I am actually not embarrassed.
The rack was pretty rusty - not a patina, but rusty - like maybe it was left outside somewhere.
It looked to me like I’d want to sandblast it before I got it in the garage, and I did not know how much it would cost to have a welder fabricate J hooks.
It also seemed like holes on 5” centers might meant I might have to figure some way to raise my weight bench so the safety pins would be at the right height for a bench press.
I probably would have been able to get it all to work..
In short, it looked to me like it was beginning to turn into a project.
My general experience is that my “I’m smarter than the average bear” DIY projects end up costing me darn near as much as buying a non-fixer upper.
That may just mean I am not in fact smarter than the average bear.
I also have pretty convinced myself that it’s hard to over spend on exercise equipment that I actually use.
In my eyes, a treadmill that sits unused in a garage is a waste of money - no matter how much it cost.
A squat cage is use 3 times a week for years - the difference between $300 + DIY improvements versus a $1000 is not that big of a deal.
This rack - and the barbell I bought used, and used weights I will pick up on Tuesday - are tools to move from a gym to Starting Strength.
If - as I expect - 3 or 4 years from now, I am still using the rack as I progress, then I will count the $1000 as well spent.
If 3 or 4 years from now, I am not using the rack, then $300 would have been ill spent.
Software engineering requires a mind-bending level of stupid.
The formal definition of the field is "Idiocy at the speed of light in the service of mankind."
Think about it - I spent a career learning how to think like a machine whose only abilities are adding ones and zeroes and comparing 0 and 1 - saying 1 if they match and 0 if they don't.
It can't even really subtract - it sort of flips some bits and adds and pretends that is subtracting.
Multiplying? Dividing? Forget it.
If the problem is easy, it just shifts bits right or left - if it is hard, It just guesses again and again and finally gives up when it runs out of time.
I was managed to match the CPU's stellar intellectual capabilities for decades and retired - still knowing how to add 0 and 1 pretty reliably - without ever having been laid off.
Mike
Why would it need to be welded to the floor? Or bolted to the floor?
It’s a flat foot model - it is not supposed to need to be bolted to the floor.