Boom Crane Pulley

Step 8 Boom Crane in action!

We lifted all sorts of things up, the heaver ones being a TV, barbecue grill, and a fridge.

For the objects to be lifted, we simply used bright-orange truck tie-down straps. They're rated for like 3000 pounds, so it was more than enough. You just wrap them around an object like a present (crossed unterneath). This gives you a good point to lift from, and prevents the object from slipping out.

Well, the biggest question I'm sure you have is "How much can it lift?" Well, I didn't want to do any destructive testing to see its breaking point, because then I wouldn't have myself a cool crane any more!

But we lifted two big guys on it at one time, each weighing over 200 lbs, and there were no signs of weakening anywhere.

So I can confidently say that you can for certain lift 400 lbs on this thing. And that's a lot of weight.

Summer is coming up and we've got some great ideas for this thing, one being a tire swing! It will also make it much easier getting beer kegs up to the balcony.

Enjoy!

Comments

[chayzer]

Bottom line is it worked! An excellent example of using some materials on hand to make a task easier. Other than mounting the horizontal boom a little differently, it held up fine! These guys were confident enough to ride the crane. As for the hole in the railing.. trying to move all that stuff up a crappy set of stairs almost always results in scratches and holes in the wall. And honestly, it's 2" tubing they used on it. Drag racers are only required to have 1 5/8" tubing for roll cages... they're dealing with a bit more force (yes i realize you can get different thickness in walls, DOM, and so on). Safety nowadays is so blown out of proportion by guys sitting behind desks in some office somewhere dictating what they believe to be safe. Ever consider trying to haul all that stuff by hand up a narrow staircase? Looking at quite possible if not probable back injury! There's an obvious risk with hoisting large objects up a few floors. As long as you're willing to accept that, take a chance. Riding the crane would be a bit of a rush. Would be much more fun then being the captain super safety tightwad.

[lucanos]

This was an interesting project, and certainly does answer a problem which alot of people in mid-low rise apartments have to deal with. However I think there are certainly some aspects of the plan and design which do need to be looked at before I would be comfortable encouraging others to use this rig. 1. The drilling of the pipes, both as part of the handrail and as the boom arm. As mentioned above, this does create a weak point in the rig, and can also exert some very strong, and rather difficult to detect forces within the joint. Some hardware shop level bolts might actually snap under some loads when used in the fashion (especially if, like most people, you built this boom and then keep it bolted together, but detached from the handrail, until next time it's needed). 2. The general rigging is pretty good, but some considerations some into play when using this kernmantle rope. Some knots cannot or should not be used in it, and there are some special ones which work incredibly well with it. 3. General safety precautions regarding the raising and lowering of gear, such as keeping people clear of underneath, along with safety gear for the ground crew (hardhats), would also need to be considered. 4. Hauling an actual person with a rig like this, whilst physically possible, should not be encouraged unless there is a secondary, and separately rigged safety line, the person is in an approved harness, and they are also wearing safety goggles, gloves, a hardhat. 5. The anchoring of the bottom bar of the boom is a little questionable, too. Shear forces on metal screws in that kind of situation can add up pretty quickly, as can the leverage force caused by the load pulling down on the end of the boom and being levered over the edge of the concrete slab would also be something too look at. As I said, an interesting idea, although there are parts which need some attention.

[codeguy9]

Nice idea. Something like this can really save your back. I would not be too concerned using this to lift anything 500lbs or less. I like the others did not like the idea of drilling through that pipe on the gaurd rail. I think your holes on the store bought pipe were fine. I would have used clamps made with 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick 2-3 inch wide flat stock metal and large 3/4 threaded rods or bolts. The hole will still be there when the lift is removed. With clamps you would just need to retouch up the paint when removed. The block system you used was nice to reduce the lifting effort. Overall I like the idea. Just don't stand under any load being lifted.

[JWilly48519]

The whole concept of Instructables isn't compatible with wet-blanket sucky negative posts, so I recognize that this probably is inappropriate. In case anybody cares, though, from an engineering perspective this one is really borderline in terms of potential to hurt somebody bad and/or get the user in fairly serious trouble.

