You are severely overthinking this!!!!! If you weigh out 45 pounds of the dry mix, cut your pipe long and trim it after the concrete cures, you will end up with a 45-pound plate! I have made these many times the water does not add a significant amount to the final fully cured weight of the concrete!! If you then measure the final thickness of the pipe after you trim it you can cut them to that length in the future! If you're not using Fiber-Reinforced High Strength Concrete you should be, you can also add additional fiber to the mix to give it more strength against cracking. Generally, the concrete will be at about 80 to 90 Percent strength in 7 to 10 days and not fully cured till around 27 days. Also tapping or vibrating the bucket will help to remove the bubbles, and I would silicone or use grip tight glue to fasten the pipe to the bucket, it will pop off easily as it will not adhere well to the type of plastic that the bucket is made from.

If you deadlift with concrete weights, and need to drop them, make two small sandboxes and lift from the sandboxes. drop them into 6 inches of loose sand. You'll need a 6 inch lifting platform to keep things even.

I added rebar to try and make my concrete weights more sturdy and they survived the drop test, I was removing 1 50lbs weight off of the bar and tipped the bar without realizing it and the other weight fell about 5 feet to the ground and only chipped about the size of my pinky tip. FULL DISCLOSURE I did also use the concrete with the fiber pre mixed into it and it fell onto an old satellite dish that was sitting on top of gravel ground outside not a concrete garage floor

This was excellent my guy. Also, you're detailed description and willingness to show each and every attempt regardless of success was the best! I could feel the frustration mixed with "challenge accepted " energy! Thanks for a great video!

Two thoughts: put wet concrete into a "weighing" bucket then pour the whole, weighed amount in the mold. Second, when removing the plate from the mold, put a second bucket _inside_ the mold holding the plate, then invert the whole thing, lift the mold bucket, the plate should detach a be sitting on top of the second bucket or drop down only a short distance.

This is so enjoyable to watch, was cheering throughout the video hahah. Thanks for sharing the mistakes so others can avoid.

For those concerned about the bucket. 22.5 inches in the outter measurements of the bucket. 16.5 inches is the bottom of the bucket and 19 inches is the top

Aside from reinforcing the plates, make your life easier with a bigger trough or bucket to mix so it'll be more consistent on pour, that blue bucket is perfect size though! Great find and excellent calculations. Math never fails!

After 6 tries you finally got it right but thanks for making the video, I've been wanting to make my own cement weights as well but I figured they wouldn't come out that accurate or good so I haven't done it but really interesting video and thanks for sharing it!

Amazing! Congrats for the persistence and video! Cheers from Brazil!

i like your extended thoughts on problem solving. very good of you

You need to reinforce your plates with a lightweight mesh or rebar. It won’t necessarily stop them cracking but it will hold it together. And personally I would make a form for the plates and not use the bucket. But each to their own method. You still did a great job. Another tip. You should really give whatever you are moulding your concrete in a good tapping all round with a hammer. You need to expel the air or there will be air pockets ( we call it honeycomb) in the plates and that alone will make a difference to the weight.

You’re awesome man. I’m going to make some plates with your guide. I have bumpers and iron. But I want more plates and I just doing feel like spending more money.

Great video again! Made dumbells after watching that vid, they turned out great, gonna give this a try 👍

Great video! All of the Lowes in the world are out of those stinkin buckets! 😂

I love the shape of the disk and it's also easier to make. Very informative 10/10. Thank you very much for the videos, they have helped me a lot to do my project. Could you make a video to make a barbell with its stops at low cost please?

Awesome video! Thank you for putting in all this effort so we don't have to. Also: Love the cat cameos in your videos!

7/17/2022 Just poured my first of two hopefully 45 pound plates, well ahead of the time I reach my Olympic barbell set current Max load of 311 pounds. This was the simplest and cheapest of the diy plate recipes I could find on KZfaq. Since I already had junk chicken wire, I used it as a further stabilizing grid, doubling over a section, cutting a hole in the center for the PVC tubing, and mushing it down in the bottom of the Lowe's rope handle bucket. I think I may have lucked into the last of those buckets--our local Lowe's hasn't gotten any others because of either supply chain issues or it's just being discontinued. I did silicone spray the interior of the bucket before the concrete mix pour and I used petroleum jelly to water seal (mostly) the concrete tubing to the bottom of the bucket-mold. I also remembered to tap all along the outside of the bucket to help release air bubbles in the concrete mix (placing the moved bucket to a level section of the garage floor probably also helps in this regard). I will give this plate at least 4 days to cure.

