Building an Offwidth Machine

I'm trying to come up with plans to build an offwidth machine similar to the "Hastinator" the offwidth simulator Tom Randall has in his cellar. Anyone make something similar? Different? Or know any other methods for making an offwidth trainer/simulator?

Pervert.

Wouldn’t it be the same as any wooden crack system? Just... you know... offwidth sized

I built something different. It is about 4-5 ft wide, with 4 torsion box panels, all built with 2x6 framing lumber sheathed in 3/4" ply, good quality side of ply is the contact surface. I took care to make corners of the panels round over solid wood, no splinters. Panels are painted with sand paint for texture.

 The space I have is pretty short, so panels are only 12' high. End ( left- right) panels are fixed/ vertical and protrude about 8" towards the climber, center panels are relatively recessed, so left/right panel relationship to neighboring center panel forms a corner. The 2 center panels front edges are flush with each other, so crack in between is straight in. Depth of the panels is 2 feet, so you can fully get knee, calf locks, arm bars etc

The 2 center panels are suspended by sliding barn door tracks across the span between end panels and are perpendicular to the sliding tracks' axis. So they slide side to side kind of like a shirt on coat hanger on a closet bar. The sliding panels are secured front and back top and bottom, on sliding lock tracks so they can be tightened-locked in place.

The result is vertical adjustable width left and right corners plus straight in center crack. There is enough span that cracks can be spaced from zero to chimney size, and center panels can be tilted for tightening or widening taper as you climb. I have 14 other non adjustable tips to fist cracks, so don't bother adjusting this OW contraption in the smaller range

It is not super easy to adjust, but it is good training.

I believe Danny Parker has offered up plans to the machine he built, which was modeled after the UK one.  Or, there may be something on his IG: cheyeah
You could message him here, too.  

mountainhick wrote: I built something different. It is about 4-5 ft wide, with 4 torsion box panels, all built with 2x6 framing lumber sheathed in 3/4" ply, good quality side of ply is the contact surface. I took care to make corners of the panels round over solid wood, no splinters. Panels are painted with sand paint for texture.

 The space I have is pretty short, so panels are only 12' high. End ( left- right) panels are fixed/ vertical and protrude about 8" towards the climber, center panels are relatively recessed, so left/right panel relationship to neighboring center panel forms a corner. The 2 center panels front edges are flush with each other, so crack in between is straight in. Depth of the panels is 2 feet, so you can fully get knee, calf locks, arm bars etc

The 2 center panels are suspended by sliding barn door tracks across the span between end panels and are perpendicular to the sliding tracks' axis. So they slide side to side kind of like a shirt on coat hanger on a closet bar. The sliding panels are secured front and back top and bottom, on sliding lock tracks so they can be tightened-locked in place.

The result is vertical adjustable width left and right corners plus straight in center crack. There is enough span that cracks can be spaced from zero to chimney size, and center panels can be tilted for tightening or widening taper as you climb. I have 14 other non adjustable tips to fist crack, so don't bother adjusting this OW contraption in the smaller range

It is not super easy to adjust, but it is good training. 

Show us this beast! 

I have a few different plans if you want to take a look. The big question is do you want adjustability or not? Also definitely check out Danny Parkers IG. He has full drawings of his set up and it’s clearly quite good since it helped him send century. 

Alex Milton wrote:

Show us this beast! 

I'll try, but it is in a tight alcove inside my home. Not sure I can get far enough back with camera to get any really worthwhile pics. 

Anyway, I'll be home later today will try...

Here you go:

looking upward with Left and right corners set to just tighter than knee width

The back, slide adjustment, to secure panel side to side



Looking up to the top, you can see the metal sliding door tracks that the center panels hang from, and the top slide with protruding bolts that tighten and secure panel against side to side movement



Bottom slide adjustment

Awesome 

Kai Czarnowski wrote: Wouldn’t it be the same as any wooden crack system? Just... you know... offwidth sized

Yes and no.  Offwidth technique requires you to fit a lot more of your body inside the crack, which presents a unique challenge, especially on the wider end.  If you have a bunch of boards or threaded rods sticking through every 3’ like a typical crack setup it’s not going to work.

mountainhick wrote: I built something different. It is about 4-5 ft wide, with 4 torsion box panels, all built with 2x6 framing lumber sheathed in 3/4" ply, 

That thing is great!  A couple questions on the inner workings:

1) How many 2x6 spanning pieces are inside each torsion box?

2) Do the threaded rods at the top and bottom go all the way through, or are those just short hex bolts?

3) How rigid is the setup?

4) If you had it to do all over again, would you do anything differently?

Sam Skovgaard wrote:

That thing is great!  A couple questions on the inner workings:

1) How many 2x6 spanning pieces are inside each torsion box?

2) Do the threaded rods at the top and bottom go all the way through, or are those just short hex bolts?

3) How rigid is the setup?

1) How many 2x6 spanning pieces are inside each torsion box?

Edge frame plus cross pieces every 24"

2) Do the threaded rods at the top and bottom go all the way through, or are those just short hex bolts?

Threaded rod is double nutted with large washer inside the 2x and epoxied in place. Result is a fixed threaded stud sticking out

3) How rigid is the setup?

It is pretty good. Has slight flex.

4) If you had it to do all over again, would you do anything differently?

Nothing really with the space I had for this project. The one thing that is not as anticipated is that the panels do not slide as freely on the tracks as I would like. Works OK, just not smooth sliding. Perhaps heavier duty ball bearing sliders would help. These are standard barn door sliders.