Soft weights write up (with pictures)

[wjrussell]

I made some soft weights for my wife and I last night. I made 50lbs for about $75 (would have cost $275 with tax at my LDS).


Materials:
50lbs of washed reclaimed led shot ($70)
vacuum bags ($5 or so)
vacuum sealer (already owned)


Steps:
1) Weigh the shot
2) Put shot into vacuum bags that are double sealed on three sides
3) Fill the airspace with tap water
4) Seal the bag without vacuum (so that the weights are flexible)


Notes:
I read a couple posts where people were not concerned about the airspace. I used about 64 ounces of tap water (weighing 4.18 lbs), which displaces about 4.28 lbs of sea water. This means that without the added tap water, 8.5% of the weight carried would be offset by air in the bags (adding tap water reduces this to 0.2%). Also, as tap water is not compressible (when compared to air), the buoyancy of my weights will not change.

I'm not really worried about durability because these weights will be carried in pockets. In the future I might create an abrasion barrier to go between the weights and the outside world.

All you LDS supporters (okay maybe not so much in the DIY forum) don't fret, all the money I saved will go go to feed the monkey one way or another.

 

[trappist]

I like the approach of filling with Tap water very clever IMHO.
Total price is attracting if you really need the flexible weights though. I have these solid ones and I'm very happy with them
For fun my brother and I did melt some lead and put it in cigar tubes This makes nice weights to show

 

[wjrussell]

Yeah, I didn't have a preference on hard or soft weights. This was easier (read lazier) than making a form and melting solid weights. Total time invested was around 90 minutes.

 

[A2thaK]

wjrussel, would you mind telling me the approx. dimensions for your 2 and 4# weights? I was going to try and use some ripstop fabric to make soft weights, but I don't want to make them way too big or small. Thanks a bunch.

 

[RandyOrr]

I'm doing this exact same thing tonight. I was wondering how to keep them flexible. If I vacuum sealed them they wouldn't be soft anymore. The tap water trick was what I needed!

 

[wjrussell]

I didn't actually vacuum the bags before I sealed them. Because of this they remained flexible.

 

[RandyOrr]

Mine came out as desired. I made 50 pounds of weight for around $60-$70. It was a little tricky getting all the air out. I found sealing them then poking a pinhole in the corner to let air out and resealing them worked perfectly. They are awesome, I cannot wait to use them. Thanks for the tip about the water. I found this thread when researching how to keep them flexible. I feel stupid for not thinking of it myself.

 

[wjrussell]

Adding water wasn't an original idea. Jimbo2006 has a write up where he used corn syrup, I figured water was just as well.

On a different note, these weights have 12 or so dives on them now (80' max) and seem to be holding up just fine. I had one small leak at a corner where a heated seam and a factory seam met up. I have since resealed all factory seams.

 

[Maximum Overdive]

I'm planning on making my own weights. I'ld like to make them soft weights how ever I'm not sure how to melt the lead and make the shot or were do you buy your shot? I'm planning to use the nylon fabric from old outdoor patio fabric, this way there won't be and air issue. Any thoughts?

 

[Snuff]

Where do you find the "reclaimed lead shot"? I'm assuming you have a local source since shipping would cost a fortune. I don't know what kind of business / industry I could purchase that from.