Completed all my shopping for the Lifting Platform today
MATERIALS LIST:
2x 1m x 1m x 15mm rubber gym mats COST$52 for both.
1x 2400mm x 1200mm x 17mm structural plywood COST $66
1x 1200mm x 12000mm x 17mm structural plywood COST $49 (some places may not sell half sheets my Bunnings did)
1x pack of counter sunk timber screws 30mm long COST $2
1x pack of counter sunk timber screws 40mm long COST $4
9 meters of 42mm x 12mm pine COST $20
TOTAL FOR ALL MATERIALS $195 (much less than my original estimate of $200-350
)
You will also need some quality wood glue or liquid nails, I already had this, if I did not have it already I would just use a tube of liquid nails, it will only cost about $3-4, you could also need some paint if you want to pretty it up, and I also had some paint left over from some house reno I did a while back.
Get the large sheet of ply cut to 2000mm x 1000mm exactly.
Get the small piece of ply cut into two pieces 1000mm x 600mm exactly.
It's easier to get this done in the shop, and my local Bunnings did this for free, some will charge 50 cents to $1 per cut, but would still be well worth it.
Take it all home and assemble as per the photos, sorry about the not so great quality of photos, but these were taken with my 3 year old original issue iPhone (yes it's still going after all these years
)
The picture should tell a thousand words, so will not be typing too much more, just follow the photos, will add some tips and things to look out for along the way.
The materials brought home:
The tools I used:
Pre drilling the the holes and gluing and screwing the braces on the back of the 1000mm x 600mm pieces, these are where the weights will be resting/dropped/slammed on, use the 30mm screws to secure them, the middle supports are just glued, no need for screws. The air space under the platform will give some springiness to where the weights will be slammed, as such absorbing and spreading out the impact of the weights over the whole area:
The top area:
The underside:
Marking and pre drilling the 2000mm x 1000mm base, to where our weight support areas will attach, again glue and screw, and use the 40mm screws from underneath, so that you securely join all three pieces together. it is important to pre drill the part where the screw goes through, so it can pull the other part in tight, and it will also prevent the timber from splitting. It's also a good idea to counter sink all the holes for the same reason, as you want all screw heads to be flush or below the timber surface:
Flip it over and it should look like this, all you need to do now is cut and attach the rubber mats to the top and you are ready for action:
If you like you can put another thinner piece in the middle, or you could even make the whole thing level, but that is not what I wanted, that is up to you. If I had a garage Gym I would not worry too much about making in any more pretty, I will however be painting the edges up tomorrow with some black paint to make it look better as it will be going inside the house.
If you want to further soften the blow when using the platform you could always glue some carpet, carpet underlay or 2-5mm rubber sheeting to the bottom of the platform, but I do not think I will bother at this stage.
You can obviously make the platform bigger if you like to suit your personal requirements, I would not really make it any smaller, as this is about as compact as you can get for using a 1800-2000mm bar, and I made it that size as that is all the space I have to put the platform in. For most home gyms or personal training gyms this would be quite adequate in size, I can not see any point in making it any bigger,
Will take some more photos when I get a chance to complete the platform, the rest will only be about making it look pretty