How to make your own bumper plates on a budget
by Mehdi
September 22, 2007
6 comments
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This is a guest post by Mehdi, author of StrongLifts.com.
You’re into strength training for some time. And now you decided to incorporate Olympic lifts. You want to Power Clean. But the problem is: you don’t have bumper plates. You have normal rubber plates. What do you do?
Well you could buy a set of bumper plates. But this will cost you money. And you end up with twice the amount of plates.
Better is to use 2 old tyres & wheels as bumper plates. Easy & cheap. Here’s how to make your own bumper plates.
Tyres & Wheels. Ask your local supplier for 2 old tyres & wheels. They’ll often give you these for free. Choose tyres & wheels with these properties:
- Diameter: 7,5cm (2,9”) bigger than your plates.
- Opening: 70mm (2,7”) assuming you have 50mm Olympic barbells.
Flange. Next you’ll need two flanges to fix the wheels on your barbell. This are the only things that will cost you money.
Barbell is 50mm thick. Wheels have a 70mm opening. 70-50 = 20. Divide that by 2. Flanges should be 10mm (0,39inch) thick to fit between barbell & wheels.
You can buy flanges or you can mold them yourself. Don’t forget the 4 holes to attach them to your wheels.
If you’ve done the job right, the flanges will fit perfectly on your wheels.
Attach the flanges to your wheels using bolts.
You’re done.
Now you can put them on your barbell.
Outside collars to make sure they don’t move. And you’re ready to clean & snatch.
Images courtesy Marcus.
Mehdi is the author of StrongLifts.com, a blog helping you build muscle & lose fat through strength training. If you’d like to join him on the Straight to the Bar writing team, let me know.
Ready to bend some steel? Grab a copy of the Diesel Crew's Bending eBook. Superb.
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Thanks for allowing me to post on your blog Scott!
Posted by: Mehdi | September 22, 2007 4:18 PM
Where do you buy the flanges? What are they used for when not being used to make bumper plates?
Posted by: Mike | September 24, 2007 2:00 PM
For the flange, you could also take a 10lbs plate and drill the holes into that. Then bolt that to the wheel. Definitely a good idea and saves money buying a bumper set.
A+
Posted by: Kevin | October 3, 2007 12:25 AM
Zoals ik m’n reactie op je PM op mijn forum schreef (die je niet gelezen hebt). Het is OK de foto’s te gebruiken met credits erbij (mijn naam en link naar forum) erbij.
Zie ik hier geen van beide.
Posted by: Marcus | November 8, 2007 8:03 AM
I used 12 inch tires and the rims were 50mm. I didn’t have to use a flange or anything. Works great!
Posted by: Limbs | March 11, 2008 10:03 AM
Hey Limbs, where did you find a rim with a 50mm axel bore? I just went out to the junk yard and the smallest I could find was 55mm.
Posted by: ryan | May 16, 2008 12:07 PM