DIY WOB standards

[Alan H]

I thought I put this here, but maybe not.

You can set up your own WOB standards for not too many $$. Here's how I did it.

Materials:

1.) two, 2-inch galvanized pipe sections, 6 -10 feet long. You can also use black iron pipe. Personally, I found 6 foot sections of fence post pipe, the stuff used for chain link fence, in some of the local junk heaps. However, 10-foot sections of threaded, galvanized pipe or black iron pipe cost about $15 each. I would NOT use metal electrical conduit even though it's cheap. It's not strong enough.

2.) two, 3-inch sections of black ABS plumbing pipe. This stuff is cheap, just a few dollars. Get the size that will just sleeve over the galvanized or black-iron pipe.

3.) One length of ABS or PVC pipe for a crossbar. 5-6-7 feet, you pick. One-inch stuff will bend, two-inch is rigid enough to stay straight.

4.) 50 feet of cheap rope.

5.) two little pulleys that you'll thread the rope through. Get a couple of feet of string, too.

6.) two gluing clamps like this:



7.) four, three-foot long contracters stakes. These are metal stakes about as big around as your forefinger, and 2 to 4 feet long. Alternatively, buy a 60 lb bag of quickcrete and make a round form that will hold half the bag. Stick a foot-long piece of steel pipe into it, when you pour it, that will just hold the galvanized pipe you bought in 1.) above.. Basically, you're making one of those concrete gizmos that sits underneath a patio umbrella.

Like this:


You're going to make them without the fancy set-screw, and pretty handles etc. etc. unless you want to. Cast a wide base for stability and maybe throw some wire mesh into it for extra strength. 30 pounds is plenty as long as the base is 2 - 2.5 feet in diameter.

Or heck, catch some patio umbrella bases on sale and use them.


*****

How to set them up:

Decide how far apart you want your uprights to be. This will be a couple of inches longer than the piece of PVC or ABS that you've selected for your crossbar. Go pound the contracters stakes deep into the ground, in pairs, just that distance apart. Leave about a foot of stake sticking up. Put the stakes absolutely right next to each other; two stakes touching each other, then 6 feet away or whatever, two more stakes touching each other. Pound them in absolutely straight up and down. If you didn't buy the stakes, but made the concrete bases instead, then just plop them down at the appropriate distance apart.

Now, pick up the galvanized pipe and shove it down over the contracters stakes. OR...drop it into the concrete base that you made.....or into the umbrella bases that you bought if you were lazy.

Now, drill a small hole into the very top of each of the long pieces of black ABS pipe. Use a small piece of cord or string to attach the little pulleys to the top of the ABS...one pulley on each of the two pieces.

Thread the cheap rope through one pulley, through the piece of ABS or PVC that you want to use for a crossbar, and through the other pulley.

Now, you and a buddy lift the two pieces of ABS and drop them over the upright galvanized steel posts you've just set up. Sleeve the ABS right over the top of the pipe. If you're using 10 foot pipe, you'll need a ladder for sure.

You can move the ABS pipe up and down the galvanized pipe to whatever height you want, and set it in place by putting the gluing clamp on the galvanized pipe. The ABS rests on the gluing clamp. Now use the rope to adjust the crossbar.

By using a 6 foot galvanized fence pipe and a 10 foot piece of ABS, I could get a pretty steady upright that put the crossbar at 15 feet. That made for a foot overlap where the ABS sleeved over the pipe. Since I'll never in a million years throw WOB at 15 feet I'd usually move the ABS down so it had 2 feet of overlap with the galvanized pipe and then lower the crossbar with the rope to 13 feet. The whole system was rock-steady at 13 feet.

You can tie off the rope to the clamps. Now, go throw. Knock yourself out.

With a 10 foot section of galv pipe inside, and a 10 foot piece of ABS you could pretty easily stretch this up to 18 feet, though it might be a little rocky up there. The ABS does flex a little bit, moreso if it's a seriously hot day. However, it's really cheap and there you go.

Anyway, when you start throwing WOB at 18 feet, let me know...

[Arizona Scot]

Great info, however now that I live in an apartment I'll have to find some one with these to practice with.

[Dave Ogilbee]

Brilliant Alan! Was pondering how I might construct something to use for standards. Looks like I've got another weekend project...

[Alan H]

Great info, however now that I live in an apartment I'll have to find some one with these to practice with.

Yeah, this is portable, but it's not THAT portable. I actually left it set up (without the gluing clamps) at our practice site and it stayed in place for several months until the groundskeepers took it down because they were having a concours d' elegance car show.

Strangely enough, they didn't take our cabers...just the WOB apparatus.

What I did for the longest time was throw over tree branches in the park.

[Alan H]

I have to put mine back up, but when I do, I'll snap pictures...

[Alan H]

Even easier, but a permanent installation....

1.) a ladder to stand one.

2.) two 8 foot 4 x 4 fence posts

3.) one 2 x 4, which you will cut in half to make 2, 4-foot pieces

4.) one bag of quickcrete fence post concrete

5.) a bubble level, or a friend with a good eye.

