Does any one have any experience with sling release rigs, do they work well are they safe and do they stand up well? I do mostly trusses and it would give m e a leg up on my competition if I had one
I've seen them in action on what I believe was a history or modern day logging show(not any of these reality shows, but a real history channel or Nat Geo type show). The one that I saw was a full radio remote to drop the logs off the chokers. Here's a remote choker release: http://www.fortronics.com/the-choker-system/index.htm Here's a rig release, you can choke with this one, or you can basket with it and just drop one side of the basket: http://www.westechrigging.com/rigging-hardware-hooks-specialty-hooks-caldwell-rig-release-hooks.html I figure if anything is made to stick up to logging day after day, then using one to set trusses and other pretty docile loads then they should hold up well.
Can't find where they are explicitly prohibited from use in the construction industry (yet). http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/1926.251
I have one we use to drop reef cones into the ocean, it works well. It is a major brand that is big in marine rigging, but for the life of me I can't remember it.
Some of our customers have them. Absolutely the cats behind for setting trusses. For the life of me I can't figure out why we haven't bought a few of them.
We use Dawson ground release shackles, usualy on pilings.They might work well on basket slings to.They have apull rope that pulls the spring loaded pin back,as long as you keep them lubed and out of the dirt they work great.
Thats interesting. Never been around a "sling release" rig. I have used a "truss hook" .Just a large J-hook on the end of the mainline that hooks in the top of the truss. After the carpenters get it set & nailed in you have to let it down about a foot before it will come loose from the truss.
I've looked at a couple, one made in the US, a caldwell its comes in a manual rope pull release for around $1,400.00 and a electronic release for around $5,000.00 as well there is one made in Montreal, it is also around 5 k . It will take a lot of trusses to make back 5 k, but i could see that it would make me every framers go to crane because it can be quite a challenge to release sometimes, and I know of what I speek because i've spent as much time sitting on the pointy part of a truss as i have spent in the seat. Hoping to find some one that has used one to see if they work well and stand up well
I do hope you find an acceptable solution to your problem Tradesman, but oh how I miss the old days, back when the liability of an operator was not so much about covering his legal arse, but more about being a competent operator that knows his rig and knew how to perform his task with calculated safety. I say calculated because a truss is a relatively light load. And what we would do back in the day (God forbid it be done now) was to take a straight choker cable, not one all twisted with knots, and connect it to the load line (above wedge socket) with a shackle, and let the choker cable dangle. Take the dangling end of the choker cable, loop it under the peak of the truss, and send the open eye of the choker to the load ball hook. Of course, we had the safety latch of the hook tied back. Set the truss, slack the load on the choker, then swing the ball to the side of the truss, drop the ball to flip the eye of the choker from the hook. We did this operation flawlessly back in the 80's, but safety folks of today would flip if you had a shackle and a load on the load line as well as a tied back safety latch. Such is the world we live in.
I also looked into some of these items mentioned. An opinion please- could this one be acceptable? mfg by PeckHale, it kind of looks like a figure eight ....with a SWL of 4500 and saw one being sold for around $300.... http://www.peckhale.com/sites/default/files/documents/H44 RAM Hook Brochure.pdf I have seen similar of these when we mused at antique barn hay loft rigging items, but those were old blacksmith'd items so I didn't use one on something like a truss. Those hay barn rigging arrangements (and the one I am considering here) appear to be able to be released under load whereas the ones we used on concrete tilt panels required the load to be completely removed and the rigging drooped to up-end the hook before it could be released. Seems a truss requires a spreader bar w multiple attachments (or at least two attachments) if one looks at the TPinst booklet...does that mean you need at least two of these things? Many times we have grabbed the truss at the peak (one point) but this is likely not the preferred or recommended method. Climbing around the truss to release the rigging [crane] is a chore....same as when hauling iron into position. Thanks.
I've set a lot of trusses like this. Worked great. Not allowed to anymore. I have found if you use a chain in a basket most of the time you can slide it over to someone to unhook it.
bin sitting on the peak a lot of times with a taped back hook, also grabed more than one truss when the choker came loose before I had the truss secured, so as an op. I won't do it, maybe the guy on the peak isn't as fast as I was.
