Building my parallel bars

Hey guys, I'm building my outdoor parallel bars and was hoping you could help me out. I've already got the posts in the ground, just need to put the bars in.

I've found a good supplier for the rails and brackets but they only have 2 inch diameter rails. Is 2 inch diameter too large?

If anyone in Australia could recommend where to get the rails and brackets that'd be great. 

Art Vandelay said:

(...) where to get the rails and brackets that'd be great. 

Mining supplies --->> air compressed air 42mm steel pipe

Thanks, looks good. Just gotta find a good supplier that isn't in Western Australia!

Every large industrial park will have a wholesaler - they usually come in 6m (sometimes 4 & sometimes 10), so take your measures and have them cut it to length for you.

It is best to purchase the whole length (they'll charge you for it anyway); you can always use the leftover for another project.

[if you ride a bike in an industrial park, you'll likely spot a company that has some leftovers piled in their backyard; go ask if you can have it, and if yes, be careful to all sorts of nasty bugs that might have sheltered themselves inside the pipes... you don't want an angry spider biting your nose while driving back home - this is Australia after all...

For that reason, and because your bars are outdoors, you should find a way to cap the ends when you are done]

FredInChina said:

if you can have it, and if yes, be careful to all sorts of nasty bugs that might have sheltered themselves inside the pipes... you don't want an angry spider biting your nose while driving back home - this is Australia after all...

Oh, you have NO idea...

Art Vandelay said:

Thanks, looks good. Just gotta find a good supplier that isn't in Western Australia!

Hey!

So in my haste to put the wooden posts in the ground, they are sitting about 63cm apart, a little bit too wide. I've got some ideas to make the poles have adjustable width, but its obviously a bit harder to do. Is 63cm too wide and I should definitely try what I can to decrease this width, or can I get away with it?

My elbow to tip of middle finger measures approx 49cm

The middle of each post are 63cm apart

The innermost edges of the posts are 55.5cm apart

You can you screw a piece of wood (6 cm wide) on the inner side of each of your posts and use this as a bracket to your lengths of pipe.

From 55.5 cm - [(6cm/2) x 2] = 49.5 cm (you put the pipe smack in the middle of the 6 cm brackets)

I think that should do it

But if you wanted to get fancy, you could make it adjustable in width, and claim it was "by design" from day one!

Ended up going a cheaper option, got 2 poles from a local scrap metal yard. They're slightly big at 50mm, but they do the job. Hopefully don't cause issues with maintaining a grip on Korean dips. Just by putting the bracket on the side of the post fixed the width issues (50cm distance between the middle of each pole). Made them ridiculously long at just over 2.6 metres with one side overhanging by 65cm...may as well haha. Height is about 1.45m, enough so my feet don't touch the ground at the bottom of a regular dip. Hopefully high enough for swinging dips in the future.

Looking good

I see that you are using nuts and bolts that go all the way through to attach your brackets, this is good. As long as you trust the brackets won't rupture, you are good to go

PBARS DISMOUNT INTO HOT TUB~~

Jon Douglas said:

PBARS DISMOUNT INTO HOT TUB~~

I thought the same thing when I saw the pic. Sure is a good motivation. 

Haha yeah, maybe Coach will have to add that to the Movement series. Although, the spa has no water in it at the moment :/

No worries Fred, I have full confidence in the bars and brackets. Had two blokes totalling nearly 200kgs on it at the same time and there was no problems.

Art Vandelay said:

Haha yeah, maybe Coach will have to add that to the Movement series. Although, the spa has no water in it at the moment :/

No worries Fred, I have full confidence in the bars and brackets. Had two blokes totalling nearly 200kgs on it at the same time and there was no problems.

Does look fantastic. Definitely no chore training in that setting

Thanks. Yeah I'm very lucky to have a home gym set up like I do. Just need to trim a few trees including the neighbours to get some more sunlight into the area.

Very nice. 

How deep into the ground do the posts go?

LateStarter@46 said:

Very nice. 

 

How deep into the ground do the posts go?

They're cemented about 40-50cm into the ground.

3 feet deep should be plenty.

Ideally you'd want the bars high enough so your feet don't touch the ground during a swinging dip.