1. Drilling a hole in a steel tube dramatically weakens it against bending failure at the hole location...right away, and even more so after a little rain and weathering. That particularly applies to the building's safety railing. If during a later party, some beefy guy leans or bumps into that railing and it fails for some stupid reason, you can bet that the fault will be assigned to that drilled hole, and whoever was responsible for drilling the hole will be up for involuntary manslaughter. Yikes.

A vastly stronger and more reliable structural approach for impromptu steel tube structures is to use swivel scaffolding clamps. They don't require any holes, they attach with included high strength fasteners, they're galvanized for fairly long outdoors life, and they're engineered for fairly high safe loads. Often you can get them from industrial supply places.

The "Kee Klamp" type of fitting is much less structurally reliable, is harder to use because the common versions require cutting the pipe/tubing, and isn't significantly cheaper.

2. The load-support eyebolt should go through a clamp as well...not through a drilled hole.

3. The load-support eyebolt should be *forged*...not a bent-steel cheapie. You can get forged eyebolts from McMaster and many other industrial hardware suppliers.

4. The lifting line should be either wire rope (with wire rope blocks) or polyester (with fiber rope blocks). Other kinds of plastic rope are designed to stretch during use, to take up shock...and you don't want *any* stretch in a lifting application, because it compromises strengh. High-flexibility wire rope plus matched-type blocks is far and away the superior way to do this job.

5. Keep everyone well away from under the load and from the upper structure. If anything breaks, not only will the load come down, but the rope will recoil upward or downward like a whip, maybe with a piece of sharp hardware on the end of it. There's plenty of history of workers having limbs cut off by whipping structural ropes/lines.

When you're doing structural-load stuff, Be Careful, and ***know what you're doing***.

[saltoricco]

It's good you point out the safety aspect but you're way over the top with your concerns about the hole, the the lack of a clamp and the eyebolt. The bending moment at the tip of the tube is near zero in both tubes. Hence your comment about the "bending failure" does not apply. And the eyebolt in that hole will probably hold a higher load than you would want to pull up anyway. BTW whole aircrafts, and most hang gliders are built that way.

[Tazzz]

Have you taken into consideration the structural strength of the connection of the handrail to the building? How about the load bearing capacity of the balcony? With all due respect, you don't know what you're talking about.

[saltoricco]

My comment wasn't an overall evaluation of the project but a response to the points made by JWilly. And yes, I have well founded knowledge about the background of the statements I made. What makes you think I would not? Anything factual in my original posting you can correct?

[Tazzz]

Hmmm, it appeared to me that you were endorsing this project. Let me ask you this hypothetical question: if the load caused the bolts holding the rail in place to fail, and the rail was "jerked" off of its footing, will the hole tolerate the resulting forces?

[saltoricco]

Got it, it was a misunderstanding. Which hole are we looking at after the rail fails? Personally, I probably wouldn't have fixed anything at the rail, due to its unknown stability. Or maybe I'd have run a steel cable from the one end of the rod to the other and over the rail. That would reduce the load onto the rail to a vertical one, and the rail makes the impression as if it could take quite a bit of that (at least near a post). The whole setup doesn't alarm me all that much. There would probably be a fair amount of warning signs (deformations) visible before the structure fails. If it is used to haul up some furniture and people don't stand right beneath it, it may inflict some damages to the house front, but what else? If the beer drinking bloke is pulled up on it he's just keeping Darwin's natural selection process going, by engaging actively in it. I'll join him tomorrow when I go hang gliding in a similar contraption.

[dmsomerville]

ditto, everything about this project looks like an accident waiting to happen...

[Tazzz]

As an engineer, I was also horrified at this idiotic stunt. As a landlord I was disgusted, because this is exactly how tenants trash your property. If there is an accident the landlord would get sued not the drunken tenant. I am sorry instructables, this is one of those cases where you simply can't be nice. When people behave irresponsibly and stupidly, they need to be told and not glorified as you have done. Shame on you.

[troycawley]

Yay! arrived safely!

..."safely" being a relative term...

Great project!