Lifting a heavy box
- Thread starterRobert F Jarvis
- Start date
Based on the skimpy specs so far, I say
pallet jack.
pallet jack.
MRW Lights
Well-Known Member
I hear these guys are available...
+1 for pallet jack, scissor jack, or basic lever, depending on why and where it needs to be lifted.
If you're building up your inventory, Automation FX has a line of affordable pneumatic lift products that can be very handy to have around.
If you're building up your inventory, Automation FX has a line of affordable pneumatic lift products that can be very handy to have around.
An automotive-style floor jack might work well, again depending on the details of what you're doing. Balancing things on them (safely) can be a bit tricky. Or maybe a hydraulic lift table cart (they come in various capacities, of course), which is pretty handy for various manipulations and movements of heavy things.
Robert F Jarvis
Well-Known Member
Oooo! Now that is an idea. Thanks Ron
@Robert F Jarvis Further to the innertube method; You have to keep in mind the inner tube will expand sideways to avoid lifting a heavy load.
We had a touring production in for a week, they had two sets each ~30' wide x 20' deep with carpets, furniture, powered props & walls with doors.
When one set was off stage, the other was on. When they were loading in we were all wondering what they were doing.
Their carpenter made carefully measured chalk marks on our stage and in one wing.
First items off their trucks were ~24 very sturdy dollies each ~2' x 2' with top quality non-swiveling casters.
Each dolly bore a VERY STURDY box ~12" deep. The boxes were placed on their marks, a butch inner tube was placed in every box with an air hose exiting via a hole in one side. A second, and slightly larger, VERY STURDY non-casterred box was inverted over each bottom box with a small vertical slot to accommodate the air hoses. The air hoses were coupled together and supported with tie lines between the boxes then their floor decks were assembled on top of the boxes. There were two solenoid operated air valves associated with each box; one to inflate the inner tubes and a second fitted with a foam muffler to deflate the tubes. The three visible sides of each set were skirted with rigid sides to conceal the 'Rube Goldberg' air lifts. When the sets were raised, the carpenters stooped and strained. It all worked better than it had any right to with set swaps occurring in brief blackouts with the grunting of carpenters inaudible under recorded scene change music.
As deck LX, my job was to disconnect one Socapex plus a couple of speaker, door and phone bell cables the instant we went to black, keep out of the way of the grunting carpenters, then reconnect to the second set.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
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Robert F Jarvis
Well-Known Member
JonCarter
Well-Known Member
Robert F Jarvis
Well-Known Member
We want to lift a dead weight about 4 or 5" to be able to loop it around a bar and then drop it to apply tension . I bought a small commercial air bag to try this morning after Ron's inner tube idea up.
Robert F Jarvis
Well-Known Member
The thread is getting long so answering myself here to thank all who contributed. This morning we are going to try out a small commercial hand pumped air bag. Even if doesn't work for this it will be a useful tool in the workshop.
bobgaggle
Well-Known Member
The more I read the more curious I am. So you want to lift your 400lb weight so you can hang it on the end of a bar? why? what is this job you're doing?
Robert F Jarvis
Well-Known Member
OK, I'm pleading the 5th on this. Actually it's going to be two counterweights at 200lb apiece. One for each of two bars. They have a table for Young Frankenstein and Igor. They want to raise it about 4'. The bars will be counterweighted to hold table and two people. When it comes down and the folks get off we are gong to have to substitute their weight. There are two boxes with the weights (actually very well constructed) and they need a bit of spare room to be able to hook the box's cables over the bars. They were going to allow a bit of slack in the cables and then let the brake off so the bars snapped up to take the slack out! Not! Not with me any where near the stage anyway. So I suggested this simple way to lift the weights temporarily to hook the bars then allow the bag to deflate so tightening the cables with no slack to snap! Is it my idea to haul tables and people up? Heck no. I'm just the lighting guy - these guys are idiots as far as I am concerned.
What Rigger?
I'm so fly....I Neverland.
Oh my Lorde. I mean....just...run.... far away.
Also, for anyone else running into this situation, let's look a little deeper:
Robert can't really plead the 5th here. You asked the questions, passed the info along you got here, and then it comes to light you obscured from us the details and reality of the situation. This is "just get it done" in action, and this is how people get hurt. The way that ControlBooth actually works is contingent upon the honest exchange of information. Didn't you present this problem in another thread, https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/young-frankenstein.48516/ , didn't get the answer hoped for and rather than taking that at face value (and passing it along to the other risk takers you're fronting for), you came back with this? Really?
"I'm just the lighting guy" and "they're the idiots" is deflection of culpability and normalization of deviance. You're now in the same boat as them. These are not sound ways of operating, and need to be accounted for regardless of intent. Or perhaps even more so in light of ones intent.
I get you're looking for a safe way to do this- or maybe more accurately, a way to limit property destruction and human casualty in the event of a failure- and it sure seems like nobody is listening to you onsite. I get it, I've been there. Straight, honest info is key, we've been around long enough to know we've got each others backs here, even when the hive mind has to say "Don't". If I'm reluctant to answer your questions in the future, that defeats the purpose of what we've got going here.
I'd be interested to know who the team in question answers to within the organization, and be speaking to them.
Remember, your safety is ultimately your own responsibility. Heads up, out there. It's just a show.
But you are aware of it happening and have posted now, and are involved in it, right? So you're liable too. If I understand, when you say bars, you're talking about using 2 battens to lift this table? Bring someone in who knows how to do it right, or don't do it, there are a lot of variables to account for. What Rigger nailed it and is one of those people I'd trust without question when it comes to these kinds of things.
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@Robert F Jarvis Delving a little further down your 'rabbit hole':
Are your "two bars" single purchase counterweighted battens?
What is the rated safe working load per batten??
Assuming the rated safe working load is for loads spread ~equally across the batten's full width, what is its rated Safe Working Load for a point load close to, or directly under, a single supporting cable???
If this is what they / you are planning; when you point load the first and last supporting cables the battens will flex at their suspension points, all the remaining supporting cables will go slack and contribute ZERO support.
Excuse me while I can still crawl out of your 'rabbit hole'.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
Are your "two bars" single purchase counterweighted battens?
What is the rated safe working load per batten??
Assuming the rated safe working load is for loads spread ~equally across the batten's full width, what is its rated Safe Working Load for a point load close to, or directly under, a single supporting cable???
If this is what they / you are planning; when you point load the first and last supporting cables the battens will flex at their suspension points, all the remaining supporting cables will go slack and contribute ZERO support.
Excuse me while I can still crawl out of your 'rabbit hole'.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
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