The Pinch Gripper

Video of me putting together a pinch grip tool made from scrap parts I had in the garage. I designed it to utilize what I had but it should give you an idea so you can change things if you want to buy better parts. It is made to work with a loading pin. In particular, the DIY loading pin on this website. If you had to buy the parts it would probably cost $5 to $10 depending on what you need. It cost me nothing.

Loading Pin

This is my idea for the simplest cheapest loading pin that I could come up with. A commercial loading pin is around $50. There are DIY options out there using pipe that would probably run around $25. My design is a bit unorthodox but it's less than $10 and it functions well enough for what's I have used it for. I mean, for that which I have used it. It requires basically no work and thus no time to make, besides the time spent buying the materials from the store.

Concrete Weights

I have been watching Craigslist for months, if not years, just waiting for a great deal on used iron weights. And I'm still waiting. Obviously you have to get legit weights at some point, but until I find that cheap stash of 45s at a garage sale or something I make due with with what I have. Casting my own weights out of concrete has made it possible to keep progressing while I continue the search for used weights.

Fat Grips With An "S"

...because we use proper grammar and all that.

This isn't the fastest project but it is really cheap. Made from 100% duct tape it's not space age state of the art rubber. But it gets the job done all the same. These have all the versatility of the commercial product at a fraction of the cost.