CM & Milwaukee announce the first wireless, battery chain hoist

Hot off the presses.

https://www.cmco.com/en-us/resource...macM3IYo9tbJiETvTjSDw9Xn6i5QlZZwtlW5u_q9b8vpI

Every single post on my FB feed is the press release for this.

I just double checked the date to make sure it wasn't 4/1 yet. This is wild. I expected it to be like a 1/4 or 1/2 ton, not a 1 ton!

That's an interesting development.

I’ll say the same thing I said on FB:

This isn’t going to replace your whole rig of hoists (yet). This is going to be super handy when you need to spot rig things around the grid, bring stuff up to the grid during load in, or put picks on things before you dead hang them.

Pretty much anywhere you’d use a manual chain hoist or two this tool could end up replacing that. In the industrials this is initially being marketed too I can totally see the time saving over dragging over fly cable for a short use install.

Working on a site or location without the adequate power available? Installers and integrators are gonna love this thing.

It only has a 20ft chain. That's going to be a pretty big limiting factor right now. I could see it being really useful for a stacking motor though. The riggers can get it in the air and running right away at the start of load in. And then the electricians can kill the power and pack up the distros instead of waiting around for the stacking motor to come down. But I would be really nervous about leaving something battery powered sit in the air all day or longer without knowing for sure that it would still be on and working at the end of the night, or I was sure I could get to it swap the battery. I also wonder how durable it will be. Looks like it has a plastic case and is half the weight of a CM 1 ton.

Great for an engine hoist, or maybe lifting a pallet of supplies to the second floor in a construction site. If I saw one of these in a venue.... Yeah, no way

techieman33 said:

It only has a 20ft chain. That's going to be a pretty big limiting factor right now.

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It comes standard with a 20ft chain, they have option for up to 60ft per CM's website

techieman33 said:

It only has a 20ft chain. That's going to be a pretty big limiting factor right now. I could see it being really useful for a stacking motor though. The riggers can get it in the air and running right away at the start of load in. And then the electricians can kill the power and pack up the distros instead of waiting around for the stacking motor to come down. But I would be really nervous about leaving something battery powered sit in the air all day or longer without knowing for sure that it would still be on and working at the end of the night, or I was sure I could get to it swap the battery. I also wonder how durable it will be. Looks like it has a plastic case and is half the weight of a CM 1 ton.

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as aeh20s said, the chain amount is adjustable, Most CM lodestars ship with 40' of chain but can be ordered pretty much any length.

Van said:

Great for an engine hoist, or maybe lifting a pallet of supplies to the second floor in a construction site. If I saw one of these in a venue.... Yeah, no way

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could you explain why? This is backed by a pretty strong company. Uses CM internals, and has all the same safety features that a CM lodestar has, the only difference is this runs on a DC18v Battery instead of 120v or 3 phase.

I'll admit, at first seeing it I had a similar reaction but as I looked into it there's no real difference between this and what we use except the power. I'm not a huge fan of wireless control but thats the point of this product, no cables.

Back in my day, hoists were steam powered! If Ron Hebbard were still with us, he could explain how it all got plumbed and the time the line was so long the steam condensed back into water....

We miss you, Ron.

I'm both deeply interested, and deeply concerned in a way I can't quite verbalize.

DuckJordan said:

could you explain why? This is backed by a pretty strong company. Uses CM internals, and has all the same safety features that a CM lodestar has, the only difference is this runs on a DC18v Battery instead of 120v or 3 phase.

I'll admit, at first seeing it I had a similar reaction but as I looked into it there's no real difference between this and what we use except the power. I'm not a huge fan of wireless control but thats the point of this product, no cables.

Click to expand...

I really want to see more specs but what I have seen tells me this has a plastic case which is easy to open, by anyone. It has a "Patent Pending" brake system. Those are just the items I identified in a quick search, most everything out there right now is Milwaukie Fan-boys republishing the press release. I know what a Metal cased chain hoist looks like after a single use in a production environment, I shudder to think what a hoist with a plastic case is going to look like.
Like I said, hoist some shingles, 1/2 a unit of plywood pipe into or out of a trench, yeah, maybe.
8fpm?
Relying on electronics rather than electro-mechanical control?
I want to see the specs on the "wireless control", they are not included in any of the literature I've seen so far.

AND I'm old and Curmudgeonly.

I t

cbrandt said:

I'm both deeply interested, and deeply concerned in a way I can't quite verbalize.

Click to expand...

What we really want is a battery capable or running out chain, (no load) on a couple dozen motors without recharging. A powered pickle!

So the question to me is, will this be an outlier product 10 years before it’s time, or the first in what’s sure to follow?

Time will tell.

Van said:

I really want to see more specs but what I have seen tells me this has a plastic case which is easy to open, by anyone. It has a "Patent Pending" brake system. Those are just the items I identified in a quick search, most everything out there right now is Milwaukie Fan-boys republishing the press release. I know what a Metal cased chain hoist looks like after a single use in a production environment, I shudder to think what a hoist with a plastic case is going to look like.
Like I said, hoist some shingles, 1/2 a unit of plywood pipe into or out of a trench, yeah, maybe.
8fpm?
Relying on electronics rather than electro-mechanical control?
I want to see the specs on the "wireless control", they are not included in any of the literature I've seen so far.

AND I'm old and Curmudgeonly.

Click to expand...

Understandable, If it helps the Patent Pending Brake system is on CM Lodestars as well. and the wireless control is part of their line already from Milwaukee. That said, I don't think this is a replacement for how we use motors but for an installed show where you're dead hanging a truss after hanging it once, lifting things into or out of a truck, or helping pull a big heavy piece into an angled truck. Theres still room for this to be a useful part of touring broadway and install shows.

Van said:

I really want to see more specs but what I have seen tells me this has a plastic case which is easy to open, by anyone. It has a "Patent Pending" brake system. Those are just the items I identified in a quick search, most everything out there right now is Milwaukie Fan-boys republishing the press release. I know what a Metal cased chain hoist looks like after a single use in a production environment, I shudder to think what a hoist with a plastic case is going to look like.
Like I said, hoist some shingles, 1/2 a unit of plywood pipe into or out of a trench, yeah, maybe.
8fpm?
Relying on electronics rather than electro-mechanical control?
I want to see the specs on the "wireless control", they are not included in any of the literature I've seen so far.

AND I'm old and Curmudgeonly.

Click to expand...

Here's the information on the wireless control

I played with the unit today at USITT.

The control is Blue Tooth based. Since it's a brushless motor the control is variable speed from 0-8FPM. A little noisy, but not horrible. The brake design is to permit operation with an external drill in case of battery failure. I asked the question if it complied with ANSI E1.62 and was told it was.

Is this going to be on every tour starting in the fall? No. But it is an interesting tool with some very interesting applications, particularly for the installation side of our business.