DIY Gym Cable Machine - Full Build Log - Part 4of4
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ค. 2016
- DIY Home Gym Adjustable Pulley Cable Machine Build Log
Part 4 of 4 - Paint, Assembly & Demonstration
Here's a video log of how I built my own adjustable cable machine for my home gym. These are widely available online but I couldn't find the one for me:
- Very expensive - £475 was the cheapest retail machine I could find with a rotating and height adjustable pulley.
- Size - You'll see in the video that my home gym is not the biggest! All of the retail machines I found we're totally floor standing and as such had large footprints to prevent them from tipping over. They would've taken up far too much space in my gym.
- Capacity - All the adjustable retail units that I could find used weight stacks and the cheapest maxed out at around 70KG which is fine for most exercises but could easily be exceeded for lat work and there didn't seem to be any way to increase the maximum weight capacity.
My design uses 1" bars to hold the weights so it can take standard home gym weight plates which you've probably already got and can be bought for next to nothing on ebay. As such it also has finer increments for weight adjustments which make it ideal for light weight rehab work.
I'd like others to have a go at building one of these (or two for a crossover!) for their own home gyms. I had intended for the videos to be a full tutorial for anyone to have a go but realistically I think a maker would need to have some basic/intermediate DIY/fabrication experience, as although I've made sure to include all of the important steps, I can't possibly cover 100%. Also, for the significant cost savings to be viable, you'd need to already have a well stocked set of tools as you see me use in the video. That being said, I would invite anyone to give it a go!
My design DWG file and a PDF print are available below:
PDF: drive.google.com/open?id=1106...
DWG: drive.google.com/open?id=1NVV...
The PDF is intended as an overview only. If you're going to build this then you will need to use the DWG file so you can take precise measurements and prints as and when you need them throughout the build. If you don't have AutoCAD to view the file then you can download TrueView for free from the AutoDesk website which will let you measure and print as needed.
Basic Materials List:
40x40x2mm Mild steel welded box section for the main frame
50x50x2mm Mild steel welded box section for the weight plate mount and pulley mount
3mm Thick mild steel sheet for the base and all other plate pieces you see
1" 14AWG Mild steel tube for the weight plates
M10 Part-threaded bolts, nuts, washers, rod etc
Steel sleeves, M10 internal, 15mm external
95mm Pulleys, M10 hole. Pack of 10 from Ebay Hong Kong seller
Plastic coated wire rope, 5mm overall diameter
8mm detent pin to secure the pulley assembly to its various heights on the frame
Split pins to secure the pulley assembly hinge pin
5mm Wire rope clamps and carabiner
40mmx40mm Box section plastic end caps
2mm Plastic sheet to sleeve the weight and pulley assemblies
Etch primer and gloss black top coat (approx 800ml of each)
4mm Thick mild steel spacer washers used to space pulleys from the frame according to the designs
With the exception of the main steel order, all other parts were from ebay.
Total material cost £196.92
I'll provide more details on all of the above if needed. - บันเทิง
It would be even helpful if you would have made it up with wood without welding ...so it'll be more practical to everyone.. cause everyone doesn't have welding machine
And there are plenty of people with welders who don't have any woodworking tools.... This type of equipment should be made from metal, using wood is a massive compromise and I'm not about to compromise my own work to satisfy others.
Low-end welder are like 50€ so you can invest in one it'd be useful for this project and some other as well or you can watch this dude work and inspire yourself to make your own design out of wood.
I plan of doing that out of wood for convenience and this video will be helpful, so thank you.
@@RandomChannel967 You should have made it out of dust. Not everyone has Legos, or woodworking tools, or welding tools to make a cable machine. But everyone has dust
@@RandomChannel967 I kind of compromised.
I don't have any welding equipment... and the only welding experience that I have was in high school, 40 years ago.
With this Covid-Reflex that everyone is suffering from... and with no access to my local gym due to shut down, I started packing on a few pounds. So, I decided I wanted to come up with a solution that I could do in the heated garage of my apartment... for TRX workouts.
Bought a gantry (for those that don't know what that is, it's one of those hoists that have a-frame legs on each side and an I-beam going between them. I needed to use this because I can't anchor to the ceiling or the wall. The gantry has a 2000 lb weight limitation so it can handle whatever I throw at it.
The TRX straps worked great... but then I had the idea of constructing a complete dual cable machine like you find in gyms.
I used E-track (like you see in semi 52ft trailers) for the different vertical positions and a pully system on each side.
It works fantastic. And.... NO WELDING INVOLVED.
@@RandomChannel967 compromise ? Houses are build with wood lol
Awesome job man. Thanks for taking the time to edit and upload to share with us!
