OpenBarbell V3 Update #3: S&S Lounge, Ikea Sourcing, and V3 BOM

RepOne Strength
The Next Dimension in Strength
3 min readJul 7, 2017

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Image taken in Romance mode

When we moved our workshop in preparation for the OpenBarbell V3 build we wanted to make it functional for us and for S&S Barbell members. We’re no WeWork, but we have cold brew and Edison bulbs, so we’re pretty close. For the next month or so the office will be busy with assembly but if there’s ever an open spot and you happen to be in Brooklyn and in need of a workspace and a lifting session, stop by!

We’ve been called resourceful, we’ve also been called crazy, but there’s just no better way to get torsion springs than harvesting them from innocent, unsuspecting tape measures. The springs we typically find require special tooling to cut even a standard spring-end dovetail shape, and once the tooling is paid for the springs come without housings, meaning we have to either 3D print or injection mold a housing for them, which is cost prohibitive. All of that just to come up with a spring that can only be as good as a spring from a tape measure.

All that being said, sourcing tape measures isn’t fool proof either. In fact here’s a picture of me lamenting our first order of 500 of the wrong tape measure.

That was the first, and so far only, issue that might impact our ship date. We were looking at a return and reorder process that could take up to two weeks (harbor freight has terrible customer service) until we realized Ikea stocked almost the exact number of tape measures we needed.

On top of that, the Ikea tape measures are thus far the best tape measures we’ve tested for OpenBarbell. The linear tension is low, the spring housing is almost exactly the same dimensions as our previous spring housing, and they’re super easy to disassemble. This will result in an OpenBarbell that’s lighter, smoother, and will be pulling on the bar with considerably less force than V1 or V2.

In the end we lose maybe 2 or 3 days on our ship schedule and in return we get a much better customer experience, I think it’s well worth it!

Sometimes it takes a lot of things to make a different thing.

After installing our fancy glass blackboards, we took to the chalk markers to put our sourcing status front and center. If you can’t tell by our symbols, most of our sourcing is done (this pic is a few days old) and our plastics, which have a roughly two week lead time, are almost ready to be ordered. As packages start arriving we’ll begin the assembly process, starting with preparing our tape measures and gluing/spooling our spindles, and ending with firmware upload and our QC process.

As usual, feel free to send us an email with any questions. More updates are coming, and keep an eye on our social media to follow your device from our workbench to your doorstep!

Thanks, Jordan

Founder @ Squats & Science

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