Homemade weight sleds

20 replies

• doofy_grumpus·Jul 26, 12:38 PM

  Good work, I do worry about those handles, are the bolts drilled all the way through?

• jessiecat332_2·Jul 26, 1:25 PM

  It looks good. Does it have wheels? Does it move smoothly?

• certain_syllabub_997·Jul 26, 1:53 PM

  Good work. The handles will snap tho. Build some kind of triangle up to the front to reinforce them.

• few_talk64_2·Jul 26, 3:43 PM

  We’ll see how they hold up. They are 1” iron pipe screwed into a flange secured by 4 3” by 5/16” structural screws. If I put my hands on the tips of the handles, there is some flex but barely any flex when I’m holding about a third of the way down. It honestly feels a lot more solid than it looks. The weak point will be the screw attachment at the flange, but at the moment I think it will be fine 🤷🏻‍♂️

• few_talk64_3·Jul 29, 3:24 PM

  Really sturdy! I did add the two cross members after the original build to add stiffness. Now it feels solid!

• old_man_game·Jul 29, 3:38 PM

  Been wondering about doing this myself. The beauty of the wooden skids is you can assuredly just glue a new piece of pallet wood on the bottom if the wear down too much.

• canubis1983·Jul 29, 4:06 PM

  Cut up some skies to screw on wood as the base, for longevity

• diwhychuck·Jul 29, 6:42 PM

  I worry about that leverage on those handle... currently working in K12 I know how kids can test equipment limits. Thoughts on adding diaginal from the pipes down to the front? Would take a T fitting, street 45 on each end down to flange.

• few_talk64_4·Jul 29, 6:50 PM

  I thought about doing this with some cheap laminate flooring

• danieltrebuchet·Jul 29, 6:59 PM

  Yeah, I think we'll find the leverage on the handles will be the weak point. Otherwise a solid looking design!

• danieltrebuchet_2·Jul 29, 7:05 PM

  I actually like the idea of these over the metal commercial ones. The thought of a metal sled dragging down the concrete/asphalt makes my skin crawl.

• radix·Jul 29, 9:38 PM

  Put some sort of 45 cross brace on the handles https://preview.redd.it/6pksmhx2lzgh1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=22763881089d01234f5b2ced63edf3f3dfacfb66

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• arrogantfool1205·Jul 29, 10:06 PM

  Could use cheap plastic cutting boards from Walmart. Can replace when they wear out. It'll slide better on asphalt.

• arrogantfool1205_2·Aug 1, 8:37 AM

  Were you testing it with weight? Empty it'll be fine, but add a 100lbs and the weight is multiplied by the length of the moment arm. If you used a forstner bit to create a pocket for the bolt to be safe from the ground, and put bolts all the way through the 4x4, it would be a lot safer from failure. Someone else mentioned a cross brace on the handles as well, which would save it as well

• few_talk64_5·Aug 2, 2:47 AM

  Yeah I tested it with two plates as shown in the second picture. Honestly, the connection of the flange to the 4x4 is not where it’s going to fail. It will fail at the threaded connection.

• pantsopticon88·Aug 2, 4:02 AM

  What you want is delrin

• pleebius·Aug 2, 7:33 PM

  At a minimum, put through bolts there and recess the nut.

• u_3one5·Aug 2, 7:46 PM

  The hand posts need some sort of bracing before they break and you take an Olympic weight pin to the chest.

• deekayy_tv·Aug 2, 9:07 PM

  Very cool! I made nearly identically the same sled and it worked like a charm. 2 things: 1. As others have said, reinforce those handles because they will break eventually - ask me how I know. 2. On that front support and eye bolt all the way through with a nut on the bottom to hold is a simple anchor spot for backwards work. Again, very cool and cost effective way to get sled work in!

• earthspecialist2849·Aug 2, 9:36 PM

  How are they holding up? I think there's a pretty big moment arm there, guessing the pipe will probably bend just above the flange, where it's threaded still.