More than what anyone would need for a home gym great job
Thanks for the video. You are a good person. I appreciate your contribution!!
The best DIY project i've ever seen
grt job!
Thanks!
Just EXCELLENT ¡¡¡¡¡¡ Great job. Thank you for sharing your time and your knowldege.
Daniel
You're very welcome!
I meant: "Knowledge".... ja ja ja¡¡¡¡ (damn translator and dyslexia, ja ja ja¡¡¡)
Thanks so much for this series. I wanted an adjustable cable cross I could attach to my rack, but the adjustable part was making my head spin. You've really gone above and beyond instructing us with the DWG files, a full BOM, and even videoing yourself building it! Now I've got one hell of a project.
You're welcome!
I would like to put an adjustable pulley in 2 sides of my rack as well .
What a great job, thanks for sharing it's very impressive
A piece of perfection!!
U did an awesome job. It takes up little space also. 👍
Sick dude! Very functional but at the same time it looks really good.
You are a King!
Going to build a rack with two detachable arms to use with a crossover, while saving room. Going to build my own bench, too. If you want, I Will send you the pictures of the finished product.
Will make a few changes (for example, arms to support weight Will be further apart to be able to use bumper plates!
Thanks for the awesome video!
Great build. I will try this some day.
Incredible job!
Pretty freaking cool~ nice job~
Meu irmão meus parabéns o senhor e um gênio, seus equipamentos ficam perfeitos nota 10
Now do another one on the opposite wall, so you can do cable flys 😊. Awesome work.
You are an artist , taught me
Thankyou
You're a beast bro! Good work
Excelente trabajo dude, thanks for share it.
Great job!!! I would love to buy one, if not two of these.
9:06 same thing happened to me. I painted my weight tree glossy Black and as soon as I put on the weights, the paint came off. Awesome work by the way.
Thanks, I knew the paint would be destroyed by the plates but got caught up in the moment and forgot to mask the plate bars off! lol.
Awsome! Great crafstmanship. I inherited a welding machine, but I don't know how to operate it. I guess this would be a great project to learn.
Absolutely! I'm a self-taught welder from watching youtube videos and this would be a great first welding project. My welding skills have come on a long way since building this, but we all have to start somewhere!
Well done thanks for sharing
I made aprox the same project with 2 of them....after 1 yer ...works perfect ...thx
THANKS YOU, with this i can upgrade a power rack with this !!!
Good job!
excellent job you did. would love the build plans. my home gym needs one big time.
Thanks, the build plans are linked in the description
Thank you for sharing
Excelente trabajo .👍👌👌
Just finished all 4 vids. Fabulous work. Inspired design, clever execution, and honest reporting. You had a 10 out of ten going until the final moments when you tightened a nut with a Letherman tool and America groaned. Sometimes these things are hard to just shrug off. Still...one tries.
I have no idea what you're talking about, I needed to tighten 4 small nuts, I could either use the leatherman that was right next to me or drop everything and venture out to the garage at night to dig out the correct size spanner for the sake of those 4 small nuts. It's the absolute ideal situation to use a multi-tool, convenient and good enough to get the job done. Unfortunate that I've lost your perfect 10 but I'm sure I'll get by. Also, no clue what America groaning has to do with anything.
Ha, no, of course you don’t care what America thinks, but since I’ve lived in both places, I notice and enjoy these differences. Pop would have taken me to the woodshed for that. As would all my friend’s fathers. In fact, I had to have a good explanation ready for why I was using an adjustable wrench if caught. Latter, when we moved to East Anglia, we noticed that folks didn’t bat an eye at using pliers to hold a nut if it would. It’s was just a goofy bit of tool humor.
Bravo complimenti!!👌
show muito bom parabéns mano isso q vc fez é legal d+
Muy buen trabajo éxitos.
amazing!
Отличная работа.
Awesome!
This dudes a genius
Thanks 👍
is perfect!
wouaw great JOB
Robby like impressive wish I could come up with something like that
Amazing, would love to have your skills
amazing
Awesome
It's simply amazing you made this without the usual tandem pulley. Do you think you can share a couple of photos from a bit away? So that I can wrap my head around the which pulley connected with the other. Great work again !!
There are plans linked in the description
Great job, can't wait to make one! Can you send the Cad drawing link again, I can't get it to work on my DWG viewer
Wow👌👌❤
bravo !
Gracias!
Mate you did such a great job ! I have a home gym set up that I thought I was satisfied with , now it’s killing me I need a pulley system to do rows and a few other handy exercises . I would love to have a go at this if I can manage to fit it into my space . I have the PDF file saved but am unable to open your DWG file ? Any chance of another link to the DWG ?
