Our number one goal here at monkii.co isn’t to sell monkii bars – it’s to inspire people to live wild.  So when we started hearing that a small number of people thought our products were too expensive and that they could make them on their own for much less, we decided to help them.  So whether you buy from us, or make your own, it’s time to get wild. 

Disclaimer

We did not make these tutorials - they were made by normal people who may or may not have engineering, manufacturing, or technical backgrounds. Follow this tutorial at your own risk.  We can’t speak to the strength nor safety of anything you make. Use common sense - following this tutorial and using the device could be dangerous. 

SKIP TO: POCKET MONKII || MB2 || MINIMALIST

pocket monkii DIY ($25)

by JakeOfAllTrades 

Click Download PDF Guide

Step by step video guide:

Step 1: Materials and Tools

Here's what you'll need to get to make your own Pocket Monkii

Materials

• 2 -10' Cam Buckle Tie Downs
  • Rated to hold at least your own body weight
• 12-18"- PVC Pipe
  • I used 3/4" diameter, but you can use whatever you like to fit your hands
  • 3 Lengths of 4-6" pipe depending on the width of your closed hand
• Thin Kevlar String for sewing
• 3 - 2" pieces Heat Shrink Tube
  • Use 1" diameter Heat Shrink with a 3:1 shrink ratio
• Small Carrying Case
  • I used a toiletry dopp bag
• Gorilla Tape (for grip)
• Foam Mounting tape (for cushion on the door anchor)

Tools

• Scissors/Utility knife
• Hacksaw
• Heavy Duty sewing device (Stitching Awl, sewing machine, Sail needle, etc.)
• Heat gun or lighter
• Super Glue

Most items can be found at a hardware store and/or dollar store. All in all I spent about $25 on these materials.

Step 2: Design

Layout

The design of the Pocket Monkii is fairly simple. It consists of three lengths of nylon webbing from the tie-down straps. The first is roughly one foot long, and will go through the padded door stop and be secured to the anchor end of the cam buckle. Through the adjustable end of the cam buckle will be another length of webbing, which will be a four feet in length and have a small loop sewn on the end. Through this loop will be last length of webbing, which will be about 10 feet in length. On either end of this strap is a "Lower Triangle."

Lower Triangle

The Lower Triangle will is made by running the end of the strap through a handle, then securing the end back onto the strap. The lower triangle will be roughly 18 inches of webbing.

Sewing

There will be four sewn joints: One on each Lower Triangle, one to create the loop on the adjustable strap, and one to close the fasten the door stop strap together. Each sewn joint will be sewn in a "Box X" pattern, which is just a box with an X inside. This is a very secure stitch that will prevent any slipping or pulling apart of the webbing. Each joint (except for the door stop strap) will be secured further with a bit of heat shrink tubing. This will protect the stitching and make everything look a bit better too.

Step 3: Process - Cut, Sew, Shrink

Handles/Door Stop

Cut the PVC into three lengths using a hacksaw. These should be cut to just slightly longer than the width of your closed hand. For me it was about 4.5". Two will be handles, and one will be the door stop. Use a utility knife to fillet out the inside edges of the ends of each piece; this will prevent rubbing and abrasion of the straps on those corners. Wrap the handles in a layer of Gorilla Tape. I find that Gorilla Tape works best, as it's extremely durable and offers a nice grip on the handles. Wrap a couple layers of foam tape on the door anchor, then wrap a layer of Gorilla Tape over top of that. This combination adds a good about of protection for the door and creates a friction "bite" on the door that will prevent any slipping while moving around and exercising.

Straps

Measure out and cut your 10', 4', and 1' lengths of strap. Cut off any tags or hooks attached to the straps when you got them, you just want strap material. When you make a cut, burn the edge of the strap immediately to prevent fraying; just take a flame to the end and just make sure you see a line of melted nylon form across the edge.

Thread two handles and two pieces of heat shrink through the 10' strap, slide a piece of heat shrink on the 4' strap, and slide the "anchor" end of the cam buckle and the door stop through the 1' piece.

Sew

Create a Lower Triangle on one end of the 10' strap by setting a handle approximately six inches from the end of the strap, then bringing the strap end to the rest of the strap about six inches above the other end of the handle (see picture) Secure the strap end to the other side of the strap with a Box X stitch. Create a Lower triangle on the other end of the 10' strap in the same way

Create a small loop (about 3 inches in diameter) on one end of the 4' strap. Secure this loop with another Box X stitch. The other end of this strap will feed through the cam buckle (see picture)

On the 1' strap with the cam buckle and door stop, simply sew the ends of the strap together with another Box X stitch to close the loop. When complete, slide the stitched joint into the body of the door stop to hide it.

Shrink

Slide a piece of heat shrink over the stitches on the Lower Triangles and small loop. Shrink it down by applying even heat with a heat gun or lighter/torch from a distance. Be careful not to burn yourself or damage the straps or stitches.

You should now have three separate pieces:

• The 10' strap with a Lower Triangle on either end
• The 4' strap with a loop on the end
• The 1' strap with the door stop and cam buckle

Step 4: Assembly, Storage and Setup

Assembly

Feed the 4' strap end (without the loop) through the back of the cam of the cam buckle, and pull the end through to your desired length. Feed the 10' strap through the loop on the 4' strap so that the loop bisects the 10' strap, and the Lower Triangles hang evenly when holding the whole system by the door stop.

