Hi everyone. Here's my first major project in welding and thought I'd share.
I was looking at a dip station and saw one made by Body Solid. They sell for close to $400 excluding freight in my state and figured I'd get more enjoyment and save a few dollars building my own.
Now just a little background on my welding skills. I've always wanted to weld, so grabbed a Stick/Tig/Plasma cutter all in one machine for about $450 off ebay. Watched some youtube videos, talked to some welders and got stuck in.
I've only stick welded and done some mig welding at my brothers workshop. I love the old stick welding
Anyway, BodySolid's website had a .dwg I could import into Autocad with all dimensions that I based my design off. Also got measurements of what people have measured on the dip station and posted on various fitness forums.
This is what the Body Solid Dip station looks like:
Now my build progress photos:
I had to make up end caps for the 3mm thick hollow tube I was using for the dip handles
Here are a few photos of welding the join between the hollow pipe and the rectangular steel as well as some other welds on it. I don't have a notching tool, but did my best to make it a close tight fit. I did a few passes to make sure it really filled in the gap in the join between the cylinder shape and rectangle shape. I know it looks a bit messy, but i tested the strength to make sure they weren't going to fracture or strain.
Now all the welds cleaned up with the grinding disc and flapper disc
All the pieces laid out ready for the first coat of primer. You can see I actually welded on some nuts to the base lengths. These will accept nylon feet that are adjustable so I can make sure its level on the surface it will be used on.
First coat of metal primer
The end result. Painted in Colorbond paperbark i think. I used tennis grip handle wrapping to act as a nonslip sweat absorbent grip. I also got some anti slip material for where you stand up on the bar to get to the handles.
The end caps were put in for aesthetics as well as not opening up your foot if you walk into it. The nylon adjustable feet do a great job at keeping it firm and sturdy.
I've used it plenty of times and was built using 3mm steel, which in hindsight was probably a bit overkill since I think most gym equipment I see is only 1.6mm or 2mm. I think next time I'll be using 2mm steel. I didn't want to go too thin on this for fear of burning through it with the electrodes while still in the learning phase of welding.
Hope you enjoyed reading about my first gym build.
I was looking at a dip station and saw one made by Body Solid. They sell for close to $400 excluding freight in my state and figured I'd get more enjoyment and save a few dollars building my own.
Now just a little background on my welding skills. I've always wanted to weld, so grabbed a Stick/Tig/Plasma cutter all in one machine for about $450 off ebay. Watched some youtube videos, talked to some welders and got stuck in.
I've only stick welded and done some mig welding at my brothers workshop. I love the old stick welding
Anyway, BodySolid's website had a .dwg I could import into Autocad with all dimensions that I based my design off. Also got measurements of what people have measured on the dip station and posted on various fitness forums.
This is what the Body Solid Dip station looks like:
Now my build progress photos:
I had to make up end caps for the 3mm thick hollow tube I was using for the dip handles
Here are a few photos of welding the join between the hollow pipe and the rectangular steel as well as some other welds on it. I don't have a notching tool, but did my best to make it a close tight fit. I did a few passes to make sure it really filled in the gap in the join between the cylinder shape and rectangle shape. I know it looks a bit messy, but i tested the strength to make sure they weren't going to fracture or strain.
Now all the welds cleaned up with the grinding disc and flapper disc
All the pieces laid out ready for the first coat of primer. You can see I actually welded on some nuts to the base lengths. These will accept nylon feet that are adjustable so I can make sure its level on the surface it will be used on.
First coat of metal primer
The end result. Painted in Colorbond paperbark i think. I used tennis grip handle wrapping to act as a nonslip sweat absorbent grip. I also got some anti slip material for where you stand up on the bar to get to the handles.
The end caps were put in for aesthetics as well as not opening up your foot if you walk into it. The nylon adjustable feet do a great job at keeping it firm and sturdy.
I've used it plenty of times and was built using 3mm steel, which in hindsight was probably a bit overkill since I think most gym equipment I see is only 1.6mm or 2mm. I think next time I'll be using 2mm steel. I didn't want to go too thin on this for fear of burning through it with the electrodes while still in the learning phase of welding.
Hope you enjoyed reading about my first gym build.