Homemade Landmine

No, I'm not talking about military stuff or IEDs.  This landmine is actually useful!

This is an exercise landmine.  I'm not sure why they are called that, unless it's because the stacked plates look like an old WWII mine.  This is what exercise landmines look like.  Note that they can swivel both up and down and side to side.

You place one end of an Olympic Barbell in the tube, and load the other end with weight, and it opens up a whole new realm of exercises.  Below is a brief video showing several examples.

I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on a silly pivot, so I made my own landmine, after seeing someone else's post on how to build one.  It goes well with the rest of my ghetto gym equipment.

The raw materials:  2"x8" pipe nipple from Home Depot, and a swivel caster with 8" pneumatic tire from Harbor Freight.  

Step 1:  Remove the axle bolt and the tire from the swivel caster.

Step 2:  Drill a hole in the pipe nipple.

Step 3:  Test fit the axle through the pipe, and select a base.  I wasn't too happy with how much slop the pipe nipple had between the forks.  The base is some old pallet wood planks I had joined together.

I ran down to the hardware store and bought some 16mm locking collars to reduce the side-to-side slop in the pivot.  I also bought some short lag bolts to secure the swivel caster to the base.

I test fit the bar into the landmine, and played with it a little bit.  The rough surface of the pallet wood helps to keep the base from sliding around on the mat. 

The whole reason I built this is so that I could do T-Bar rows, so I still need a T-Bar handle, below.

My welding skills aren't so hot, and I don't have the equipment to bend pipe, so I'll probably have to suck it up and purchase the T-Bar outright.  Or maybe I'll try to convince Santa to bring me one!

UPDATE:If you decide to make your own, I'd suggest a larger and heavier base.  This one shifts a bit.