Let’s make a dirt cheap free standing heavy bag.
Materials:
1. 8 SUV tires (compact cars’ tires won’t be good because they are too light and don’t have thick sidewalls)
2. Hex bolts, washers, nuts x 21 (I’ve gotten 5/16″. Because the tire walls are thick, get longer than 1.5″ full threaded bolts, not partial. They are my only purchase for this, under $35CAD)
3. Masking tape, sharpie and a cutter knife
4. A stubby phillips screwdriver
5. Hand drill, 1/2″ drill bit (I’ll explain later)
6. A socket, ratchet socket wrench, adjustable wrench
7. Vacuum cleaner I’ve collected 8 tires for free from local mechanic shops. Since they are different sized, the bigger the tire is, the lower it’s going to be in the stack.
Once that’s done, label them so you know the order.
I’ve gotten 21 sets of bolts, washers and nuts to secure 8 tires.. so I will need 3 sets between tires. Put a tire on another, check the alignment, then use the masking tape to mark 3 corners. Try marking with the tape as straight as possible.
It’s going to make your life easier when you label each corner so that you don’t have to find it again later. Cut the masking tape. After that, put the upper tire down but upside down. We need to drill upper one first.
Before drilling a hole, put longer masking tape for each corner as an extension so that you know where you will drill. I chose a bigger drill bit than the bolt size because those SUV tires(one was a truck tire) has strong sidewalls, so even with a bigger hole, there will be some struggle.
** A tip. Clean the rubber bits every time you drill the tires. If you don’t, those rubber bits will go everywhere. Even on you hair! **
After drilling 3 corners of upper tire, put the upper tire on the lower one and align it again. Get the stubby screwdriver. It’s time to mark on the lower tire.
Find a hole from the inside of the upper tire. Poke through the hole as straight as possible. If you don’t, the bolt would be slanted, hard to secure well because of strong sidewalls. Do this for all 3 corners and put the upper tire down again.
You will see a small mark on the lower tire. That’s where you should be drilling. After that, put the upper tire on the lower one, align them again. Now it’s time to secure them with bolts, washers and nuts. Use wrenches to fasten them real tight, they will get loose over time.
Repeat all those steps above. There you have it!
pretty random archives 