Well, I received part of my Ironmaster Quick-Lock Dumbbells this past Friday. As per usual, UPS did a bang up job in delivering a package when it darn well suited them to do so. Not only that, but UPS lost 2/3 of the order. Allow me to explain.
When you order the Ironmaster Quick-Lock Dumbbell Set and stand, the whole order comes in seven different boxes, assuming you order the 120lb add-on kit as I did. The two Handles and 4 companion dumbbell handle screws come in one box, the 120lb add-on kit ( 4 dumbbell handle screws that are a good 2-3 inches longer than the standard set ) come in another box and the Stand (a gorgeous contraption) comes in a third box. The actual weight plates come in 4 other boxes. Well, the weight plates got lost. Way to go UPS.
I spoke with UPS several times Friday, and they were unable to determine where the boxes were. Maybe they were on a train. Maybe they were not. Who knows? All I know is that UPS had no idea when they would be delivered or even if they would be delivered. All seven boxes were originally slated for a delivery of Jan 19th. Three of the boxes showed up. Four of them didn’t. Such is life.
Anyway, I decided to put together a photo journal of what it takes to build the Stand that comes with the set. Of course, the stand comes with instructions and an excellent step by step guide as to how to put the stand together, but as usual I improvised and came up with my own strategy. This is by no means the only way to do it, but it sure worked for me.
Tools you will need:
- A nice set of pliers.
- Screw Driver (flat head)
- A Box Cutter.
- Preferably some sort of 10 inch wide bench to work from ( I used a flat utility workout bench ).
- Good lighting
- And extra pair of hands of you can get it.
The difficulty of putting the stand together is that you have to have 2-4 pairs of hands stabilizing several panels at once, while all the necessary screws and bolts and put into place and then tightened by another pair of hands. If you do not have extra hands available, then the following guidelines might work for you.
Let’s take a look at out inventory first:
As you can see there is a lot here. Everything that is part of the package has an arrow pointing to it. The Quick-Lock set should be confused with the other strength equipment in the photo. More on that in days to come.
A few other things needs to be mentioned before we get into the actual assembly.
First, Ironmaster packages their stuff really well. This is a good thing, because stuff gets thrown around buy the UPS guys and the last thing you need is for your strength tools getting banged up by careless package handlers. The extra packaging Ironmaster uses to wrap your items in is definitely worth it. You will have to break a sweat getting to those items however. So take your time.
Second, in the above photo you will notice several panels. The two panels in the top left form the basis of the front and back of the stand. The left and right sides of the stand are left open and exposed so that you have access to the included top and bottom shelves from either side. The shelves can be seen at the top right corner of the photo.
[Note: The top and bottom shelves located in the picture above, top right corner, are for all intents and purposes identical, accept for one very important distinction and the importance of this cannot be stressed enough: The bottom shelf is identified by one sheet of vinyl covering the top of it. The top shelf is characterized by two strips of vinyl, applied side by side, leaving a small gap of maybe 1/4 inch between them. I failed to get a good picture of it, but there is an arrow pointing to a gap of one of the shelves at the very top right corner.
The gap is important in that it serves as a spacer for the 6 inch high dividing partition, which fits into the gap when you assemble the stand. Just make note of it. You do not want to get the stand basically put together, only to realize you have the top and bottom shelves in the wrong place. Then you would have to take the whole thing apart and start over.]
The stand comes with a huge number of lock nuts and bolts ( most of them round headed ). The provided Allen Wrench is used to tighten the round headed bolts, but you will need a flat head screw driver to tighten the 4-flat headed bolts that are used to affix the top deck to the rest of the stand.
Each end of the dividing partition is affixed to a brace found at the top end of the front and back panel interiors. You will use four round headed bolts to do this. The partition is used to add rigidity to the stand as well as conveniently separate the top shelf into two compartments.
The top deck is one solid and hefty piece of steel, as are the two shelves, but the top deck is really tough. It offers a large working space from which you will add and remove weight as needed.
Finally, the four rubber feet are simply screwed into place, and depending on your flooring may need some adjusting to eliminate wobble. In my case, I did not need to adjust them at all.
In the next installment, I will begin with the assembly of the stand itself.
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