Help with Building Power Rack

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1


Hi guys,

I am currently building my own power rack and am stuck with one bit.

I want to attach ‘monkey bar’ like image shown however I am unsure of 3 things:

  1. What spacing to use between the 5 ‘middle’ handles

  2. How far between to space the two cross-bars

  3. What downward angle to use at the ends of the chin bar section where it attaches to the rack.

I know it’s an obscure question but if someone can help I would be very appreciative as it is the last thing I have to complete.

I will happily post pictures of the completed rack and also a copy of the design inc. measurements should someone want to make the same rack…I just need to get this bit.

Cheers

2

Looks freaking awesome.

For me I’d want to be able to fit my big head through the middle and so the three in the middle would be two. From there it would be about shoulder width and then 4-6 inches wider. As far as the angle…I don’t know, maybe the angle you like on your favorite ez bar? It would be to take the stress off the wrists and I think personally that most are angled too much…

3

From scaling the pic it looks like the spacing of the bars to either side of the center one are 4" from centerline. The outer most bars are 21" apart. Angle is about 20 degrees. Bend for angle starts about 12" from center.

This is all assuming the spread between the end plates is 45" apart.

4

[quote]Free2Be wrote:

For me I’d want to be able to fit my big head through the middle and so the three in the middle would be two. [/quote]

Hilarious. I picture a guy trying to do some neutral grip chins and slamming his head into that ridiculous center bar.

I agree that the design would be much better with out the center bar.

I’d want the middle two to be positioned such that your elbows are pretty close to your rib cage at the top of a neutral grip chin. Similar for where the bar kinks, so at the top position your elbows are against your lats.

5

Thanks for the help guys! Much appreciated.

I did wonder about the centre bar but i figured it was there as it would allow you to gain 3 different grip widths with neutral hand position.

I guess they figured you would be doing sternum pulls or just pulling the body out and over the bar rather than straight up.

So I had a play around with some handle width and came up with following:

No Middle handles.

First two = 6.5" from midline (so 13" apart from each other) which allows close grip and room for users head

Next Two = 10" from midline (so 20" apart from each other) which allows for wide grip.

Then bar kink…well measured the triangle formed with chinup bar at work and they are 7, 6, 3.5 so to determine the angle used some trig to figure out:

sin = O/H so co-Sin 3.5/7 = angle: 30degrees

Which I find to sharp an angle. So I think I will drop this to 20 or even 15 degrees.

I’ll have a think about the middle bar… cos when i think about it, you are not going to pull directly upwards anyway…hmmmm

Leave it with me…thank again. I’ll post photos and measurements when it is all complete.

OH… if anyone has some measurements for a GOOD J-Hook I’d be stoked. I know you don’t want too much of a lip so that you can pull the bar out, but if anyone can measure up a quality J-Hook and post results that would be fantastic.

Cheers

6

Why not make the middle two with hooks instead of welding them in place so that its adjustable.

7

That’s not a bad idea hey!

If you look at the video in the link, you will notice Kroc using the same setup but no need to move head between the bars.

I guess my ONLY concern with hooked handles is them sliding or moving during use which although I could solve it using some clamps at the end, I need to make design as simple as possible otherwise it’s going to blow cost out.

Thanks again for the input though… might see what I can come up with!

Cheers

8

drill a hole in the hook, weld a nut to it, and screw a bolt through. Instant set screw

9

Why not make one long side of the monkey bar a thick grip?

Since you can use either side of the monkey bar long bars, you should consider making one long side a Fat Bar grip for variety and grip training without having to change equipment. Then, it is easy to do regular chins on one side and just flip around to do thick grip chin/pull ups.

Before buiding, experiment with different thick grips you might like. 2 inch is a common thick grip diameter. But, maybe try the feel of things from 1.5 inch to 2.5 inch and see what you like, before actually building the monkey bar with that size on one side.

10


Hey guys, I promised I would attach plans once building began and…today… building has begun.

This rack is custom made for my specific room dimensions and needs.

The only difference from plans is that the guy who is building it is going to use 50x50x5mm Square hollow section steel… that’s just a lil better than 6gauge steel so MUCH stronger than racks produced by big suppliers who normally use 11gauge.