Found this Tradesman . It still works like a truss hook but with the added lock & release system. www.gripperhook.com
That's neat TD!
I had the same thought willie. Dont know what it costs but what I like about it is it still uses a simple hook design giving some redundancy if the lock would fail.
looks good I phoned not a bad price compared to electronic versions $ 675.00 I like that the locking mech. could fail and still not loose the load the other ones I looked at gave me that pucker feeling. Winters usually pretty slow for me with the crane but I think I may get two in the spring. Thanks every one for your imput :thumbsup
Yeah, $675.00 dont sound bad Tradesman. Plus it should make that Amish framing crew happy They also have a nice spreader bar www.gripperhook.com/SpreaderBeams/ML1622.asp
Looks like a neat idea. The only thing that would concern me is that a could see those getting drug across the ground and beat up. Also it would require changing the rigging out for every gable and girder truss. Also how many times could you see that pulling sideways on a truss. Not trying to be negative or anything but I'm also as interested in a better way to fly trusses as anyone else. Btw we get a lot of complaints for not using a j hook or cable so if I could find something fast and easy to unhook that is safe it would make my life easier.
here is one I found looks well thought out but it would take a lot of trusses to pay for it $ 4,900.00 cnd. they say they made it round so it doesn't catch as much wind and rotate loads http://craneequipment.ca/
We often have to go up a ladder to retrieve our sling when stepping sailboat masts so I have be looking for somthing similiar. Port Credit Yacht Club uses a Caldwell Rig-Release and the harbourmaster there says it works quite well. Link to the on-line catalog. Gerry Shipman http://www.caldwellinc.com/rig-rele...ase/manual-release/documents/model-rr-catalog
http://www.trusshook.org/Truss-Hook-At-Work.html I was going through some old posts and came across this thread. Here is the hook I bought ,I got two for wide trusses. all my customers love them first thing some of them do when I arrive on sight is go to my rigging box and grab my hook.
It seems like most houses I set, there's at least two to three girders, two or three plys. What do you do? Hang a couple cable chokers in the brackets, or re rig the whole thing for those? Also a lot of my customers sheet their end gables, I suppose you could make a big enough hole to pry them out?
I always lay out two 16' nylon slings and a couple un-rigged steel chokers. Most of the framers I set for put the roof sheathing on the sub floor so I choke the nylon slings on the plywood
Looks pretty neat. How wide is the mouth. If you have a double do you have a shim or something to take up the extra space. I like how it grips the truss. Shouldn't be any reason you can't send the trusses up level
It's for single trusses only. Which is ok because that's where your after volume,generally girders,gables,hip sets have to be positioned and braced back so it's not about volume, but when you get out into the singles first and most importantly there usually less stable and often higher making them more risky to climb up and unhook. And secondly its easy to grabs the rope from standing on the bottom chord I lower the load line they release and off for the next truss , it's quicker at the pile also. You can also hook part way down the rafter to balance the pick without double wrapping to hold in place. All in all at $300 apiece they have worked out great.
I've got a few competitors that just use big j-hooks. I actually have a set too, I just only use it on under 20' trusses, on like vaults/ scissors type trusses that are hard to unhook. I typically use 2-12' steel cable spreaders with hooks and latches, then basket 2-8' steel cable chokers around the top chord, or if they are real tall trusses, I'll basket the upright stringers, so when I let off it falls down the truss for them to unhook. The open hooks I've never liked, its too easy to get caught in a tree branch, or tap another truss, or have the truss break, then you lose the truss. I do like how those clamps at least grab the truss, it would be a pain though to switch back and forth. I bet 90% of the houses I set have beams or girders in them. I also rarely have common trusses across a house. They're mostly fancy lake homes, the architects like different angles. I would see them being nice for apartment buildings, or livestock buildings, common trusses on a long run. I do see people setting trusses with nylon's. I've had guys that want to use mine for that too, they don't like handling the steel chokers, weight and akward. I tell them if they want to buy nylons, I'll use them, but the steel plates on the trusses just eat them to pieces. I'll get several years from a set of steel spreaders, and usually at least a year from my 8' short ones, I'll usually end up with broken wires in one of them from quarry/ steel work.