6.) one electric drill and a 1-inch wood bit


WHAT TO DO

First find a nice 10 ft by 10 ft area that you can beat into submission by dropping weights on it, ad nauseum.

next, use a shovel or better, a post-hole digger to dig a nice 2 foot deep post hole.

mix up an appropriate amount of fence post concrete. Put one 4 x 4 into the hole...drop in the concrete. Now use the bubble level to line it up straight, or have your friend stand back and do it by eye. The quickcrete sets up pretty fast. In 10-15 minutes the fence post will stand on it's own so get it right, quickly.

While you're waiting for the concrete to really set up....which truly should be overnight, but a couple of hours is OK... make the other bits.

You're going to use the two pieces of 2 x 4 to attach the second 4 x 4 on top of the one that's set in concrete. They're going to be end-to-end, right? You want something that sticks UP. That's going to give you an upright that's something like about 14 feet tall, assuming you've got about 2 feet of the first fence post in the ground.

Now you have to do some tricky measurements. Figure out how high the top of the concrete-set fence post is with a tape measure. Now, knowing that you're going to place the other 4 x 4 right on top of that, where do you have to drill a hole in the other 4 x 4 so that that hole is exactly eight feet above the ground?...or ten feet, or whatever your skill level dictates.

Mark that point. Now mark points up the 4 x 4, every 6 inches. This means you're going to have holes at 8 feet... 8' 6"...9'....9' 6".... 10' ... 10' 6' and so on until you run out of 4x4. Drill the holes. Take some pains to drill them straight in.

Now using the 4 foot sections of 2 x4 as braces on the sides (don't cover up any holes) and when the quickcrete is really set-up attach the drilled 4 x 4 on top of the concrete-set 4 x 4. Youll probably need a buddy and an 8 foot ladder to hold it up there while you work. You can nail it up there, but even better would be to pre-drill and use long wood screws. That way you're not hammering on the top of the post and knocking it out of alignment.

Climb up on a ladder and stick a 5 foot section of 3/4 inch or 1-inch pvc pipe in the hole of your choice. It sticks out one side, reasonably level, at the height you want. OK, so it's not PERFECTLY level. Quit complaining!

Climb down, pick up some large heavy object and throw it over the PVC.

Sooner or later you will bust the PVC. It's a good thing it's cheap, huh? So get another piece and shove it in there.

Look, you are making practice hammer handles out of 1-inch pvc electrical conduit, yes? You're using the expanded end to keep the stacked barbell plates from sliding off. Right! The stuff costs $1.99 for a ten foot piece. Well the hammer handle is only 50 inches long, right?. That leaves you with a piece of 1-inch pvc that's over 5 feet long.

Voila...you got it. Throw until dizziness or euphoria ensues.

[Alan H]

Semi-permanent installation...

1.) four pieces of 3 inch (big stuff) ABS pipe. Might as well get the whole 10 foot length

2.) two ABS connectors for the 3-inch pipe....get a can of ABS cement, too.

3.) 75 feet of cheap rope

4.) a 5-6-7-8 foot length of 2-inch ABS for the crossbar.

5.) roll of duct tape

6.) two little pulleys

7.) 30 gallon emergency water barrel like this:


My local surplus store carries them, but you can buy 'em online for about $40

HOW TO

This is stupid-easy. Drill a little hole in the top of two of the ABS tubes. Attach the pulleys with string into those holes. Thread the rope through one pulley, through the crossbar, and through the other pulley.

Now use the connectors to assemble the ABS pipe pieces into two, 20-foot lengths. You are going to be able to adjust these things up to practically world-record height.

Put the drums on the ground where you'll be throwing, a few inches further apart from one another, than the length of your crossbar.

Fill the drums with water. It helps if there's a hose handy, but if you need exercise, well, here you go.

Now, you and a couple of buddies hoist the ABS uprights straight up in the air and duct tape them to the water drums. Use a lot of duct tape. Go round and round and round the drum. Duct tape is cheap, so use it.

Hoist the crossbar up. Throw until dizziness or euphoria occurs.

To disassemble, siphon the water out, lay both assemblies on their sides, cut the duct tape and haul it away. This setup ought to last a full season, easy and if you store the barrels and ABS out of the sun, you can use it again, next year. Try not to drop 56 pound weights on the barrels, tho.

Obviously you can substitute a 16 foot 4 x 4 for the ten foot lengths of ABS pipe. Also if you drill the ABS pipe and connectors and use some long 1/4 inch bolts as pins to hold them together, you can disassemble the whole thing and it breaks down into ten foot lengths, which is a lot easier to deal with than 20 foot lengths.

You can use the threaded glavanized, or black iron pipe instead of ABS pipe, it just costs more. Note that 2 inch ABS is not rigid enough to support itself over a 20 foot length, you'll have to go to the bigger size.

I've made example #1 in this series of explanations, and use it regularly. I've seen pictures of example #2, and I've seen example #3, the 30 gallon drum idea.... actually used in competition, with galvanized pipe instead of ABS.