I’ve got 4 band pegs, 4 spot pins, sumo base, monkey chin with fat bar at the rear plus storage for bars at the back, a place to hang all my chains/bands and weight storage.

Hopefully image comes through ok and can be downloaded. I’ve spent a LONG time putting this together as I am not an engineer but it may help someone else. As I said, it suits what I want perfectly!

Cheers

11


and the other page…

Oh and again…thanks to those who gave their input!

12

One more idea that I applied to the Monkey Bar I am having built: instead of a single bar right in the center, you might consider two slanted grips in the middle. This will allow you to do a close V-Grip chin up, basically right in between a close grip chin and a close grip hammer grip-type chin.

Anyway, another option to consider.

13

Some things for you to consider:

  1. It may by that I’m getting old and lazy but I would put the larger plate storage closer to where it is most likely to come on and off the bar. Why lift the 45’s from the floor to the bar and then have to lower them back down when you are done when you could just move them horizontally.

  2. I can’t tell for certain in your diagram but I would recommend having holes for the band pegs on the upper and lower horizontal portions of the plate storage area. This is for a few reasons. First if you wanted to pull aganst bands you could have enough distance between the front and back pegs so that you could have band tension at the floor without having to double up the bands. Second, you can set up for benching with an “L” configuration and have enough distance to adjust your tension without having to double up the bands over a single peg. Same for on the top, you can have more configurations and thus be able to fine tune how much band tension you have for reverse band work. Adding 4 or 5 holes x 4 sections of tubing isn’t going to add that much to the cost and won’t sacrifice any strength. It’s cheaper to have them and not use than to not have them and have to add them later.

  3. 5 mm wall is overkill. The majority of the load is on a vertical column. Granted it is offset slightly when the bar is in the hooks but the resulting bending moment is very slight given the short distance from the column (post) Even still, 11 gauge (0.120 in.) wall or 3 mm wall is satisfactory. Having made many pieces of my own I can say from experience, the material cost savings going from 5 mm to 3 mm will be substantial and you will never hav an issue with lack of strength due to the thinner wall. Weight of the assembled rack is really not an issue once it’s in place. Something to consider, the price for steel is a function of it’s weight (and to a lesser extent configuration, i.e. round pipe, square tube, solid round bar…) The closest comparison I found was for 2.5 inch x 2.5 inch square tube. For 3/16 inch (4.76 mm) wall it weighs 5.59 lbs per foot and for 0.120 inch wall (3.05 mm) it weighs 3.9 lbs per foot. Take the money you save a have a nice bench made. PM me with your email and I can send you a measured drawing and pictures of the one I made and a list of things that I would change if or when I were to make it again.

  4. I can’t tell from your diagram but the spacing between the plate stoage post and the center post of the rack should be such that your largest plate (45 lbs in US) should be able to fit between the posts with ample clearance. Technically you need a radius from the center line of the storage post and a radius from a bar pressed against the front of the center post so that the plates on the bar can’t bump the plates on the storage rack.

  5. I would position base plates with the holes that fasten the rack to the floor such that I had enough clearance above them to drill my holes without having to reposition the rack. This would also ensure that I hade enough room to insert a long fastener if required. If going into concrete I recommend a stud style achor in the floor with a nut and washer to hold the rack down. For a wood floor use a “lag” screw.

  6. From experience we have learned that when using a “L” type band config, the peg at the crotch of the “L” needs to be able to spin. If not, when you lower the bar the band creeps and the tension will increase with every rep. We slide a small piece of PVC pipe over the peg and secure the peg through the rack with a 1 inch spring clip (our pegs are 1 inch diam.) It really sucks if the PVC pipe walks off the end of the peg when during a circa max squat session, (I’ve found a few fragments but the majority of it seems to have vaporized when it impacted the concrete wall at what I estimate to be at near the speed of sound).

  7. I would alter the monkey bars to that the ends were angled like this /----\ when viewd from the front so it’s a little easier on the wrists and grip when you do wide grip pull-ups. Paint the monkey bars with spray on truck bed liner, it has a very durable texture and offers a great grip. Find out where the new trucks go and see what they guys there charge. The stuff in the rattle can isn’t that great.

