fingal's fingers

[Dana clipper]

I would like to make a set of these. Does anyone know the sizes and weights of them?

[Ryan Largay]

i like where your going with this!!! fingers would be awesome!!

[Brian_Beaupain]

Amazing Idea!!!!!:YR:

[Mark A Cummings]

I will actually have a full set at my competition August 29th, the Capitol City Classic in Baton Rouge, LA. I am making mine out of schedule 40 8" steel pipe. They range in length from 12' to 16' in one foot increments. They are all between 400lbs and 500lbs empty. I'm rigging them so that I can hang heavy 5/8" chain down the center and make them heavier for different weight classes. Travis Ortmayer will be at my show next month so I'm going to probably weigh the 16' up to at least 650lbs.

[Dana clipper]

I will actually have a full set at my competition August 29th, the Capitol City Classic in Baton Rouge, LA. I am making mine out of schedule 40 8" steel pipe. They range in length from 12' to 16' in one foot increments. They are all between 400lbs and 500lbs empty. I'm rigging them so that I can hang heavy 5/8" chain down the center and make them heavier for different weight classes. Travis Ortmayer will be at my show next month so I'm going to probably weigh the 16' up to at least 650lbs.


Is that the size they use in WSM is 8''? They look bigger.

And what are using for a base?

[Mark A Cummings]

I've never personally seen the ones at WSM. However, they appear to be about 8" pipe from all the video and pictures I've seen of them. I'm using solid steel for the bases equal to half the weight of each pipe. Based on the thickness of the steel base plates I won't allow anything less than 18" square, but no greater than 3' square so that it will fit nicely on a stall mat. I am finishing the pipe this weekend and hopefully the bases will be done within the week. I'll post some pics within a couple of weeks hopefully.

[BrentHamm]

Here is my set.

http://strongmanitoba.yuku.com/topic/1255

[nathan fitzgerald]

Those are awesome!


Here is my set.

http://strongmanitoba.yuku.com/topic/1255

[JimPierce]

I was actually thinking of trying make a set too for next year

[BrentHamm]

Pretty expensive to make. And a huge pain in the ass to move around to a competition (i train/store all my equipment at a farm)

[Eric Jett]

Pretty expensive to make. And a huge pain in the ass to move around to a competition (i train/store all my equipment at a farm)

Yeah, transport almost always seems the toughest part of a comp. Getting stones and platforms to your venue is tough enough, fingers must be impossible!

[James Deffinbaugh]

At WSM the lengths are listed as 3.5 m – 5.5 m (11.5 ft to 18 ft), and the weights are
200 / 225 / 250 / 275 / 300 kg (though in 2008 I think they bumped up the last one to 320 kg). 18' of 8" schedule 40 pipe would weigh 513lbs, 18' of 10" schedule 40 would be 730lbs.

[BrentHamm]

With that being said, Dave I said my 5th was harder then WSM. (I think their weights are suspect...or there is something about mine that makes them harder)

Just be forwarned!

Also..you can always shorten them if you make to long.

And even 2 foot of pipe makes a big difference on how hard the finger is.

My recommendation would be to make the 400ish lb one first. Test it.

Then go from there on what you do with the ones on either side.

I have to have mine shortened several times to get a set that Dave could even finish.

[timothy blakeslee]

those are going to be so awesome I cant wait I will finsh pushing those over as I hope all Danas guys do

[TEXAS STONEMAN]

From what I have been told the Fingers at WSM are 12'-16' and weight 440-660 (705 last year) but these weights include the base. I just used Mark's this past weekend and I will tell you that his 4th finger is noticably harder than the 5th at WSM and the 5th is just freaking ridiculous!!!

[Terry_hollands]

I just had one made and had it made the same weight (apparently) as the 5th at WSM mine was 6m and had 2 pipes welded inside the main one just to get the weight. I got my training partners to lift it up to me as I was cold and when I took the weight with one arm it nearly tore my arm out the socket! The weights at WSM are not what they actually are! As Travis said it included the base! the fingers at wsm are 4-5m

[Mark A Cummings]

Yeah, the ones that I made for my competition this weekend are apparently pretty heavy. Like Travis said, my 4th pipe is heavier than WSM's 5th pipe. Of course this makes me feel pretty good, because I've done my 4th one which obviously means that I can do all 5 at WSM! :M:


Just kidding, I could never survive that competition! (but I bet I could do the 5th Finger at World's!)

[Derek Poundstone]

INteresting note for anyone trying to make FIngers besides the weight including the base. I recently had the pins that attach the finger to the base on two of mine stollen. I had new pins made out of 308 Stainless Steel and they bent, then I had the pins maade out of 300 cold rolled steel and that bend, now we are using somehting called AR500 which is used in Bullet proof armoring. My longest finger is 20.5' and the torque when the finger is all the way in the air is insane. The finger is 1 1/2 stories tall!!!!

[Mark A Cummings]

INteresting note for anyone trying to make FIngers besides the weight including the base. I recently had the pins that attach the finger to the base on two of mine stollen. I had new pins made out of 308 Stainless Steel and they bent, then I had the pins maade out of 300 cold rolled steel and that bend, now we are using somehting called AR500 which is used in Bullet proof armoring. My longest finger is 20.5' and the torque when the finger is all the way in the air is insane. The finger is 1 1/2 stories tall!!!!

What thickness was your pin? I know that the one that somebody made for Travis' was way too thin and they bent it the first time they used it. I made one significantly thicker for him. The ones that I made for my set are all 1.5" in diameter and they pass through a sleeve in the bottom of the pipe. Makes it physically impossible to bend.

[Kevin Cronin]

I think derek's were 7/8", but to go thicker they would've had to have drilled a wider hole in the base - would've been pretty hard seeing as they think the base is made out of the same AR500 stuff! That is interesting about the sleeve tho, wonder if that would be feasible...

