Barbell Handle Redesign

Inspiration

I believe that current barbell designs aren't as ergonomic as they could be. The Bar is uniform along the length which I believe creates pressure points in your hand when lifting. In addition, the knurling is usually very aggressive and under heavier weights, rips the skin up on my hand. For these reasons I decided to try and redesign the handle in a way that would be more ergonomic for the average lifter. Creating a handle section that can be patterned two or three times on each side of the bar to create a more ergonomic gripping design for a power grip.

I began the design change by searching for the ergonomics of grips and handles. I found a document online documenting and classifying the types of grips, and the 13 points to be considered when designing a handle. Using this guide, I came up with my new designs for the barbell handle. Improvements included adding knobs on each side of the handle to increase security, and creating a sort of bowed shape where the middle of the handle is a slightly larger diameter than the ends, again to increase security. I also went through the checklist and made sure the handle section was the correct length, diameter, and surface finish. I believe that having knurling is necessary, especially when your hands are sweaty, but many knurling are too aggressive and with these design changes, hopefully the knurling could be dialed back to less aggressive levels.

Shaded sketches of my design brainstorming can be seen below. I opted to go with design 1:

Manufacturing

Core

Using the dimensionally accurate two dimensional sketch pictures, I made a model of one section of the barbell handle. I then Exported it as an .STL file to be used in Slicer for Fusion 360. Using slicer, I created a three dimensional core to pack clay on.

Clay Work

After creating the core, I began to pack clay on, keeping with the general shape give by the core. After packing, the primary shape outcome was largely the correct shape but needed a lot of work to become smooth and more refined. The picture below shows the shape with a little refining work done on the left portion of the handle.

Working with the clay tools, I slowly refined the shape and smoothed out the curves until I attained a shape the was pretty smooth and fluid. 

The work continued to slowly progress like the pictures shown above until I arrived at my semi final product.

At this point, I only had to put the final touches on my handle by adding a texture to the handle surface to simulate the knurling on a barbell. I did this by using a tool that came in the clay kit that had a knurled surface on it.

Taking a closer look, it is easier to see the textured surface on the barbell handle.

This is the final form of my barbell handle project. Some things I noticed after creation was that the handle seems much too long. If I were to go back and do a second iteration, I believe shortening the length of the handle by and inch and a half to two inches would make it the optimal size. In addition, I believe shrinking the diameters slightly may help with the barbell gripping issue, as I believe it may be a bit too large for most people, although to me, it seems like a good size (I have large hands). Adding these two changes I believe would make it an overall better design.