I am a mechanical engineer with almost 20 years experience in machine design and I also manufacture all of my own weight training equipment, as well as some for sale so some of what I am saying has a little credence. Most of what I’ve suggested is very minor from a design change perspective but are things that would be very difficult to change once fabricated.

Sorry for the longwinded response. In general your design looks great, it has all of the things that I will include on my dream rack once I get around to building it. The important part is that it is what you want and will serve your needs.

14


I have built this a while ago grey pipes are 30mm greens are 28mm, two green plates are for ceiling mounting so you can ignore them I guess.

Spacing between green pipes are 8inches (20cms to be exact) overall length from end to end is little bit more than 140cms. Flat part is 100cms (~40inches). I have 5 different neutral grips (20,40,60,80,100cms) and multiple overhand and underhand grips.

It is ceiling mounted on a 10cm girder (no other option). That is why it has reverse angles on the ends.

15

[quote]tcsimon wrote:
Some things for you to consider:

  1. It may by that I’m getting old and lazy but I would put the larger plate storage closer to where it is most likely to come on and off the bar. Why lift the 45’s from the floor to the bar and then have to lower them back down when you are done when you could just move them horizontally.

  2. I can’t tell for certain in your diagram but I would recommend having holes for the band pegs on the upper and lower horizontal portions of the plate storage area. This is for a few reasons. First if you wanted to pull aganst bands you could have enough distance between the front and back pegs so that you could have band tension at the floor without having to double up the bands. Second, you can set up for benching with an “L” configuration and have enough distance to adjust your tension without having to double up the bands over a single peg. Same for on the top, you can have more configurations and thus be able to fine tune how much band tension you have for reverse band work. Adding 4 or 5 holes x 4 sections of tubing isn’t going to add that much to the cost and won’t sacrifice any strength. It’s cheaper to have them and not use than to not have them and have to add them later.

  3. 5 mm wall is overkill. The majority of the load is on a vertical column. Granted it is offset slightly when the bar is in the hooks but the resulting bending moment is very slight given the short distance from the column (post) Even still, 11 gauge (0.120 in.) wall or 3 mm wall is satisfactory. Having made many pieces of my own I can say from experience, the material cost savings going from 5 mm to 3 mm will be substantial and you will never hav an issue with lack of strength due to the thinner wall. Weight of the assembled rack is really not an issue once it’s in place. Something to consider, the price for steel is a function of it’s weight (and to a lesser extent configuration, i.e. round pipe, square tube, solid round bar…) The closest comparison I found was for 2.5 inch x 2.5 inch square tube. For 3/16 inch (4.76 mm) wall it weighs 5.59 lbs per foot and for 0.120 inch wall (3.05 mm) it weighs 3.9 lbs per foot. Take the money you save a have a nice bench made. PM me with your email and I can send you a measured drawing and pictures of the one I made and a list of things that I would change if or when I were to make it again.

  4. I can’t tell from your diagram but the spacing between the plate stoage post and the center post of the rack should be such that your largest plate (45 lbs in US) should be able to fit between the posts with ample clearance. Technically you need a radius from the center line of the storage post and a radius from a bar pressed against the front of the center post so that the plates on the bar can’t bump the plates on the storage rack.

  5. I would position base plates with the holes that fasten the rack to the floor such that I had enough clearance above them to drill my holes without having to reposition the rack. This would also ensure that I hade enough room to insert a long fastener if required. If going into concrete I recommend a stud style achor in the floor with a nut and washer to hold the rack down. For a wood floor use a “lag” screw.

  6. From experience we have learned that when using a “L” type band config, the peg at the crotch of the “L” needs to be able to spin. If not, when you lower the bar the band creeps and the tension will increase with every rep. We slide a small piece of PVC pipe over the peg and secure the peg through the rack with a 1 inch spring clip (our pegs are 1 inch diam.) It really sucks if the PVC pipe walks off the end of the peg when during a circa max squat session, (I’ve found a few fragments but the majority of it seems to have vaporized when it impacted the concrete wall at what I estimate to be at near the speed of sound).

