"rigger" wrote in message
oups.com...

Steve B wrote:
"rigger" wrote

I guess my experiences rigging and
insistance on the safety of my crews made me overreact to Steve's
offhand comments.

Sorry Steve, I guess I may have been a little harsh.

dennis
in nca


I thought I just said that putting a beam over the rafters was a good
idea.
I thought I said that it might cause some distortion, but still hold.

I insisted on safety practices from all of my crews. Never had a man
hurt
badly, and never dropped anything big or important. (Biggest lift,
28,000#)
I think lifting with rafters is a bad idea, yet I would do it if I could
spread the load over more than two rafters.

MAJOR point: 150# is not a lot when spread out. More than that, I
believe
would start to become marginal and dangerous. In that case, I would
still
do it, but use some vertical shoring under horizontal supports with screw
or
hydraulic jacks, and then I would do it confidently.

Just me. What you do after you close your garage door is okay with me.

Steve

Last time Steve.

How many times have you set up rigging using timbers, etc. in elevator
shafts to raise or lower large machinery or equipment? I've done
somewhere between 12 and 18.

How many times have you moved machinery out of fire damaged or rickety
old buildings with weak floors? I've done about 40 to 50 of these.

How many times have you set wood cribbing to load or unload machinery
or equipment up to 60,000#? I've done this hundreds of times.

How many times have you skidded and moved machines weighing anything
between 500# and 100,000# using anything from softwood 2x4s to hardwood
12x12s. I've done this thousands of times.

Enough. This is called practical experience. This is pretty far from
crane operation and since we also erected cranes I'll tell you it's
nothing like that at all.

We both believe in safety but, I believe, because of your relative
inexperience in the types of procedures I've noted above, you (and many
others) tend to overkill to be on the safe side. And basically I don't
argue with this idea. Stronger can't be less safe, right? And I say
if someone wants to spend the extra time and money to feel safe: go for
it.

What I do object to however is someone who has relatively little
practical experience questioning my suggestions on the basis of safety.
After all you'll never catch me questioning your suggestions about
crane operation. Why don't you stick to the things you know best. Or
at least ask a question instead of suggesting the fallacy of someone
else's ideas.

dennis
in nca


Like I said, hook it up and see what happens. It will work or it won't.
It's that simple.

Steve