The no-drill pull-up bar

20 January 2024
Adarsh Gopal

Here’s the problem statement:

Landlords don’t like tenants drilling holes in walls
Indians don’t like assembling stuff
Some people want pull up bars instead of rings
I wanted to use zero welds to build a strong pull up bar

Here’s what I did:

Found a beautiful 304L grade pipe in the local scrap yard.
Knurled it and drilled two 12 mm holes on either end.
Picked up two eye nuts and bolts.
Fitted hardware on the bar.
Attached the bar to my terrace roof.
Started doing pull ups.

The setup took 5 mins start to finish. You need a place to hang the bar. It could be a beam or hooks on the ceiling. Basically something secure that can take your weight. I was most kicked about finding this pristine piece of metal in the scrapyard and couldn’t wait to craft it into a pull up bar.

PS: Most of our stuff is crafted from scrap. But stainless steel scrap really isn’t cheap. It’s worth it since steel aggressively rusts in Madras. And I don’t enjoy painting things over and over again. Especially surfaces I grip a tonne.

All writing