  7. I would alter the monkey bars to that the ends were angled like this /----\ when viewd from the front so it’s a little easier on the wrists and grip when you do wide grip pull-ups. Paint the monkey bars with spray on truck bed liner, it has a very durable texture and offers a great grip. Find out where the new trucks go and see what they guys there charge. The stuff in the rattle can isn’t that great.

I am a mechanical engineer with almost 20 years experience in machine design and I also manufacture all of my own weight training equipment, as well as some for sale so some of what I am saying has a little credence. Most of what I’ve suggested is very minor from a design change perspective but are things that would be very difficult to change once fabricated.

Sorry for the longwinded response. In general your design looks great, it has all of the things that I will include on my dream rack once I get around to building it. The important part is that it is what you want and will serve your needs.
[/quote]

Firstly, thanks so much for taking a look at the design. As I said, I don’t have any engineering background but just kinda looked at what i wanted and tried to apply what I could.

  1. I did think about the plate storage, but I was a bit torn because I may not always be able to bolt down my equipment and therefore I wanted the heavier weights nice and low…but that may be some crappy knowledge of physics. I figure I have two pegs for 450mm plates and then 3pegs for decreasing plate size above those on each side. In hindsight…I would have followed your advice (already in construction).

  2. Arrgghh… wish I had known this. I saw other racks with this but didn’t quite know if I should have it. I was worried about turning my rack into swiss cheese and not having enough strength (told you I was no engineer!). I might give them a call and see if they can drill the holes in the bottom section to save doubling up bands for deads but I don’t think I will use the ‘L’ banding. I’m just not that full on to warrant adjusting the tension in such small increments. I do however think it’s worth me getting the bottom and top holes all the way across the rack. I’ll just have to take off any plates on the bottom weight storage pegs as otherwise they would interfere with the band.

3)ha ha… the 5mm costs me the same as the 3mm. It’s a cash job and when I asked for 3.5mm they said “we don’t have 3.5mm… but we can do 5mm for the same price?” so I was like “More must be better…hell yeah!” Maybe that wasn’t the best idea…but at least I know it will be able to hold a decent amount of weight. I get what you mean, and if it had cost me more I would have downgraded to 3mm…but for the same price I thought why the hell not. Basically, these guys were recommended to me by a client who gives them a LOT of work so I think they are looking after me very well to keep him happy.

4)Cheers mate… i only remembered that bit about 2days before i took the final drawings in! I smacked myself in the head for being so stupid not to think of it earlier. I’ve left a good clearance so that I can have a bar sitting right up against the middle post with 450mm plates and it won’t touch the 450mm plates on the storage pegs.

5)Ahhh… i didn’t think about that bit. Bummer. I have the ‘tags’ (as i now know they are called) on the internal underside but this was partially to reduce space. Standard ply over here comes in 1200mm x 2400 and so to keep the rack within the 1200 I kept the tags internal. When I first designed it, I wasn’t allowed to bolt into the floor so was going to use a few sheets of ply with a metal bracket insert cut in the middle of 3 pieces so that I could bolt the rack into the bracket. Using equal and opposite forces, any forces applied to the rack trying to lift it up (say with bands) would also be opposed by forces pushing the floor down and therefore as long as strong bracket and bolts, no issues. As it turns out, I have since been given permission to bolt straight to the floor so intended to use bolts and washers. Now can you explain what this ‘stud’ anchor is? Someone has recommened dyna boltsbut not sure what they are either.

  1. Geez… that sounds a bit full on. Yeah… that only helps convince me that I’ll stick to my simple band setup. It may not be as precise, but I know what is going where.

  2. It may sound werid, but I actually prefer a straight bar. I have tried 10, 15, 20, 30 degree angled bars after taking some advice from readers here and I actually prefer a straight bar to do chins. Very good advice on the spray…will have to look into that. The chin bar can easily be unbolted so once I find a place I will have to go get that done. I’m guessing it leaves that rough textured surface huh? Great tip!

Geez… with all this advice I’m hoping you can help me with something else.