Thanks !
hello and thank you for this video, just one thing i did not catch, the cable way and the attachment of it, thank you
It's all in the video, watch from 5:58, this shows you the route that the cable takes around the pullets and the installation of the cable clamps at both ends, there are no other attachments.
hey awesome series man... can you please explain how you made the adjustable pulleys please? how does it work? thanks
There's nothing to explain, the entire build is in the videos and the design files are in the description. I haven't missed any steps out.
ya you could make one outa popsickle sticks and crazy glue it together, now that would be awesome then everyone could build one in the summer
Respect
This is an impressive build. The best homemade pulley i've seen by far. I'd like to build one but unfortunately lack the skills, and tools to do so. Something to learn for the future I suppose. Out of curiousity, how much weight is being added to the stack, with the force required to lift it? If you add 5KG, do you get a true 5KG or is it halved/quartered etc..
GreendaleSeven Thanks, the weight is halved by the pulley system. so a 10kg plate would take 5kg of force to lift.
Thanks for the quick response.
Why did you do that? If you don't run the cable across the bottom pulleys and connect it right on the weight stack you can get full weight. It would require less plates (and pressure) to be added to the system. It'll also save costs by not having to buy double the weights that you need. Am I wrong?
Yeah, you're wrong. Adjustable pulley cable machines like mine and every one you've ever seen or used in the gym will always need to use a 2:1 weight ratio to keep the adjustable element of the machine working. If you know how to make an adjustable pulley machine with a 1:1 weight ratio then let me know.
RandomChannel967 I don't know much about these things so I'll take your word for it
This is perfect for my home gym. I've been looking for a good design and I've finally found one. Can you please send me details on the amount of each item please?
Really like the swivels for double pulley piece, no idea where you could buy?
This is the best homemade cable machine i've seen on youtube. Thanks for sharing all the process and the drawing design! How is it working after 4 years? Did you need to remplace any material? I would like to know what's the max weight it can allow. Thank you so much! @RandomChannel967
After 4 years it still works like new. The maximum weight is up to you.
@@RandomChannel967 please build something else, your work is amazing!
A 10 for the overall job. 2 points off for the welding job. I am building my own gym but I smooth the welding spots.
Could you elaborate more on the pulley system, how is it adjustable, when I try to change the position of the handle it moves the weight or has slack in certain positions.
thank you for files.
Good job and thank for sharing you project. That’s why I’ve never started, Oky that it cost half of it but it’s too much the trouble to make it. Btw in Canada the same cost 300 CAD 200€ maybe 150£? Maybe trying to find other brands or website selling it
really? You just made it by your own, Amazing.. great work. can i get a blueprint or something so that i can get someone to build for me.
Thanks, the build plans are linked in the description.
How on Earth did you get the adjustable part sorted? How is there no slack - it’s making my head spin. Do you have any further expansion on it? Great build btw - very impressive
Quality
Excelentee
whats the name of the accessories that you used. for a lay man its difficult to know the names of all supporting accessories that was used while building this whole set up! i would appreciate if you take some time to name them one by one! thanks
When you putting this up for sale?
Very nice machine! The Weight you are effectively pulling is half the actual weight though, right?
Yeah it's a 2:1 ratio pulley.
Hi, do you know if it's possible to convert a single pulley (one pulley) system, similar to this, into a dual pulley? Why did you chose just one pulley?
nice job on the cable machine really outstanding work, how ever could you show how the pulley system works as i struggle to read your drawings in the comments due to my complete lack of understanding of drawings like that. otherwise really amazing build you should be proud.
Thanks for your compliment. Regarding the pulley system, I dont know what else I can say. Near the end of this video I make a point of showing the entire route that the cable takes around every pulley of the machine. I can't describe it in this comment any better than that. If you've watched all 4 parts in full and refenced the drawings and still can't figure the pulley system/cable route then I don't thnk this is the project for you.
La encontré 🤗
That my friend is bob on fair play
did you had any problems with the machine? now i'm workin on my own ...double cable machine...
No problems, it's perfect.
All good but you should remove the tire from the cable where you clamp the cable!
Thanks!!!
The problem is that with this system you lift only half of the weight!
So if you want to move 100 pounds, you have to load 200pounds.
Is there a way to move the same weight you load?
Thanks!
Hi, when I was working on the designs for this project all of the existing cable machines on the market with an adjustable pulley had a 2:1 weight ratio as you've described. There may be other designs out there with an adjustable pulley and a 1:1 ratio but it's not something I keep up to date with as my machine is built and working fine.
yes but you can't ajust the height, just chosse all the way up or down, th-cam.com/video/XIzgXMeVA2o/w-d-xo.html
Good effort, use spray break cleaner to degrease.
