Pull Up Grip

As I fell back to earth with an excruciating pain across my palm I noticed the cause. A thick red line etched from one edge of my hand to the other. Trying to do a pull up on the edge of my loft has always been hard, from slipping off it to the edge cutting into my palm. It was in that moment the pull-up grip was born. Now, I can easily do many pull ups.

The custom fit hand grip is designed to strengthen your fingers as well as your entire arm at the same time. It is an alternative to a traditional large pull-up bar, taking up a lot of space; as well as a hangboard, which would also be too large for my tiny house. I designed it to be small, aesthetically nice, and fit on the edge of my loft.

This project is a remix of Case's "DIY Climbing Hand Holds"

Tools

• 3d printer
• Computer with meshmixer and a slicer
• drill
• hack saw
• 3/8" Forstner bit
• 1/4" drill bit
• sand paper

Materials

• 3d printing filament (I used black abs, I would use bronze infused pla if I had it)
• Screws (2 with large heads, and two with small heads)
• Spray paint
• all-purpose silicon
• corn starch

Using proto-putty (the instructions can be found here) make a prototype wherever your pull up grips are going to be. I made them by dividing the putty I had into two balls, pushing them onto the edge, and then hanging from them. I proceeded to clean up the excess putty and let it cure. It turned out that I only needed to make one, you'll understand why later.

carefully pull the grips off of whatever they cured on. Using123d Catch, scan the grip.

You can watch the video I made of refining the 3d scan part. Essentially, I used meshmixer to smooth and repair the surface of the grip. I also used it to make the whole part solid, which is a very important step for 3d printing it. The next step was using 123d Design to cut a 90-degree section out.

Use the 3d model to 3d print two grips. If you do not want to design your own, you can use my stl's on thingiverse. Once it is printed, clear out the support material and sand the entire thing so it is smooth, then file the inside of the 90-degree part flat.

The next step is to paint it. I put on 7 really thin coats to try to get rid of the lines, if I had just sanded it better, it would have probably only needed 2-3. I painted them and then went to Thailand for two weeks, when I got back they were COMPLETELY dry. With the exception of going to Thailand, I would recommend letting them dry for maybe 3 days, otherwise you run the risk of peeling off the paint.

Tape the grips to a piece of wood. Using a 3/8" Forstner bit (or whatever size fits the head of the screw), counterbore the bottom side of the grips, then using a 1/4" drill bit (or whatever size is right for your screw) drill a hole through the counterbore for the screw. 3/8" was a little to small for the head of the screw I used, so I just turned the drill to the highest setting and spun the drill bit, this created friction and melted the plastic so the head was flush with the plastic.

Mounting is pretty straight forward. Space the grips so they are comfortable and look well spaced out. Then simply screw in the screw. At this point I felt mine was not secure enough. If you get to this point and feel the same as I did, but I think the only reason it didn't feel secure is because of the way the trim was attached. Anyways, I decided to add another screw through the top. I cut the ends off of some low profile screws so they would fit, and then I drilled a pilot hole through the top of the grips. The last step was simple. Simply screw in the two screws and enjoy.

This project has been stretched out for me, as I went on vacation halfway through, and then I was rushed when I got back. But I have been doing pull ups for one day now, and I love them! I think they look good, feel good, and are very strong. I also want to apologize for the video, I was going to put more work into it, but I only have access to "I movie" at school.

Thanks for reading this instructable, if you have any comments, comment. If you loved it, or even just liked it, or even just didn't dislike it, you can vote for me.