DIY Wooden Pullup Bar

For a long time, I’ve wanted a pull-up bar at home. Not necessarily for doing tons of pull-ups, but for dead hanging and to install a swing for my kid.

There is a company called FatMonkey and they make amazing wall bars that fit into a door frame.

Photo by Fatmonkey

Their magic trick is a slot going from horizontal to vertical, combined with an oval shaped bar. Inserting the bar into the slot locks it in place and prevents it from rotating.

Photo by FatMonkey

With 12 slots, you can adjust the height of the bar for any exercises you might want. And because the whole thing stands on the floor, it doesn’t put a lot of strain on your door frame, so there is no danger of breaking it.

The downside: at the time of writing, it costs around 300€.

Which I would be happy to pay if I needed an adjustable bar that is easy on the door frame. But I only need one height, and I have an opening in a structural wall with no flimsy frame.

So, I stole borrowed the idea with the slot. Instead of 12 slots, I only made one, and bolted it into the wall.

But first, a CAD model:

I did not want to find out if a 3D print would be strong enough, so I made a template that can be 2D printed.

This template can be transferred to two pieces of plywood and cut out with a band saw or jig saw.

Just glue the parts together:

And bolt on:

I used a 32mm round bar because that was the only one I could find. A bit thicker would probably be better. To get to the oval shape, I filed off a bit at the ends.

Ready for some pull-ups! Or just some hanging.