Thread: Budget bumpers for the DIY guys (pics)

Almost feel like crying after seeing the prices of commercial bumpers, even the 'cheap' ones?

Then you were like me, fed up with having to drop your iron plates on your floor and have your parents/wife/landlord come out and bitch you out totally ruining your training groove. Now if you got some technical know-how and the proper materials you can have your own bumper plate for much less than those other guys (assuming you can find some used parts).



Things you will need:

- Golf cart tire with rim. The tires I used were the same exact size as a 20kg metal plate and can withstand 815lbs each tire.

- Sacrificial iron. The smallest plates you can fit into the rim.

- A drill press or a handheld drill with some balls (no cordless crap) and the proper size bit

- A good wrench or two.

- Nuts and bolts that will hold your crap together




1. Get your crap together

2. Clamp a sacrificial plate onto the rim and start drilling





3. Now figure out a way to clamp the second plate so you can drill straight through without the plates moving or your bar will not fit. We made a simple bushing and clamped the bushing to hold the plates together.

4. With each hole drilled in the second plate, slide in a bolt and make sure to check the bar will fit, this bolt will just help things from moving around while you finish drilling.

5. Drill all the holes and slide the rest of the bolts through and tighten them to hell. You can use Loctite to make sure the nuts don't slip after use.





6. Test fit on bar.

7. Go back to step 1 and finish the other bumper plate.

Originally Posted by cjdelaney

thats pretty awesome. will rep tomorrow.

how much you spend on those golf cart wheels?

$0

They were thrown away; dumpster diving FTW.

Ha, I've never seen it done that way. Reps.

Use an old bar!

Originally Posted by AtomikStrongman

Strongmen have been making that exact same setup ("poor man", "blue collar" etc. bumpers) for a while. I made my first one ~5 years ago. They work great for axles; not so great for bars. Lift heavy enough and sooner or later you'll snap the sleeves off of the bar.

Yeah, I think that may be if they don't use the right sized hole for the part that goes onto the bar and also a small surface area in contact with the sleeve itself. That's why I put the small iron plates on both sides of the bumper so the contact area with the sleeve is about an inch and it's a size made for the bar.

If it does break my bar, I won't cry too much, I also have a solid stainless steel axle as a back-up:

Repped for genius idea. There is actually a junk yard not too far away from my house. Got me thinking maybe i'll be able to get some stuff reallyh cheap. How much are those tires each in lbs?

thats awesome, I might try that for my "home lifting". I thought I was crafty when I made farmers walk implements out of five gallon buckets

Originally Posted by ss4vegeta1

Repped for genius idea. There is actually a junk yard not too far away from my house. Got me thinking maybe i'll be able to get some stuff reallyh cheap. How much are those tires each in lbs?

Haven't measured the weight but would reasonably estimate 25-30lbs each completely built.

Do you have to do the drilling and such can you find an olympic par and throw some tires on it? And how many tires will fit on one not many right now that I think about it. LOl funny I actually have some tires in the back of my shed that came with the house when he bought it. lol Really excited cause I usually only have 3days to go to the gym cause no room in my house but if I can leave this outside i don't mind doing more deads and squats. BTW what abot leaving the oly bar outside how fast will it rust??? Thats another issue but if I am getting it super cheap or for free who cares.

Originally Posted by ss4vegeta1

Do you have to do the drilling and such can you find an olympic par and throw some tires on it? And how many tires will fit on one not many right now that I think about it. LOl funny I actually have some tires in the back of my shed that came with the house when he bought it. lol Really excited cause I usually only have 3days to go to the gym cause no room in my house but if I can leave this outside i don't mind doing more deads and squats. BTW what abot leaving the oly bar outside how fast will it rust??? Thats another issue but if I am getting it super cheap or for free who cares.

The hole for the tires will likely not be the perfect size to fit your bar, too big and every time you drop the bar will impact aggressively; too small and well... err it won't fit.

My oly bar has been outside for 2 years, the axle for almost 4 years. I bought it with some rust damage for very cheap, about $40. The axle will never rust since it is made out of surgical grade solid stainless steel (serious) and the collars that were welded on are the only thing that rusts.

Originally Posted by crackyflipside

The hole for the tires will likely not be the perfect size to fit your bar, too big and every time you drop the bar will impact aggressively; too small and well... err it won't fit.

My oly bar has been outside for 2 years, the axle for almost 4 years. I bought it with some rust damage for very cheap, about $40. The axle will never rust since it is made out of surgical grade solid stainless steel (serious) and the collars that were welded on are the only thing that rusts.

I never really built anything but I really want this, maybe next semester. I'll def check out a junk yard now. Never thought about it but you can really find a ****e load of stuff there that might work. One day I was jogging around and saw that pole that looked like the one Keanu Reeves used in the matrix reloaded to fight off the 100 smith agents. Next time i'l think twice before leaving something like that behind.

Originally Posted by ss4vegeta1

BTW what abot leaving the oly bar outside how fast will it rust??? Thats another issue but if I am getting it super cheap or for free who cares.

Throw a tarp over it, dude.

Originally Posted by JustLost

Don't let his limitations hold you back.

Definitely a worthwhile two month bump.

$509.00 http://store.wfwclub.com/140kgbumperset.html

A complete set of bumpers, 2ea of 25k, 20k, 15k, and 10k. If you choose the pound option, you get 2ea 25lb and 35lb plates, and 4ea 45lb plates for a 300lb set.

Probably the best deal in good rubber bumpers on the net apart from any craigslist ads.

Originally Posted by crackyflipside

$509.00 http://store.wfwclub.com/140kgbumperset.html

A complete set of bumpers, 2ea of 25k, 20k, 15k, and 10k. If you choose the pound option, you get 2ea 25lb and 35lb plates, and 4ea 45lb plates for a 300lb set.

Probably the best deal in good rubber bumpers on the net apart from any craigslist ads.

these look pretty good too

http://sixforsixathletics.com/highschoolweights.html

Those look really good. How hard was it to drill through the 10 pound plates? Did you use a drill press?

Originally Posted by MWZ90

Those look really good. How hard was it to drill through the 10 pound plates? Did you use a drill press?

Well we got a really good drill press in our shop but one of the plates cracked when we were tightening it. Most plates are made with real cheap Chinese steel soft as wet **** so any metal bit with some cutting oil and a strong drill should work fine.

Originally Posted by d34dlift

oh cmon chris i was just going to post a thread about my homemade bumpers when i saw this thread bumped >_< fail lol

I didn't bump this thread up, don't blame me. Let's see those bumper plates NAO!!

Chinese steel eh..thanks I will give it a shot.

Originally Posted by MWZ90

Chinese steel eh..thanks I will give it a shot.

eh iron not steel (my mistyping)

haha ya thats right i say EH

hey guys for the drilling try using a carbide drill bit and go slow with wd-40 the bit wont break/dull and u wont crack the STEEL weights lol any other metal questions just ask me lol machinist/welder=very helpful

Look at all that rust.. you probably need a tetnus shot everytime you workout.

Originally Posted by Reps n Sets

Look at all that rust.. you probably need a tetnus shot everytime you workout.

Yeah and all that yucky sweat when you work out, I have to change clothes mid workout.