Tuesday, November 8, 2011

A deloader for BlobZilla

Here's the deloader I built this past weekend so I can start really training to lift BlobZilla.  I built it to work with my power rack but you could always just attach it to an overhead beam in the garage or back patio as well, or make a 2x4 frame.  Here's a couple pics of all the parts I used to build it.



Here's the list:
-one 5" long 2x4
-2 hooks to hang the pulleys on
-2 pulleys for 3/16" cable
-2x3/16" clamp sets for the ends of the cable
-one 10" length of coated 3/16" cable (cable length will vary depending on how high your pulleys will be mounted)
-4x18" lengths of chain
-4 quick links-to attach the chain to the eye bolts
-4 eye bolts
-2 medium sized carabiners
-1 piece of 1x6x12" wood for the blob platform.  This was just a piece I had lying around but you can use whatever you want for the platform.  I'll experiment with a piece of rubber matting to see if I like it better.
-a 1" or 2" loading pin to hold the weights.

Instructions for the build:

Drill 4 holes in your platform material and attach the 4 eye bolts.

Attach the 4 lengths of chain to the eye bolts using the quick links and clip the upper ends of all 4 chains in the carabiner.  Now pull the chains taut and measure the total height from the floor to the top of the carabiner (You will need this measurement later).

Screw the 2 hooks into the bottom of the 2x4.  I went in 18" from the ends so it would fit nicely inside my power rack but you can go any distance you need to.  Just make sure that it's wide enough so that the weights won't come down on top of you when you're lifting the blob.  Also make sure the hooks are pointing out because the pulleys will pull in toward the center and will pull off the hooks if they are backward.

Next slide the pulleys onto the hooks (this is the easiest step of the whole process)

Attach a 3/16" clamp set to one end of the cable and tighten it down nice and tight so it won't slip.

Slide the straight end of the cable through both pulleys;  this step is important because if you attach both clamp sets first you can't fit the cable through the pulleys.

Before attaching the second clamp set to the cable you need to determine how long the cable needs to be.  To do this I attached the carabiner to the one end and clipped it to the loading pin.  I then pulled the other end of the cable taut and stood up with my hand in the full deadlift position with my hand in a fist.  Mark the cable where the knuckles of your fist are and subtract the total length of the chains that you measured earlier.

Attach the clamp set to the end of the cable with the bottom of the loop being where your mark is.  Now clip the platform and chains to the cable with the carabiner and put the blob on it.

Add some weight to your loading pin and lift if up to clip it onto the carabiner.  Lift the blob to full lockout and  if the loading pin with weight touches the floor before lockout then adjust where the clamp set is on the blob side to shorten it a little.  If you did your measurements correctly it should be pretty close.  If no adjustments are needed cut off the excess cable with bolt cutters and start Blobbing!

Here's a quick video of my deloader and BlobZilla in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZoKKwBuO6k

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