I’m going to build my own oly platform and I happen to have ‘found’ 4 sheets of 1mx1m 1&1/2 inch thick rubber mats! Freakin heavy, strong, and perfect for lifting.

I was looking at (due to room size) having squat rack, then platform straight in front. Now…I only have 4sq metres of mat so how do i best organise so that I can make a good platform AND have some mats next to the rack to allow deadlifts without heaps of noise.

I had considered:

Cut all mats so half are 1m x 0.6m and half are 1mx0.4m

Then, use wider (0.6m) mats each side of 1200mm X 2000mm ply platform (3layers) so that I have a platform that is 2metres long and 2.4metres wide with the rubber taking up 600mm each side.

Then, use the 400mm lengths each side of the rack so that I have 400mm x 2metres each side and I guess I would have to put something inside the rack to build it up…again…probably 3 sheets of 1200mm x 2000mm ply.

Does this sound alright to you?

I would be able to walk up on to a platform, then walk into cage at same height. Drop weights on to some good rubber and the ply would be easy to fit. Just not sure if ply is a good choice for inside the rack (slip?).

Thanks so much for your input… it has definitely helped me with doubts I had regarding the design and, although I could have improved it, I think it will provide a very functional unit that fits my limited space.

FWIW I’m now looking at getting my own ‘torsonator’ or ‘landmine’ or whatever you want to call it made so that I can just attached it to the front of the rack. Just looks like a universal joint with a tube to hold the oly bar. Add a threaded bolt and a nut and it can’t cost $400USD like most are charging!

Look forward to your input on the matting/floor layout as I suspect you have a lot of experience in this too!

Cheers

16

[quote]mtuncer wrote:
I have built this a while ago grey pipes are 30mm greens are 28mm, two green plates are for ceiling mounting so you can ignore them I guess.

Spacing between green pipes are 8inches (20cms to be exact) overall length from end to end is little bit more than 140cms. Flat part is 100cms (~40inches). I have 5 different neutral grips (20,40,60,80,100cms) and multiple overhand and underhand grips.

It is ceiling mounted on a 10cm girder (no other option). That is why it has reverse angles on the ends.[/quote]

Thanks mate, great diagram! I just used different spacing (6" and 8") so that I could have a 6", 8", 12", 14", 20" and 28" spacing for versatility.

In the end, I think it’s the fat bar at the back which will give it the ‘cool’ factor when I get to use it!

Cheers for the input

17

[quote]AussiePooFace wrote:
…Now can you explain what this ‘stud’ anchor is? Someone has recommened dyna boltsbut not sure what they are either.

Cheers[/quote]

Here’s one style of a stud anchor: 502 Bad Gateway Drill hole in concrete, drive anchor in, tighten nut and the sleeve wedges the stud in place. There are quite a few different styles, this was just the first I found. I never asked but had assumed that the floor would be concrete. This is what can happen when you drop 350 lbs from over head onto a standard floor joist system, (2x8’s, 16 inches on center, 16 ft span). There was a platorm with 2 layers of 1/2 inch plywood under rubber mats on the side. I heard the story and to break as many as they did, they would slide the platform to s sturdier area to continue the workout.

18

[quote]AussiePooFace wrote:
Geez… with all this advice I’m hoping you can help me with something else.

I’m going to build my own oly platform and I happen to have ‘found’ 4 sheets of 1mx1m 1&1/2 inch thick rubber mats! Freakin heavy, strong, and perfect for lifting.

I was looking at (due to room size) having squat rack, then platform straight in front. Now…I only have 4sq metres of mat so how do i best organise so that I can make a good platform AND have some mats next to the rack to allow deadlifts without heaps of noise.

I had considered:

Cut all mats so half are 1m x 0.6m and half are 1mx0.4m

Then, use wider (0.6m) mats each side of 1200mm X 2000mm ply platform (3layers) so that I have a platform that is 2metres long and 2.4metres wide with the rubber taking up 600mm each side.

Then, use the 400mm lengths each side of the rack so that I have 400mm x 2metres each side and I guess I would have to put something inside the rack to build it up…again…probably 3 sheets of 1200mm x 2000mm ply.

