3D Printing of Functional Gym Equipment
Accessory pieces for at home or Gym use
For black Friday, my husband snagged a small tabletop 3D printer. I’d love to take credit for having such a great idea, but my husband purchased this baby without telling me.
After getting a decent handle on the programming and a few practice runs at some random 3D prints, I thought I would toss out an idea for my husband to try and put together for me.
Between the two of us, we managed to create and design the perfect starter piece of equipment for my in-home gym.
My husband, the brains of the operation as you could say, was able to measure, draw, and design on his computer software program the specifics, such as height, width and small safety features.
Computer software is far from something I know much about, so I was able to use my own body and current pieces of equipment to use as examples of what exactly I was looking for out of my 3D printed pieces.
Above is the final product of what we were able to create. These are heel raises that take the place of such things like a deadlift platform ledge or bumper plate laying flat on the floor.
The blocks needed to be printed separate just due to the size of our 3D printer, they each took approximately 8 hours to complete. The pieces are approximately 2 inches tall, 5 inches wide and 5 inches long.
As shown in the picture, each piece has the flat back that can be set up against a wall or a ledge if needed to prevent sliding backwards (although they seem to stay in place on gym floor matting just fine). The top of the heel raises have rigid edges to hold my shoes in place to also avoid any slipping during use.
On a regular day I would need to lay one of my bumper plates on the floor to be able to do heel raised deadlifts or heel raised good mornings, but then I wouldn’t be able to use the weight. Having these pieces allows me to save my weights to be able to use on the bar as they were intended.
My husband and I do hope to be able to make more equipment for our in home gym as we become more familiar with the 3D making process and broaden our skills on the computer program.
