Soloflex Resto-mod

[sparkydog]

This is the 3rd Soloflex I've owned but the first since I have a MIG and I'm not afraid to use it. The 1st Soloflex was in the late 80's and I probably bought it new - so that means it was over $1000 in 80's money. 2nd one was in the 90's and used - probably something like $500-$750. This one was $80.

I like the basic concept of them and don't really care whether stretching rubber is different than dead weight. I also like their minimalist styling, I like the story behind the founder of Soloflex who was a real character and I like that they were headquartered in Oregon.

But each time that I have owned and used one I always wanted to fix some of the design/construction flaws so I thought I'd share what I'm doing. I picked this unit up yesterday morning and today I took care of a few of the more simple changes.

[sparkydog]

The first thing that needed improving is the main joint between the L shaped upright and the T bar down on the floor. From the factory this joint is poorly designed. The connecting bolt can crush the tube and there's nothing to lock the joint so that the two pieces stay square to one another.

First I fashioned an anti-crush bushing out of two o'size hex coupling nuts and welded this inside the L tube piece. The ID of the coupling nuts was bigger than the OD of the 1/2" bolt that holds the Soloflex together. Then I step drilled out the holes on the flanges that the bolt mates to and then I assembled it all. At each end of the bolt I stacked two grade 8 flat washers and snugged it all up - adjusted the upright until it was square and then tacked the flat washers so they would become bushings.

Then I added two strips of 1/4 dia rod so that the face of the flanges could self-align. The net effect of all this stuff was now the Soloflex's two main frame pieces would bolt together square and snug and stay that way during the massive workouts my pathetic 57 year old body is going to throw at it.

[sparkydog]

The next thing that bugs me about the design is that when the unit is sitting on a floor (which is usually carpeted) there aren't any bosses on the bottom of the unit to concentrate the support at the three extreme most outer points of the base. This makes the whole frame wobble around and feel sketchy. On my previous 2 Soloflexes I always put some kind of block under the base at 3 locations. This time I went berserk and grafted 3 giant cup/washers that came off the IRS subframe mounts of a 90's Cougar.

These cup/washers look cool and work great. I just didn't think about how hard it was going to be to get the rubberized coating off of them so I could weld them to the Soloflex frame. I didn't take pics of them burning off the rubber for 10 minutes or the sticky, carbon mess I had to deal with.

[sparkydog]

Next item was how the movable T bar thing sits when you rig it as a chin-up bar. It just sits on the edge of the top of the square tube and kind of wobbles around up there when/while I am jerking around on it trying to get a few reps off. So I took a piece of 3/8 dia rod and stitched it onto the face of the big tube to provide a bigger load support area and also took a lot of care to weld it in square so the chin-up bar is stable and solid when I'm twerking around hanging from it.

Pics 1&2 are before the mod and pics 3&4 after.

[sparkydog]

And then there's all the pins on this rig. None of them have any tapers so they are harder to insert when you are trying to adjust the machine. So they are all going to get the flap wheel hand taper job just like this one in the pics.

[sparkydog]

And the last thing for today's episode was another mod involving the movable T bar thing. When this piece is setup for bench press and similar exercises - the end of the tube is supposed to sit square and rest on the face of the big upright. But it never works quite right and it also usually positions the bars that the weight straps slide onto a little too close to one another so that sliding the weight straps is awkward. (From the factory there's a rubber pad but it always wears/falls off.)

So I used a big flat washer and trimmed the face of the tube until it was square and spaced correctly for the weight straps. Now my T bar thing sits square, level and solid when it's resting on the face of the upright tube. And my weight straps slide on like they were meant to.

Also a shot of the Cougar IRS washers in their happy new life as carpet standoffs.

[sparkydog]

That's it for now. There are several more elaborate changes I want to make and then I need to re-paint the metal and re-finish the wood.

Time to sit on the sofa with a drink and stare at the Soloflex while watching TV.

[NONHOG]

Originally Posted by sparkydog

That's it for now. There are several more elaborate changes I want to make and then I need to re-paint the metal and re-finish the wood.

Time to sit on the sofa with a drink and stare at the Soloflex while watching TV.

I thought they were for hanging clothes to dry? LOL
Nice going!

[sparkydog]

Phase II Part I

The next phase is to change the bench and the way that the leg curl attachment fits/functions with the bench. From the factory the leg curl attachment flops around when/if the bench is not sitting on top of it. I want to be able to pull the bench off easily and do dips or chin-ups without having to spend a lot of time re-attaching things when the bench goes back. Secondly - when the bench IS attached to the leg curl and you lay face down on the bench your face and head are forced to jamb into the upright. This is because the Soloflex factory felt it was important to claim that the Soloflex fits into a 4' x 4' square on the floor.

Well f*** the 4' x 4' square because I want the damn thing to fit me and feel right so I'd like to not have my head smashed up into the upright.

So that's the big rant leading up to Part I. (drum roll) I added 6" to the bench and the bottom of the base. Donor metal for the bench extensions came off of shipping brackets from a Japanese CNC mill we bought at work.

Next up is to chop up and modify the leg curl system so it fits better and does not need the bench to support it.

[sparkydog]

Phase II Part II
Now to get the leg curl assembly to stand/stay in place when the bench is gone and also to make the bench easier to setup.

First I created some new locating pins by whacking off the head of some 3/4 x 4 bolts. Note the poor workmanship of the OG pins (how crooked they are). The OG pins are way smaller than the bushings they fit in. With the Sparkydog pins the entire leg curl assembly stands almost straight up even though it's cg is biased toward falling over the front of the Soloflex. I had to use my home-made slide hammer + vicegrip thing to yank the old pins out of the base of the leg curl assembly.

[sparkydog]

I also chopped the height of the leg curl assembly by 2" because I am only 5'8" and this is allllllll about me!

Next I shaved off the OG method of attaching the bench to the top of the leg curl assembly because it was a PITA to connect. I then chopped down into the top of the leg curl assembly and made a pin and corresponding female gusset so that the bench can simply be lowered over the pin to mount it.

[sparkydog]

Then I added a little wing gusset so that the bench would stabilize and now I have what I wanted:

1) I can quickly and easily remove the bench and just leave the leg curl assembly in situ while I do pull ups or dips or squats.

2) When it is time to use the bench again all I have to do is lay it over the top of of the pin instead of farking around with a bolt and a mis-aligned bracket from the factory.

Donor metal for the wing gusset came off the base of a horiz bandsaw from work that I hot-rodded a few months ago.

[sparkydog]

Up next is a nice paint job!

[sparkydog]

OK 1 more mod before paint. I added a slip-in bracket and pin to the front of the bench. Since 95% of the time the bench is in this position and I frequently am returning it to this position - it made sense to have this be a quick attachment.

NOW it's ready for paint.

[sparkydog]

I removed the factory leather faux pad thing off the bench, sanded it down and then applied a satin urethane finish. I was after a lighter color to contrast with the black of the frame. I also shot the carriage bolt heads in black satin.

[sparkydog]

And I capped off the ends of any exposed square tubes with recessed plates and then finally I prepped all the frame parts that I had modified and shot them in satin black.

There is only one more mod I want to make which is to get a new "SOLOFLEX" style label to go across the front of the frame.