helps a bit with the slippage risk. I took Kinney's advice and hold the spring with a heavy glove with my free hand just incase though. I'm thinking of cutting a window in the pipe so that the grippers handles can actually touch.Jon@han I at first began using the 1 inch pipe ala Kinney, But felt it was too unsafe to use. Also, I did not personaly like the feel of the 1 inch pipe. These reasons were what made me go to Tetting and make the extended handle using the 3/4 solid material. Using the 3/4 you have the actual true feel of the gripper and the rotating is eliminated. I do hold onto the spring anyway, but the glove was a pain to take on and off. I fold up a mechanics rag and wrap it around the spring. Works for me. The mounting station I use allows me to be directly over the top of the gripper and not have my elbow pushing against anything. There are pics of the grippers I have in the Gallery and one shows the mounting of a #4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan McMillan Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 Good idea about using the shop rag to save some time! Although, I've been using heavy winter work gloves -they feel quite nice on the hands while holding the spring especially after a few squeezes on the #4. Can't wait to get a extended handle gripper! Thanks for sparking Tetting's interest in this Zcor Jon@han Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekx Posted March 26, 2004 Share Posted March 26, 2004 Didn't I see some place selling a "Tetting secret weapon"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mooinabc1 Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 Jklove41 can you post pics in gripbroad. This wuld became clear to if had a pic or a movie clip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mooinabc1 Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 Another is to put the steel pin about 3/8 inch into the #4. And just use one pin that 8 inches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklove41 Posted March 28, 2004 Author Share Posted March 28, 2004 Mooinabc1 I have posted a picture of the device to my album jklove41. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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