Does this sound alright to you?

I would be able to walk up on to a platform, then walk into cage at same height. Drop weights on to some good rubber and the ply would be easy to fit. Just not sure if ply is a good choice for inside the rack (slip?).

Thanks so much for your input… it has definitely helped me with doubts I had regarding the design and, although I could have improved it, I think it will provide a very functional unit that fits my limited space.
Cheers[/quote]

I really can’t say one way or another as to if that’s the best configuration. I can give you things to consider:

A bar is 2.2 m long and 1.31 m between the sleeves, the platform(s) should be wide enough to accomdate the bar with the number of plates you anticpate being on it. It will never be wider than 2.2 meters but may be narrower.

Be certain that the platform in the rack is long enough so that when you bench press in and on the front of the rack that your feet are not hanging off it.

Is there enough space in the room to have the two platforms you described?

How will you keep the rubber and wood portions of the platform from separating and getting a gap. After a week of pushing them back together you will get tired of it. Wrap it with some angle steel to hold it together or fasten all of the components to the floor somehow so they don’t move. Maybe a dab of liquid nails in the corners…

Inside the rack were you want good traction put down soe cheap thin carpet. Our home centers carry some that is $0.49 USD/sq. ft. Use spray adhesive and a staple gun to attach it to the plywood.

What you do outside the rack depends on how you will use it. OL lifters prefer the wood surface. Maybe a coat of polyurethane over the plywood. It will surprise you how much that will dress it up. It will also offer some protection against spilled water and sweat. If you will just be deadlifting on it you may want to consider putting carpet over it too.

19

[quote]AussiePooFace wrote:
Geez… with all this advice I’m hoping you can help me with something else.

I’m going to build my own oly platform and I happen to have ‘found’ 4 sheets of 1mx1m 1&1/2 inch thick rubber mats! Freakin heavy, strong, and perfect for lifting.

I was looking at (due to room size) having squat rack, then platform straight in front. Now…I only have 4sq metres of mat so how do i best organise so that I can make a good platform AND have some mats next to the rack to allow deadlifts without heaps of noise.

I had considered:

Cut all mats so half are 1m x 0.6m and half are 1mx0.4m

Then, use wider (0.6m) mats each side of 1200mm X 2000mm ply platform (3layers) so that I have a platform that is 2metres long and 2.4metres wide with the rubber taking up 600mm each side.

Then, use the 400mm lengths each side of the rack so that I have 400mm x 2metres each side and I guess I would have to put something inside the rack to build it up…again…probably 3 sheets of 1200mm x 2000mm ply.

Does this sound alright to you?

I would be able to walk up on to a platform, then walk into cage at same height. Drop weights on to some good rubber and the ply would be easy to fit. Just not sure if ply is a good choice for inside the rack (slip?).

Look forward to your input on the matting/floor layout as I suspect you have a lot of experience in this too!

Cheers[/quote]

I really can’t say one way or another as to if that’s the best configuration. I can give you things to consider:

A bar is 2.2 m long and 1.31 m between the sleeves, the platform(s) should be wide enough to accomdate the bar with the number of plates you anticpate being on it. It will never be wider than 2.2 meters but may be narrower.

Be certain that the platform in the rack is long enough so that when you bench press in and on the front of the rack that your feet are not hanging off it.

Is there enough space in the room to have the two platforms you described?

How will you keep the rubber and wood portions of the platform from separating and getting a gap. After a week of pushing them back together you will get tired of it. Wrap it with some angle steel to hold it together or fasten all of the components to the floor somehow so they don’t move. Maybe a dab of liquid nails in the corners…

Inside the rack were you want good traction put down soe cheap thin carpet. Our home centers carry some that is $0.49 USD/sq. ft. Use spray adhesive and a staple gun to attach it to the plywood.

What you do outside the rack depends on how you will use it. OL lifters prefer the wood surface. Maybe a coat of polyurethane over the plywood. It will surprise you how much that will dress it up. It will also offer some protection against spilled water and sweat. If you will just be deadlifting on it you may want to consider putting carpet over it too.

20

Thanks tcsimon.

PM sent