Building a custom rack

[Raw Power]

I'd like to have a custom rack welded for my small apartment, to serve temporarily during these trying times. I plan to use this rack primarily for high bar or front squats, presses, chin ups, dips, good mornings, curls, and hang cleans or hang snatches. I can't do any lifts off the floor. I will purchase a cheap non-rotating standard bar and about 120 kg of plates to start. I don't want to invest too much as this is a temporary measure since they have closed my gym and now have police guarding the dip bars and chin up bars at the beach across the street. Madness. Anyway, the design is not finalized. This is my first time doing 3d modeling so the proportions are not correct. I just wanted to get an image of the general shape to show my welder. This will be custom designed for my dimensions. The chin up bar will be at a height where I stand on my toes to grasp it. I think the dip bars should be about armpit level, and the squat pins should be just below my nipples. The dip bars will be at an angle to allow for pronation and width variation. Not sure exactly what the angle should be but I don't think it's critical. The width of the pins will be quite narrow, under 33 inches, so that it can fit through my front door. There will be safety bars in case I need to bail on a squat, and also to add stability. I might also include another set of pins for bench press, if it's the case that the safety bars can be put at a height which is usable for both squat and bench. Have to give that some more thought. I'm not an engineer so I don't know how sturdy this will be. I think 2" square tube will be strong enough, and 1.5" for the chin and dip bars. Rubber feet to protect the floor and dampen shock. The goal is to make this light enough and small enough that I can carry it on my own, up the elevator and fit it in the kitchen of my 19th floor apartment. And I might have to move again in a few weeks. But I may want to use this for back squats or rack pulls some day so it would be nice if it could support over 200 kg. Please let me know what you think.

[Steve R]

I don't want to invest too much as this is a temporary measure

This plan is guaranteed to cost too much, take too long and produce an unsatisfactory result.

The rack that would meet your needs is something like a Rogue S-2 with safety arms and a Matador. This is not cheap and unfortunately is not even available right now.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Hey! Here's an idea: Starting Strength Power Rack – Texas Strength Systems

[Raw Power]

The thing is I really need something right away. I live overseas and cannot buy Rogue or Texas Strength equipment, nor would it fit in my apartment. My primary need is chin up and dip bars. The squat safety bars are really there to provide stability for the frame, and I figured may as well tack on some pins, just in case I want to get a barbell for presses and light squats later on. The machine shop only charged me 34 US dollars to produce 4 kg worth of fractional plates. So, I don't expect this will cost much over 100 USD. I think it's a much simpler job of just cutting and welding steel tubing. Not sure how much it will weight but hopefully not much over 15 kg. Here's the latest design drawn to scale. It's drawn with 4cm square tube and 32 mm round tube for the pull up and dip bars. Just a rough guess on these dimensions as I don't know what stock is available. I would actually like the dip bars to be thicker but hopefully this won't be too uncomfortable. The chin bar is set at 226 cm, dip bars at 138 cm, safety bars at 62 cm. Bench pins are 40 cm above the safety bars and squat pins are just under my pecs. I got these measurements by holding a broom handle in various positions against a door frame so they might not be ideal for my 180 cm frame in practice. The angle of the dip bars is 37 degrees, with grip width tapering from about 80 cm to 45 cm. I think around 55-60 cm is the most useful width for me. The cross bar is set at a height which will hopefully avoid banging into my shins, yet still provide some rigidity. Actually I may bring it down a tad. The pins are 7 cm deep and have a 28 mm lip made from 5 mm flat bar. I decided to make the pins deep enough to accommodate a full 50 mm axle, in case I can't find a proper barbell and must resort to using steel pipe. The safety pins also have a 28 mm lip which should prevent a 5 cm pipe from rolling off. Tomorrow morning I'll take my design to the shop.

custom rack.jpgcustom rack (1).jpgcustom rack (2).jpg

[Mark Rippetoe]

You can do both dips and chins on the SS Rack. Get one built there.

[Smyth]

Hey! Here's an idea: Starting Strength Power Rack – Texas Strength Systems

Coach, I apologize for asking something that must be somewhere on this vast site, but can you remind me the minimum footprint I will need for your SS Power Rack, including ability to deadlift? I'm very tight on space in my small home, but am hoping I can figure out a spot.

[Raw Power]

Ok today I showed my guy some photos of the SS rack and he seems to think he can do it. It would be a far better option and probably won't cost too much in terms of materials or labor. The only issue is it's not free standing and needs to bolt to plywood. I've never seen plywood or OSB over here as all houses are concrete with steel roofs, but hopefully I can figure something out. I may even go all the way and build a platform as well. If I use bumper plates and slow down my deadlift eccentric perhaps the tile floor underneath might even survive.

Since we're all metric over here I guess I'll make the holes 3 cm with 5 cm spacing. I'll have to make sure I can get bolts that size to be used as pins, as well as the CRS round bar stock. And hopefully 10 cm C channel is available in the appropriate gauge. The height is the most critical measurement as I'll want to make sure I can hang from the chin bar without touching the floor. Then I can also do presses inside the rack. I may need to be there to ensure it all goes smoothly, because they somehow managed to screw up the ID on my fractionals and that was a far less complicated project.

There's youtube videos of an American guy in Taiwan who built his own SS rack, so that may be helpful.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Coach, I apologize for asking something that must be somewhere on this vast site, but can you remind me the minimum footprint I will need for your SS Power Rack, including ability to deadlift? I'm very tight on space in my small home, but am hoping I can figure out a spot.

About 60 sq ft should be enough room for the platform and the loaded rack.

Ok today I showed my guy some photos of the SS rack and he seems to think he can do it. It would be a far better option and probably won't cost too much in terms of materials or labor. The only issue is it's not free standing and needs to bolt to plywood.

What? The rack is not free standing?

[Smyth]

[QUOTE=Mark Rippetoe;1767989]About 60 sq ft should be enough room for the platform and the loaded rack.



Thanks, Coach.

[Raw Power]

Now I got a better look and I see how it bolts to the c channel base. I'll still need plywood to stand on and also place underneath to protect the floor.

I might make mine a couple inches taller. Standing on my toes with my shoulders shrugged, holding a broom handle against the wall I measured 89 inches.