Advise on DIY chin up/pull up bar

[Young Man]

Hi all,

I'm trying to make a chin up/pull up bar for home. The simplest idea I've come up with is to have two pieces of timber approximately 2 metres in length with a metal bar across the top. I'd have to naturally somehow anchor the other ends of the timber and I was planning on using a couple of old tires with concrete in them.

Here's a crude ascii diagram of what I hope to achieve:

_____ Metal bar on top | | | | Two pieces of timber _|_ _|_ Wood set in concrete tire base

What do you think of this plan? Do you think the unit will be solid and stationary enough? I guess I would need to have a solid base in order for the structure to remain stationary while I work out.

Your thoughts or any other simple alternative designs?

Thanks

[sme]

On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 01:54:34 GMT and in free.uk.diy.home, Young Man wrote....

I once thought of doing something like this but i was planning on useing a door frame for it.

MY plan was to drill into one side of the door frame, taking out a hole big enough to accomodate a cut down lifting bar. Then do the same on the opposite side. Then i could just slide the bar in whenever i needed it and the door frame would support it. I'll try and do a similar attempt at a drawing.

_______ | | 000 00 One side should be deeper to accomodate the extra space | | needed to put the bar in. | | | | | |

Only purpose i thought of this was to save space as when not in use it is just a doorway. :-)

Good luck with whatever you chose.

[Ali Mac]

I've got something like this, except it's not in a doorway - it's across a narrow hall (extends to 900mm I think) and it's 2.3m off the floor. Two brackets are screwed into plywood pads which are bolted to the wall. There's a clever little safety feature which pushes the bar into the wall when it takes any weight. Might be worth thinking about for 25 quid.

Alistair

[Steve]

I bought a ready made one a few years ago from Argos. It was an expanding metal tube that fitted easily in any doorway and it worked just fine. I'm sure it cost less than £10. I don't suppose you'd be able to do it yourself for much less.

Young Man wrote:

[Young Man]

Unfortunately I do not have a decent doorway to use for this purpose. Plus I am pretty tall guy so I need something a little higher than your average doorway.