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Sunday, 9 February 2014

Aluminium parallettes

A year or two ago, I tried to make parallettes using PVC 1 1/2" plastic tubing. I used standard plumber glue for setting them in place. They didn't last long; within a couple of days they fell apart. (sad face)

Since one of my "training-bros" (technical term) recently made his own ones, I was prompted to re-action. This time, I pulled out all the stops and went for threaded alumnium 3/4" tubing, t-pieces and 90 degree bends. The cost came out as ±€70, so it is a bit on the steep side; it's metal so I am expecting them to last long enough, but we'll see. The plastic tubing I got to cover the base support of the parallettes [to protect my apartment floor] was about €18 for 4m, so that's a fair chunk of the cost right there.

If the threading holds out, I might make more things, like a free standing chin-up frame.



Materials list:

  1. 4 x 50cm 3/4" threaded-end pipes
  2. 2 x 1m 3/4" threaded-end pipes
  3. 4 x t-pieces 3/4"
  4. 4 x 90° bends
  5. 4m of 1" silicone tubing
  6. Teflon tape
  7. (Hacksaw, box-cutter knife and cutting block)
 Steps
  1. Cut four of the 50cm pipes in half
  2. Teflon tape is wrapped round all of the threaded ends to give a snug fit (not sure if it is actually necessary, but my habits of working with leak-free tubing systems are hard to kick).
  3. Fit the other 50cm pipes to the middle holes of the t-pieces
  4. Fit the 25cm lengths to other two branches of the t-pieces
  5. Fit the bends to the other end of the 50cm pipes
  6. Fit the 1 m pipes between two of the elbow bends
  7. Screw everything as tightly as possible, while still having the bases of the legs perpendicular to the 1m bar
  8. Take 1" 4m tubing and cut into four 60cm lengths, eight 20 cm lengths
  9. Cut down the length of the tubings
  10. Fit the short tubings around the supports of the parallettes
  11. Fit the long tubings over the whole length of the bases
  12. Give them a go!


Step 1 - cutting the 50cm pipe


Steps 3-5 - End result


Step 6 - Assembled parallette

Step 10 (a)

Step 10 (a)
Step 10 (a)

 Finished product
"Giving them a go" with tuck planche (Step 12)

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