I’m building a welded lat pull down machine. It’s much easy that this.
Can't wait for your video!
i am trying to do pairs of this but i stell not understand one thing , how the cable work when you move the double roller up and down
I agree it was confusing to me before I started these designs. But basically, the cable isn't fixed to the frame anywhere, it's only fixed to the side of the 'double roller' then it makes its way around the wheels on the frame and comes back out of the double roller. So when you move the roller up and down, you're basically just sliding a big loop of cable around some pulley wheels, the 2 ends stay where they are. Watch again from 5:59 and you can see the route the cable takes. If you follow the design files and the video build then it will work.
hello I am a beginner and it is very interesting the construction of the machine but I do not know if you can provide the plan for the construction
There is a download link to the plans in the description.
👏👏👏👏👏👏
show de bola
tem o projeto em PDF?
what did you use to connect the cable at about the 7 minute mark of the video?
Hi, it's generally a called a duplex wire rope clamp. I can't remember where I bought mine but here's a link to something similar, www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2mm-3mm-4mm-5mm-Wire-rope-clamp-thimble-simplex-duplex-316-A4-stainless-steel/201800305082?hash=item2efc3c49ba:m:m6T4CSQ3sMJq0UqQonHgTSw . You'll need the 5mm size if you're using the coated wire rope with 5mm overall diameter.
Could you tell me from where you bought that twin pulley, I have been searching
I think you should watch part 1, I made the pulley.
ok i;'ll watch, but i searched in ebay with key word twin pulley, double but could not locate.
Like I said, I didn't buy it on ebay, I made it. If you'd watched all 4 parts of my build log before asking then you'd have known that. You should also read the description.
alright thanks cheers mate
I am not getting the pulley cable routing part. Can you draw and post a sketch of the pulley and cable routing? I Will be obliged.
The cable feeds in between the two pulleys, goes up to the top right pulley (if facing towards it), towards the back pulley, down to the pulley attached to the sliding weight holder, then back up to the other side's upper pulley, then once it is over that pulley, it goes down to the bottom (under it), then connects finally to the hook connected to the adjustable pulley holder. It took me a few rewatches to understand the process, so I figured i'd make it easier for others. Hope it was helpful.
Nice work. But I don't understand how the Adjustable Pulley works. Could you show us a diagram that explains this? Thanks
th-cam.com/video/6NNDo_2lsNY/w-d-xo.html&lc=Ugy8IfGMJVfuSXxEQ7B4AaABAg.8hYXMfDksnr8nHce8NV6q9 I've given a basic description here. You'll need to copy and paste link, clicking it will take you to the start of the video rather than to the reply.
where did you buy the pully blocks on the front ? did you make them or purchase them? (im talking about the ones near the handle on the adjustable block)
I dont understand your question. Did you watch the rest of the videos? All of the pulley wheels are exactly the same, 95mm black bearing pulley wheel. Everyhting else is fabricated and shown in the videos.
@@RandomChannel967 i might have missed the manufacturing of the pivoting dual pulley set up at the front of the machine. It just looked too close to commercially manufactured, I guess I assume you bought the double pulley set up somewhere
@@chrismcallister3495 no worries, all of the purchased parts are in the video description, everything else is fabricated.
Hello, great work here, congratulations. I tried to download your plans but the Dropbox link seems not to be functioning anymore. Could you please update the link or email them to me, by any chance? Thanks again for your inspirational work.
I've updated the links, they should work now.
I am kinda confused how the pulleys and cable go through the whole machine. Would help if there was a video for that
Can somebody tell me what kind of pulley is that? Please let me know. Thankyou
Ciao....👍🤟🇮🇹
What do you call that ball stopper? Where can I buy that?
You could buy a thick bouncy ball and drill a hole through it
Por favor comparte las medidas o planos de la máquina.
Whats the name of the thing that do u use to cover the cable? 6:54
Duplex wire rope grips.
Epic man. I just learned STICK welding from watching TH-cam videos and I can say that I would never be able to do something like that. How ever though - that doesn't prevent me of giving you constructive criticisms 😊
Regarding the mechanism of the cable system. You made it into a system which reduces the force created my the weights by 50 %, which means that, because you don't have a solid weight stack, you need to load double the weights that you want to lift. This seems to be a bit inconvenient in a home gym setup and due to that, I would like to ask you that why you didn't just make the system into a 200 % system, where you would be pulling 200 % of the force the weights are generating? That would have been super convenient in a home gym setup because then you would only need to load half the weights you want to lift. If I would have done that I would have made it into a 100 % or 200 % system, not into a 50 % system, which is what the commercial gyms are typically using.
