I found these weights in a lighting dolly / crane that I bought for dirt cheap from a production company.   It feels like they weigh a little over 20kg each.  I use them to weigh things down when gluing sometimes, but as they don’t have any handles they are difficult to lift.  I haven’t drop any on my feet up to now.  I would like to make some handles for them.

I decided to use a two handled option, to allow me to use both my arms when lifting.  After  I measured the cube, I drew out the shape of the handles, working out the overall length, where I would have to drill holes, and bend the metal.  My mental arithmetic’s isn’t as good as the video suggest, this is edited for effect.

I then marked the length of the flat bar and cut three pieces out, used a punch to the mark where I would drill the holes.  It is good practice to start with a smaller size drill bit, working your way up to the finial diameter, oiling the metal as you go along.

I use my de-burring tool to clean the breakout on the underside side of the holes:  http://miscpro.com/2014/10/25/deburring-hand-tool-burring/

If you are drilling correctly you will see these coiled pieces of metal, which make pretty convincing moustaches.

When I went to bend my metal, I quickly realised the vice was too small to use the bending jig to do any shaping.  Instead I ground channels along the bar and this made shaping a lot easier.  I used my entire body weight to achieve force required.  If anything gave way I would have probably landed on the floor.

Using a couple blocks of wood as spacers, I lined the handles in place.  If they seemed to be off, I used my punch to offset the drill hole thus moving the metal into place when bolted.  Drill into the weights, again working up to the size I needed before taping a hole into them.

You can see the bolts pulling the metal into place, and how mighty my drill is when I flip it over.

I painted the weights with aluminium paint, which is a great primer for metal and resinous woods.  I also like the colour, which is highly metallic with a sci-fi quality.  I can use my new weights around the workshop, or like kettlebells or dumbbells when I don’t have the energy to go to the gym.  The workshop is like a gym anyway.