[Mark A Cummings]

I think derek's were 7/8", but to go thicker they would've had to have drilled a wider hole in the base - would've been pretty hard seeing as they think the base is made out of the same AR500 stuff! That is interesting about the sleeve tho, wonder if that would be feasible...

Sleeve is the best way to go. Weld a pipe through the bottom of the finger thats slightly larger than the pin. This way the pin passes through the sleeve and the weight of the finger is distributed along the entire length of the pin instead of just two points. Also make sure that the flanges that support the finger off of the base aren't too far apart. On mine there is just a 1/2" of play between the end of the sleeve and the flanges. That way there is absolutely no way that my 1.5" pin can bend, the weight is spread along the entire length of the pin.

[BrentHamm]

Mine are not that thick, and do not bend..this is one good way to build them.

http://www.strongmanitoba.com/Competitions/2005/Altona/BigPics/FFBrent.jpg

[Derek Poundstone]

Sleeve is the best way to go. Weld a pipe through the bottom of the finger thats slightly larger than the pin. This way the pin passes through the sleeve and the weight of the finger is distributed along the entire length of the pin instead of just two points. Also make sure that the flanges that support the finger off of the base aren't too far apart. On mine there is just a 1/2" of play between the end of the sleeve and the flanges. That way there is absolutely no way that my 1.5" pin can bend, the weight is spread along the entire length of the pin.
Good idea with the sleeve inside. As far as making the hole biger, thats damn near impossible with the base being AR500, my fabricator would have to use a torch and make a mess or purchase a new drill that has a gas engine!!. The hole ia actaully 1", not 7/8 but my first set of pins was 15/16" and the last set was 1". We had about an inch of play on each side and have used collars to center the finger but still no go. The bummer is the original pins must have been made out of AR500 as they were perfect but they were stollen!! With the finger boing so long, it puts a ton of stress on the pin so sleeving the bottom hole sounds like a good idea as drilling it larger is not really an option. I'll take some pics of the fingers in a few days to show how we addressed the issue. The AR500 is damned expensive but thats probably the route were going to take.

[Mark A Cummings]

Good idea with the sleeve inside. As far as making the hole biger, thats damn near impossible with the base being AR500, my fabricator would have to use a torch and make a mess or purchase a new drill that has a gas engine!!. The hole ia actaully 1", not 7/8 but my first set of pins was 15/16" and the last set was 1". We had about an inch of play on each side and have used collars to center the finger but still no go. The bummer is the original pins must have been made out of AR500 as they were perfect but they were stollen!! With the finger boing so long, it puts a ton of stress on the pin so sleeving the bottom hole sounds like a good idea as drilling it larger is not really an option. I'll take some pics of the fingers in a few days to show how we addressed the issue. The AR500 is damned expensive but thats probably the route were going to take.


Derek, If you can get a 1" pin through the hole, then just make the holes in your pipe large enough to fit a sleeve pipe with about an 1 1/8" I.D. pipe. Make that sleeve long enough that it takes up all the slack between your flanges, leave about a 1/4" play on each side of the finger. This eliminates you having to use collars to try and center your pipe, and it spreads the load on your pin all the way out to your flanges.

[Michael Love]

Marks Fingers were AWESOME... I just wish I had actually tried fingers once before the competiton lol.

I got to the 4th and I was out of gas.. not enough time left to attempt it.

Form was terrible lol.. not horizontal enough.. but here is my video.

Pretty funny with Dione Rheeming Marks brother lol... Sorry for the length. I did not edit them.

http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b46/marthafocker117/?action=view&current=RossFingers.flv

[Andy Vincent]

Good idea with the sleeve inside. As far as making the hole biger, thats damn near impossible with the base being AR500, my fabricator would have to use a torch and make a mess or purchase a new drill that has a gas engine!!.

Water jet? Lazer? Plasma? An oxy-acetylene torch isn't your only option for cutting metal. Even if your fabricator doesn't have one in house, he may know shops that have this equipment and would be willing to do a small job like this for you. Just a thought.

[Jeff Bach]

We used gas pipe that had been removed and replaced. I know a guy who works for the gas company and they have to dump the stuff anyway. Size varies by the size of the main they are working on. So pipe was free!

Had to buy the plate for the base and the other materials. Welding was not that expensive. Our are 8 inch also.

We use them inside and have limited height so we added concrete in the ends with a cap on both sides of the contrete. More contrete on the heavier fingers. Works great.

Fingers are a blast!

[Derek Poundstone]

Water jet? Lazer? Plasma? An oxy-acetylene torch isn't your only option for cutting metal. Even if your fabricator doesn't have one in house, he may know shops that have this equipment and would be willing to do a small job like this for you. Just a thought.

The base is all AR500 and weights in over 300 lbs. Transporting it is a pain and my fabricator has all kinds of heat based cutters but AR500 and heat dont mix well as I'm told its weakens the metal and can make it brittle. The holes need to be either drilled out or cut with a CNC plasma machine submerged in water which the base is too large to accomidate. The pipe on the other hand is old gas pipe so I will see about drilling that out and weiding in an oversized 1 1/8" pipe to run the new 1" AR500 pins through, that should fix the problem!!

[Kevin Cronin]

Transporting it is a pain ...
Iron Mike is such an asset to CT Strength...

[Steve Dohoney]

Iron Mike is such an asset to CT Strength...


He ran with that damn thing, but Derek did not let him pound in the stakes so I think he was pouting a bit.

[Dana clipper]

How did you reset them after each use at the show is they did not get them all over?

[Mark A Cummings]

We threw a tire down where the lift starts and just had two or three loaders flip them back over. Once they got into a bit of a groove it actuallly went pretty quick.