You are awesome. Thank you for showing the errors. It made your video enjoyable. I was rooting for ya. Congrads and thanks again .

Thanks for Sharing and letting us know your mistakes to stay away from!

First, thanks for sharing! If you arent concerned about freezing temps fly ash can be used to make the concrete a little more durable. Fiber glass reinforcement and concrete wire mesh can also be used. Also noticed you didnt vibrate your mix to remove air bubbles. Glad it still came out smooth.

You should think about buying and making some of your own rock weights where you just pour the cement in the sides of the dumbbells or the bottom of their kettlebell because I think they have a really great concept and it's more simple to just keep the mold basically there around the cement and not reuse them to help make them accurate as well as stronger and to look better as well.

Weigh the dry mix first then add water and pour it also just make the pipe a bit longer then cut it flush later and also make some groove on it to prevent pvc from slipping out in the future

You could use fibre or metal mesh to keep them out of breaking

Great video dude!

25:25 this is when the video actually starts

Thanks for the vid. I'm trying to find a way to make a mold for plates. Buckets are currently OOS. Any thoughts about an alternative?

Add about 1% by weight fibre glass fibres to cement mix. It helps with its strength.

Você é um gênio, obrigado! 🇧🇷

Just made an Olympic bar and now I need to make some plates as well! 💪🏽

if you still have those 43 pounders, you can add more mortar to one side to make it reach 45 pounds. to the old concrete, you can apply concrete epoxy or acrylic admix to make the bond stronger.

You’re my hero bro

Material list: 1) 2 inch in diameter pvc pipe cut at a length of 2&5/8ths 2) Castin' Craft Mold Builder you can buy from Michael’s 3) 8 cups of water 4) 60 lb quikrete concrete mix

אתה מוכשר !

Great effort!

How much dry concrete should I use? How much water do I need to add? Thank you

Awesome concrete videos!! I have my own concrete budget garage gym and I'm gonna try out your 45 pound plate design. With some of my weights, I used duct tape all around them to reinforce it that way

It came out smooth like new born baby

I appreciate the insight. Final outcome you came out well. Sorry it took so many times. Correct me if I’m wrong, but can’t you just weigh the bucket 🪣 & weigh it again with an additional 47lbs inside? So it’s 47lbs + Bucket Weight = 45lbs cure product.?

Do you leave the PVC pipe in it after curing?

HOw Are You PLATES and dumbbells holding up ?

Can you tell us the ratio of the concrete?cement?sand?water?ect..

subtract the bucket weight..?

Did you zero out the mold?

Take a old car tire, cut it the width of the tire and epoxy it around the edge, it helps for drop sets.

very good job my brother, there are always flaws but at least it weighs what is important

Hey!! Just made some of these plates and they turned out great. The way I tackled the weight issue is I dry weighed the concrete to weight then added water. The first 2 I did were 47 and 48, and I shaved them down to 45 each, thought it was a really easy way to make sure they were 45 exact. Again, the mold Idea you had made for smooth, perfectly shaped weights, keep up the videos man.

i certainly would not write 45lbs on a 43lb plate unless maybe i was only making the two... i do like that bucket seems excellent choice... and you should be able to make several...have you ever added fiber glass? or spray painted rubber bed liner paint on them? again these seems great...

so wouldn't the concrete get even lighter after 30 days??? thinking at least 1/2 pound lighter.

now we need a workout video

what trash can do you use

theres a lot of good things about that blue bucket as mold,but that beveled edge is a negative some what... when weights are on bar on ground then outer edge only hits ground...with normal weight entire edge hits equally..

Try putting a wire gauze in between the concrete...that will improve the integrity of the plate

LOL I was just looking for how to make concrete weights and stumbled upon this video! Great job, look great and very well explained! Just some constructive criticism, maybe make videos like this a little faster... more like 18 minutes or less. Would probably help with view counts too!

