Sourcing replacement safety bars

Hi all.

So I recently set up a home gym with a budget cage. The cage is holding up pretty fine so far, but the safety bars that came with it where essentially useless. I believe they were stainless steel but hollow, so as soon as a mild weight was dropped on them (maybe up to 60kg) from a height of 50cm, one of them bent in a bit. They still manage to hold at least 100kg when, for instance, I fail a squat rep and lower it down onto the safeties at a controlled rate, but I don't trust them much past that. So basically, I think the best option would be to find somewhere that I can buy stainless steel bars that aren't hollow, or have them custom fabricated. I tried contacting one metal manufacturer locally who apparently couldn't help me, have also tried searching but most metal manufacturers seem to be predominantly for large scale custom orders which would cost a heap.

So my question is, does anyone know of anywhere that basically sells different sizes of steel, or anywhere that could shape steel to my needs that isn't going to cost as much as the rack itself, which was roughly $400. Apologies for the lack of knowledge regarding steel shaping / manufacturing, it definitely isn't my area of expertise.

Go to a small sheetmetal shop. Get mild steel not stainless. Take yours in and they will fab them from solid bar to match. Shouldn't cost too much.

Fluffy said:

Go to a small sheetmetal shop. Get mild steel not stainless. Take yours in and they will fab them from solid bar to match. Shouldn't cost too much.

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Ah good call on the mild steel. Had no idea the difference (till I googled after seeing your suggestion). Turns out typing 'sheetmetal' into google spews out a ton of results for places nearby, where as 'metal fabrication' and other search terms came up with all of two locations. Thanks for the suggestion.

Where are you located??

Ezy Metal sell solid bright bars in what ever size you want cut to length.

I think a sheet metal place deals with sheet metal not solid round bar which is what I presume you are looking for.

Big Mick said:

Where are you located??

Ezy Metal sell solid bright bars in what ever size you want cut to length.

I think a sheet metal place deals with sheet metal not solid round bar which is what I presume you are looking for.

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Sheetmetal workers do any odd jobs in metal usually where as fab shops or boilermakers do big structures and stuff like that.

If he just buys the bar ot won't have the stops or anything else welded on

Good point I forget that I just walk out into the shed and weld them on myself

Made my own squat bar and thick dead lift bar with stuff bought from Ezy Metal

Interestingly the first sheetmetal place I contacted replied to me saying "Sorry we only do sheetmetal work." Yet on the other hand, I know a local tennis club uses a sheetmetal place for it's tennis court poles (metal poles that hold the net). Guess it's just hit and miss with who has the equipment or expertise to do it.

.

Big Mick said:

Good point I forget that I just walk out into the shed and weld them on myself

Made my own squat bar and thick dead lift bar with stuff bought from Ezy Metal

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Wish I could do that

Have you thought about using something like this instead?

Slings - Australian Kettlebells/ IronEdge

I know people who have successfully used 4WD snatch straps as well, much kinder on your bars if you dump them as well.

adamklam said:

Have you thought about using something like this instead?

Slings - Australian Kettlebells/ IronEdge

I know people who have successfully used 4WD snatch straps as well, much kinder on your bars if you dump them as well.

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They actually look really handy, but do you need to use the J-hooks that come with your power rack to attach the sling? Presumably these work for the bench press as well if you put the slings high enough up the rack that they provide full ROM?

random8 said:

They actually look really handy, but do you need to use the J-hooks that come with your power rack to attach the sling? Presumably these work for the bench press as well if you put the slings high enough up the rack that they provide full ROM?

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you can loop it over the cross beams at the top the rack

adamklam said:

you can loop it over the cross beams at the top the rack

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This sling idea is genius. Now I'm left wondering why anyone bothers installing metal safeties at all? Thanks for pointing these out dude.

Edit: Only concern I have is whether these are long enough to accommodate bench presses.

Also these things seem to be far away cheaper on e-bay. I think the IE one is made specifically for a certain rack, but a similar sling at 2m with the same weight capacity are $15 each on ebay as opposed to $35.

Okay, I purchased 4x 2 ton 1 metre slings off ebay. Totaled $56. Should be able to loop them around enough times to get accurate length of the straps, using the method seen here:

Will report back on how it goes when I get them, which could take awhile because they're in hong kong and it's nearing christmas .

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gxrmJ4vM5Xg]Alternate Squat Setup with the Sling - YouTube[/ame]

slings are great for squats, but pretty much useless for bench
I bought mine from supercheap auto, think I paid about $90 all up including the u bolts

Why would they be useless for bench?... surely if you set the height right they still stop the bar?.. or is there some give?

the straps are there to protect your bar from damage as well as provide safety when dropping a squat. There is a bit of give in them
I can set the straps a few inches below the bottom of my squat and have no issues

With Bench safety bars work better as allows you to relax chest and crawl out from under a missed lift, plus you can do rack work.
With straps for bench what height are you going to set them at? neck height?, top of chest? Also need to set the straps exactly over the stop point as if the bar ends up forward or back from the top of strap the stop point is different.
Try it and see.

NightFallTech said:

Why would they be useless for bench?... surely if you set the height right they still stop the bar?.. or is there some give?

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Pendulum effect on a bar swinging around near you nose.

Edit: exactly what perth mac was getting at, beat me to it.

Makes sense ..

Fluffy said:

Pendulum effect on a bar swinging around near you nose.

Edit: exactly what perth mac was getting at, beat me to it.

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Good points guys.

I figure I could loop the straps around the top crossbeams of my squat rack and potentially use band pegs to keep it from moving, not that I'd imagine the sling will change position at the top too much when the slings have enough weight put on them.

If I'm interpreting correctly, you guys are suggesting the bar could swing because the bench pressing movement isn't vertical? I would've thought that it wouldn't be too hard to control the bar's horizontal movement, even during failure, as controlling the bar's horizontal movement as it descends doesn't require me to actually lift the weight on the bar, rather just guide it down to the stop point.

I figure having the straps stop at chest height would make the most sense. Perhaps I'll find more difficulties when I get them and test it. In any case; I'll have a spotter and metal safeties (albeit dented ones) in whilst I'm testing the slings for benching. As I said, 4 straps only came to $50 odd, so they should be useful for squatting in the least.