Hi, thanks for your comment. However I would disagree that it's constructive, infact as I've had to comment in this video series a number of times before, I believe it defies the laws of physics. That being said, I'm always welcome for someone to prove me wrong. Please send me, or publish, your design for an adjustable pulley cable machine with anything close to the same dimensions/reach as mine with a 100%, 200%, 300%++ cable system (I prefer ratios for pulleys, so with my machine at 2:1, that would be 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 ratio). I'd be more than happy to update my designs with yours and pin this comment/update the design files. Thanks.
@@RandomChannel967 I know one gym here that has a pulley system like yours but with the 1:1 ratio. And I assume that you mean _like mine_ to mean that the system needs to have the ability that you can change the height of the pulling sledge. The 1:1 ration can be easily accomplished even with this system you already made with this change. Look here 06:23, you attached that cable to the frame of the pulling sledge so that the cable would always stay tights when you change the elevation of the sledge. This decision is eating half of the power generated my the weights, so if you would just make it so that instead of fixing the cable there, you would make it go through the same hole the other end of the cable also goes so that it would also attach to the pulling handle, you would have 1:1 system. To accomplish this you would only need to attach another pulley wheel to that pulling sledge. If I'm around that one gym that has that pulley equipment, I will take a video of it and explain what I mean into more detail if needed.
Regarding the 200% system, only thing you would need to do, on top of my previous suggestion that would make the system a 1:1 system, is that you would need to add another pulley wheel on the pulley wheel that is attached to the weight sledge so that you would have identical pulley system mirroring the already existing one, but with this system, you would attach the other end of the cable to the frame. This would give you 200% system. I know this might be super confusing to understand by just reading my poor explanation, so I try to make something visual to explain myself better.
@@T12J7 I'm just gonna refer back to my first comment, please produce a design drawing and ideally a working model that achieves a 100%/200% adjustable pulley system with the same approximate dimensions/reach as my design.
I feel I should just elaborate here a little, stop trying to describe it, prove it. Thanks.
@@RandomChannel967 Well, the reach will be affected by a factor of 1/2 by every doubling (meaning that your 50% setup has 2 times the normal reach, that a 100% system would have) but would that be a problem because your reach is already maybe even too great? Also if you would want to do an exercise further from the machine, you could just use separate cable extensions, or a chain so that the stating position of the handle is further away...
Here is a little demo I made regarding the 1:1 system: th-cam.com/video/Nh34ut30OYk/w-d-xo.html
Cómo consigo uno de esos acá en Ecuador
Can I ask where you bought the precut mild steel from? I've seen one that offers free cutting on sheet metals only, and another that offers free 5 cuts, then £10 extra for every additional 5 cuts*.
EDIT: Correction, only on sheet metals too.
I used themetalstore.co.uk. I've just checked and they still offer 10 free cuts per length or sheet. Mitre cuts are extra at £1.50 each.
@@RandomChannel967 Thank you for the quick response. Did you get the sleeves and rod for the hinges from the same site? And lastly the kidney shape for the double pulleys, is that just for appearance or does it serve another purpose - I was thinking of keeping it simple by having it in a rectangular case?. I'm hoping to get the parts soon and have a go at a freestanding version of yours.
@@JohnSmith-ox7xc The M10 threaded rod I used as a hinge pin should have really been 10mm ground rod but it wasnt delivered in time for my build, you should use 10mm ground rod which you can get from any number of ebay sellers or engineering suppliers. I got the sleeves from a UK ebay seller who custom machined such parts, you'll have to search to find a similar listing. My main reason for replying is to make sure you know what you're doing in making a free standing version of this. My design absolutely has to be fixed to secure walls as shown in the video, without secure wall fixings it's gonna end up on top of you.
P.s The kidney shape is just cosmetic, but also essential :-D
@@RandomChannel967 Hah, yeah i'm aware of that very possibility. Once i get the main central section done, i'll try to figure out if it'll need additional support up front, behind and or to the sides - possibly weighted down with Oly plates. I would like to attach to the walls, but I dread drilling into some live wire and having a costly repair. Also will probably aim to leave majority of the frame bolted instead of welded, so I can break it down into storageable pieces if I have to relocate.
Hopefully i'll be able to find the sleeves or some alternative method if I can't.
Thanks for help :)
Oh and I did wonder why you used a threaded rod instead of a smooth one.
👏👏👏👏👏💪😉