Cant you just add more material in it to make it more accurate?

But you haven't put iron rods in it to make them more stronger

Do these sell?

Whole time I was Thinking just add 2 more pounds of concrete and weigh it then cut the pipe flush after it dries, didn't need to rely on the math lol

You have to weight the dry concrete with more than 45 lb and then add te water

Good stuff

Thanks buddy!

Maybe you first measure the container eighty=w1, the measure with concrete w2=w1+45? This way will make calculation and tryout not needed.

Those two dislikes are from people who couldn´t get 45 pounds

Solo sube las medidas se nos complica lo de la calculadora

Hello, greetings from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, your videos are good, but I noticed that you don't put a metal mesh on the concrete, that's why it fractured so quickly when you unmolded it, friend, but otherwise they are excellent

Attempt #6, PVC pipe cut to 2 5/8"

to prevent the weights from breaking add some mesh or fibres to the mix

some tips. 14 :30 illustrates Why some rebar is so important. all be it chicken wire. or clothes hangers or osme sort of wire. thats NOT bendable no copper!. second tip you can indent the numbers with stensels or even a utensil ( spoon fork back) about 2 hours after the pour. you can even finish the top and give it a rounded edge that matches the bottom. tip 3 tap the sides with a hamer very lightly.. and/ or anything that vibrates. to get rid of the bubbles. they also weaken the weights. USing 4000/ 5000 psi concrete is reccomended because weights may be droped and u need better concrete for the wear and tear of daily use. even without dropping.

Just put 45 lbs of premix and dont count in the water....voila...wouldn't that be much easier to calculate. When it dries all the water goes away so you end up with 45 lbs of concrete. Dunno why go through the hassle of measuring diameters and stuff....

is there any substitute for the bucket. My lowes sold out

those look great, btw follow instructions, engineers know something after all

The concrete mix I got which was exactly the one you showed in the video had A LOT of pebbles and rocks in it. Yours looks so smooth and I didn't see any rocks... Am I missing something? Maybe Quikrete is diluting their concrete mix?

use fiber to strengthen... good video

When making concrete i realized that whatever weight i poored in cement, is the weight i got in concrete after mixing and curing and all. It could just be me, but thats how i got very precise measurements.

Put a metal mesh Its dosent break

ya gotta steal reinforce the concrete.. with rebar and wire mesh inside

Honestly this is enough for me I don’t got the budget for a $50 at the cheapest for a decent weight I’m not the person who drops weights I can get a full gym setup for like $800 (all I need right now and quality) I’ll add new equipment later that isn’t a must have like cardio I got a trail .25 miles from my house the city made one it’s like a marathon length If I sound kinda dumb it’s Bc I was up for like 48 hours now no idea why

use dry mix weight it and you know

Than workout like a beast

nice 👍👍👍

hell man pour some resin in the plate until the face is full that should do it

Weigh the amount of concrete you need in a separate bucket before you pour in the mold

Maybe over shoot ....Then grind away the excess . 👍

when it dropped, i said to myself, no rebar. Bucket removes, cracked in half.

Usas cemento puro o con arena ..??

I love iron and hate vinyl-sand, this is a nice medium between the two at like $20 for a full set of weights.

cute cat

It is interesting that aiming for the 45 lb. you did not use the scale while pouring the concrete. Instead you chose to use a length of a pipe as a measuring method.

Lol i love this video

What if u only have 1 inch barbell

Bro y didnt u cut the bucket the same height as the pipe thats much easier also add rebar it gives the concrete mix something to hold onto

Put in 3 lbs of re bar

17:08 clearly that would be easy to test. Fill that thing water and see what weighs. Almost certainly not 3 lbs.

Overshoot it and then grind it down after it’s cured

You'll get your weight if you weigh the concrete dry, after 28 days, or so almost all the water is gone.

1:37 theres a gym cat for all the gym rats out there :D

Or you can just weigh the Cement, and sand so that it will be accurate

Maybe make it just over 45 lbs and then grind it down to exactly 45.

Put braces inside, so that the plate will not be easily break

Dude, you're thinking about it to much and forgot the K.I.S.S. principal.