Given your screen name Texas Psycho, that is one creepy post.
Greg
Yes, if you're making one for an adult you use an adult sized skeleton. I made one the same size as myself to fit into my coveralls.
I'll try weighing this thing later and report back.
I looked at lots of commercial products, and would have bought one had I found one that did the job at an affordable price. One problem was that I wanted one RIGHT AWAY, too. I figured I would do the cheap DIY version, and if it got plenty of use then I might invest in a better one.
For the small investment I put into it, it's gotten tons of use already. It looks to have a pretty decent life expectancy.
One word of warning - I was holding for a child to practice a throw yesterday, and one of the duct-taped hands or feet hit me a sharp one in the testicles. Very painful!
That's pretty cool. That dummy probably works better than some of the dummies being sold these days. How much does it weigh?
Sounds cool. I made a similar one for nothing and was able to free up closet space. Grabbed all the clothes i did not wear any more amd just stuffed them into a pair of pants same with a sweatshirt (hooded) and just duck tape the hell out of it. he's a little lumpy in places but you have basic limb and such to drill on. added old sneakers for footlocks. it probally weighs 25-35 lbs. LOTS OF DUCK TAPE. but i could throw it out a third story window and it would be fine. Had tape and old clothes = free grappling dummy. Not nearly as realistic as the above mentioned one but works.
"Don't skimp on the duct tape - this is a rule to live by and one of the true secrets of life."
Amen to that brother.
great post. but dont let bubbamaker see this.
Somebody suggested I post this here in case you wanted to archive it or look it
over. Do as you see fit and enjoy.
Do it Yourself Wrestling Dummy.
The first thing I do is measure a kid's skelton. I used my daughter as she is taller
than my son. I mainly measure the length from the top of the head to the pelvis, then
each upper arm, each lower arm, each upper leg, each lower leg, and the shoulder
width.
I get a piece or two of thin PVC pipe found for real cheap at any hardware store.
This costs maybe 3 bucks.
I cut up the PVC with a hacksaw and vice to the sizes measured. I drill a hole at the
appropriate place on the end of each cut PVC piece. I use the vice to hold the PVC
in place while I drill.
I then use 10 of those circular spring steel key rings that can be found at hardware
stores. These are about 25 cents a piece. I feed these into the holes I drilled into the
PVC pieces to make articulating joints. There are only 9 articulating joints, but I use
two rings where the shoulder attaches to the spine for extra mobility in that joint.
The spine is a long single piece and the shoulder attaches at the appropriate place
somewhere in the middle. The joints: knees(2), elbows(2), hips(2),
shoulder/arms(2), shoulder/spine(1).
This looks sort of like a skeleton at this point. I then cut to size some of those cheap
plastic foam fun noodles that are swimming pool toys. I use these to cover the upper
arm, upper leg, shoulder and spine. I leave extra material above the top of the spine
to be the "head". I split the foam down the middle like a hot dog bun. I then wrap
up this part in duct tape - lots of duct tape. I also bridge each articulating joint with
the tape to add more realistic resistance.
I use one normal sleeping pillow for the torso wrap and again apply lots of duct
tape.
I use foam insulation pieces made for PVC on the lower arms and lower legs. Again
wrapping with lots of duct tape.
It looks pretty much like a fleshed in skeleton at this point. I use an appropriately
sized insulated canvas work suit (Walls or Carhart) from the local farmers' store. I
put the skeleton inside this, and tape up the hands and feet. I also tape up the neck
so the suit stays in place better. I put a few wraps of tape around the midsection
and upper legs to keep the suit in place better.
And there it is. It takes no more than two hours to construct and costs $50 if you
have to buy the coveralls. $5 otherwise.
I can hold it out to my side by the top of it's head and the boy can then take it down
again, and again and again. He drills takedown, half-nelson or crossface to turn
over, and pin. All going for fluid motion.
It's good for double legs, single legs, hip toss, judo throws, and just plain beating
on. He likes to toss it around when I'm not around too, and I imagine his moves get
a bit more creative then. The worst thing that will go wrong with this is a busted key
ring, which can be replaced in about a minute.
This has proven to be a worthy project - I made one for myself a couple of years
ago and it's still going strong.
The one I made for myself has two pillows for the torso, and one pillow each for the
thighs. I also used fun noodles for the lower legs. I also bundled up some
newspaper and made a more bulbous head for chokes, wrapped with lots of duct
tape (of course).
Don't skimp on the duct tape - this is a rule to live by and one of the true secrets of
life.
You guys are getting very creative. That is very cool. I'm glad so many people are realizing the value of having a training dummy.
LOL at the killer Bubbas comment.
brother share the wealth please... i posted some ideas on the wrestling forum. this is a free internet site and no one has copyright rights to what we post. we might all build a better dummy if we pool our ides. just a thought...