I was not looking for an elliptical trainer, as I am not really heavily into cardio, but one popped up curbside, so I brought it home. The Thane Orbitrek elliptical trainer needed a lot of work in order to function. Thankfully it all turned out well and I now have another option for cardio to add to rope skipping and a stationary bike.
Strength training weight stack pin with an additional ring, photo 1 by Don Tai
This is a strength training machine weight stack pin from a city gym that needed some alterations. I enlarged the hole on the handle to add a ring. The steel of the ring was from a garage door spring, so is high strength steel. I then bent the ring to allow the pin head to be threaded, bent the ring back into alignment, and then welded it shut. I used SMAW 6013 at 40 amps, but should have used 70amps.
The ring is 1/4″ 6mm thick and is not easily bent. I cut the garage door spring lengthwise, resulting in many rings, but they are slightly twisted. These then need to be bent into alignment. My welding is a work in progress, meaning I need a lot of improvement. Welding rings is interesting because you cannot get an angle grinder into the middle of the ring.
Sometimes you search on the internet and simply do not find the info you need to solve your problem. Bummer. You then need to think about it yourself and figure out a solution. I think this is what people did before Google and the encyclopedic internet came along. I wanted to learn to ride a bicycle backwards and possibly fab up a giraffe uni, but did not have the money. Central to both endeavours is the fixed rear hub, one that when you pedal backwards it goes backwards, and when you pedal forwards it goes forwards. This is how I converted a 20″ bmx bicycle freewheel hub into a fixie hub.
