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Our team just wrapped up cleaning up our gym after the cyclone. All our equipment is just as shiny and terrific as the day we made it. And it got me thinking that Madras is a terrific place to build things. There’s a lot of scrap yards, plenty of lathes, CNC machines, talented welding workshops and small factories with laser cutting machines and press brakes for folding thick pieces of metal.
Over the last eight years, one of the most joyful experiences has been in tapping into this pool of expertise and making gym equipment for our own use. This turned out to be a crucial advantage for us. We make gym equipment that can’t be found anywhere else. We make equipment out of material that equipment makers cannot afford to use not to mention is harder to work with. And we save a tonne of money for better quality equipment that we could not have picked off any store shelf.
We also play around with one off designs that wouldn’t be viable for an equipment manufacturer. Case in point: the center mass bell. Think of it as a dumbbell that wraps around your hand rather than protrude on either side. The advantage is more favourable weight distribution that makes the weight feel easier to move! We made it by taking a thick stainless steel pipe. We had a mill bore a 1.5 inch hole through the steel. We then slotted a rod (knurled by the same mill) through the pipe and welded it in place. We also welded a circle to the bottom to increase the weight when required. It involved welding, milling and chamfering in two locations less than a kilometer apart. We haven’t polished this piece yet.