Rust inside winch drum

[Colin]

I have three electrics hanging from 2001 vintage JR Clancy winches-- the drill-drive, single haul line kind with no built-in fail safe... When I look inside the drums through an empty cable inlet, two of them look nice and clean, and the third one has a bunch of rust all over. Pictures below.

I have two ideas in my head:

1. There is a lot of good steel there still and this probably isn't the weakest link in the whole assembly.
2. Rusted components in overhead rigging should be removed from service.

What would you do? Unload the electric and tag it out until replacement? Not worry so much and just plan to replace all three some year soon because they're just generally sketchy? Spray rust inhibitor inside, give it a spin and pretend it never happened (sort of joking)?

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Call Clancy and send them the pictures.

Probably not much to worry about though. Surface rust on this thick of steel is not usually significant.

 

[Colin]

Last time I asked Clancy about these winches they couldn't even come up with the right manual and had tossed out their records of the job (something about a new computer system). This is a different sort of thing though, so I'll try them again.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

I use to occasionally specify hand winches but stopped 10 or 15 years ago because of the lack of limits, especially on a project where the td was planning to "install" a drill motor on each an rig up remote control of the drills.

Wish you could replace them with packaged hoists.

 

[Colin]

Funny you should say, because I just finished an inspection report mentioning the lack of limits and including this picture of the underside of the head block on one of these electrics:


I suspect the bent washer over the left guide line is from somebody running the clew into it. When I first inherited the space I found that winch's haul line crossed up on the drum from somebody lowering the electric too far until it was hanging from the clew, jammed into the head block with a slack haul line, and then not bothering to guide the haul line back onto the drum on the way out.

Plus what were they thinking using plain old flat washers there? The other two sets have something more appropriate like this:


That is one of the lesser issues I have with this installer, though. Other greatest hits include no spreader plates used on orchestra cloud arbors stacked past four feet, malleable wire rope clips in a couple lifting situations, and on another electric they did this when routing two lift lines:

 

[Protech]

First, I recommend that you contact JRC, as well. My guess is they will tell you its fine, but that is completely their decision. While we do not manufacture that style of winch, I will say that is one of the nicer versions of them.

I cannot make any absolute guarantees having only seen a picture (and it not being our gear), however I would not be overly concerned. Surface rust occurs on untreated steel surfaces even in very dry climates, and does not penetrate deeply into the steel. Corrosive, penetrative rust is a completely different story the actual structural integrity becomes compromised. That being said, you are right to be cautious and we recommend a thorough rigging inspection annual and/or when a safety concern presents itself, whichever comes first.

I would recommend that you replace the "lolipop" connector with standard, load rated Unistrut hardware however - and correcting the pipe spacer issue above (but I'm pretty sure you knew that! lol)

 

[Colin]

I sent photos to the service manager at JR Clancy. He was noncommittal about the effect of the rust, which is not surprising. I'm going to poke it with a long screwdriver to confirm it doesn't go deep and assuming that goes well I'll just put it in my report, send it off to the money people I'm already bothering for other rigging maintenance my budget can't handle, and leave it in service for now with an inspection before each use.

I'm also trying to figure out how I can attach a chain to the clew as a safety when the electric is up. Not much space at the clew to do so.

The top guide line terminations are a treacherous reach without a positioning harness (which I don't have) so will have to wait for additional funding, but they're loose and lack tension adjustment devices. Seems like the lollipop connectors (I was struggling with what to call those) might do a small amount of adjustment, but I wouldn't want to put any more tension in them considering they are indeed very un-rated as far as I can tell.

And of course I'll unload the electric and move those lift lines to the right side of the loft block spacers before it gets run any more.

Thanks guys.

 

[venuetech]

I'm also trying to figure out how I can attach a chain to the clew as a safety when the electric is up. Not much space at the clew to do so.

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I worry that someone would come along and try to lower the electric with the safety chain still attached. Springing loose the cable on the drum. Getting a tight wrap back on the drum would be easier said than done. Especially for an inexperienced hand. Some sort of signage or such to prevent this may be in order.

 

[Colin]

I worry that someone would come along and try to lower the electric with the safety chain still attached. Springing loose the cable on the drum. Getting a tight wrap back on the drum would be easier said than done. Especially for an inexperienced hand. Some sort of signage or such to prevent this may be in order.

Yup I'll be making some kind of signage that will affix to the drive assembly so that the winch can't be operated without first removing the sign and presumably the chain that the sign says to remove. Same idea as marking/locking out any line sets with obstructions, non-moving scenery, power/data cable attached without slack and so on.

The training I conduct includes instructions for brief inspection of the entire set and its path of travel prior to unlocking and operation, looking for obvious issues like obstructions and imbalance if a counterweight set. I suppose for the winches the inspection should include checking the tension in the safety chain before undoing it to make sure the brake hasn't failed.