Storage

This system is fairly tangle-proof, as there is much less hardware and strap material flying around. You won't have to wind the straps or disassemble anything; the whole thing can be stuffed into the case of your choosing. I chose to go with a toiletry/Dopp bag, as it just fits with the travel theme of this system. You can use something like a pencil case or Nalgene bottle, or just fold the straps up and wrap an elastic around the handles or something, you can't really go wrong here.

Door Setup

IMPORTANT: Make sure you are setting up on a door that opens away from you, in this way the force you apply on the Pocket Monkii will be pulling the door into the door jamb, and not into the open position.

Simply open the door, place the door stop at the top of the door on the side opposite from you, then close the door (see picture). Adjust the height of the handles by adjusting the strap going through cam buckle.

Bar/Branch Setup

Wrap the anchor strap around the bar or branch and feed the straps through the loop of the anchor strap, tying the system in a Girth Hitch around the bar. Pull it tight, adjust the cam buckle strap, and you're good to go!

monkii bars 2 DIY ($40)

by JakeOfAllTrades 

Click to download PDF Guide.

Step by step video guide:

Step 1: Understand What You Are Building
Do your research on what the product is and isn't. Check out their videos, website, and awesome free training app. monkii bars 2 is a complete suspension system for improving your flexibility, mobility, strength, and endurance. Understand how the product is used and that will help guide you while building your own.

Step 2: Materials

Most of the materials for this project were ordered from Strapworks.com. Strapworks is a one-stop shop for webbing, rope, buckles, and hardware. The rest of the materials and tools were bought at my local hardware store or found around my house.

 

Materials List

48' of 3/4" polyester webbing

I used 40' (anchor straps) in grey and 8' (handle/foot straps) in green.

Compared to nylon webbing, polyester webbing has higher abrasion resistance, greater water-resistance, and lower stretch/elongation, making it the ideal material for this project.

(4) 3/4" Rounded Metal Sliders

(2)  3/4" Metal Cam Buckles

Always test these ahead of time, sometimes they can be faulty made-in-China parts.

6 feet of 550 Paracord

You really only need the inner threads, you'll be using it for sewing. It has a high tensile strength and increases the max load of this system to about 300 lbs.

Sail Needle ---OR--- a sewing machine capable of sewing through webbing.

(2) 7" Lengths of 1" diameter PVC Pipe

You can cut the PVC with a hacksaw or miter saw.

(4) 1" PVC Pipe Plugs

I had to sand the shanks of these plugs down a bit to make them fit easily into the PVC pipe ends.

~32" of VELCRO One-Wrap straps

Cut this into (2) 10" straps and a 12" strap

12"x6" Piece of Neoprene or similar fabric

Sandpaper

 

Gorilla Tape

 

Scissors

 

Lighter

Step 3: Bars and Straps

You'll be cutting webbing with scissors, and you'll need to burn the cut ends in order to prevent fraying. Do this is a well-ventilated area.

 

Measure and cut (2) 20-foot lengths of webbing. These will be your anchor straps.

Next, cut (4) 2-foot lengths of webbing. These will be your handle and footstraps.

Use the scissors, utility knife, or sandpaper to round off the inside corners of the PVC pipe. This will prevent abrasion on the bars and footstraps

When sewing hardware to the ends of your webbing, this is the technique I used. Feed the strap through the hardware about 1-1/2 inches and fold it onto itself. Sew the tag end to the webbing using a running stitch in a "Box-X" pattern along the tag end. This proves to be quite difficult with just needle and paracord thread, so I recommend using a heavy duty sewing machine.

 

Sew a metal cam buckle on an end of each anchor strap.

On each footstrap, sew a swivel clip to one end and a quicklink to the other.

Tightly roll up up each anchor strap. Start by rolling the cam buckle first. Secure each wrap with a piece of 10" VELCRO one-wrap. This is how you'll store the anchor straps.

Step 4: Make the Case

The monkii Bars 2 Ultralight Kit has a very ingenious minimalist case to hold the system together. I had a piece of fabric-backed neoprene from an old tablet case, which I cut up to make a similarly functioning case. If you want to make a case, here's how I did it; or you can use silicone bands to hold everything together.

 

Lay each rolled-up anchor strap side-by-side in the center of the fabric and trace their outline onto the fabric.

 

Set the bar side-by-side on top of the anchor straps.

Fold the ends of the fabric straight up to meet the end of the bars. Trace this outline onto the fabric for each bar.

Draw curves connecting the four circles to the outline of the anchor straps in a pattern that you like.

Draw a small circle inside each of the four circles.

Cut out this pattern, and cut out the small circles.

Ensure there is enough fabric left for the outer part of the circle.

Insert a PVC plug facing up into each of the holes you've cut into the fabric.

Ensure the fit is snug, but not too tight.

Step 5: Assembly

Stick the VELCRO-wrapped anchor straps side-by-side on the case.

Roll up the handle and footstraps and stuff them into their respective bar.

Lay the bars on the anchor straps.

Fold the plug ends of the case up and secure the plugs into the handles. This holds the whole package together.