Building Your Homemade Wooden Power Rack, Step by Step

First thing we did was trim the posts from 8 feet to 7 feet. We could have had them cut at Home Depot, but we wanted to do it ourselves. We also took three of the 2" x 8" board and cut them in half.

After getting the posts trimmed, it was time for the drill press. We marked the center of each post at the top and bottom and used the chalk line to snap a line. The drill press only had a throw of 2 inches, so we used it to start the holes, then used the electric drill to finish. 

On the two front posts, starting at 24 inches, we drilled 6 holes every 4 inches with the 1 1/4" bit. On the two middle posts, again starting at 24 inches, we also drilled 6 holes with the 1 1/4" bit. These holes are for the safety bar which goes through both posts.

On the two middle posts we drilled 6 additional holes starting above the last hole (again every 4 inches) using a 7/8" bit. These holes are for the bolt to set the bar on. See the six smaller holes?

So, in total, that was 36 holes which took us almost 3 hours, mainly because of the not being able to go through all the way with the press.

After the front and middle posts were drilled, we fastened all three of the posts together with the 2" x " x 48" side braces. We laid it out on the floor, positioned the front and rear posts, measured 28 inched from the back of the front post to place the middle one, and marked it.

Using the clamp, we attached the front post to the front of the cross brace, then the middle post, and then the rear post. We did it standing up so we could use the level to make sure they were straight up and down. This is the left side being assembled.

We used the level to make sure the posts were straight.

We fastened the bottom cross piece with the posts standing, them laid it down and fastened the top. We used five screws in an X pattern.

We repeated the process for the right side.Remember, the left and right are opposites. Make sure you position your cross beams appropriately! Here they are before we put on the rear cross pieces. This is a view from the back.

We laid them down and fasten on the rest of the cross pieces, one across the bottom back, one across the top back, and one more across the top in front of the middle post.

The end result!

Might look a bit uneven, but according to the level it's pretty close to true.

So there you go - a nice weekend project!