Tools For Christmas?

 If you're a regular reader of this blog, I hope you received at least one tool for Christmas, and I don't mean that one asshole relative coming over for dinner.  I suppose even a software tool would count.  So would a 3D printer, or just a hammer if it's a hammer you need and appreciate.

 Santa brought me two things I needed/wanted, both PPE; a pair of MIG welding gloves to replace the ones I wore out*, and a pair of leather welding spats to cover boots and lower pants legs†.  I really need those when I'm welding at higher currents.  Sometimes the spatter seems as bad as welding stick. :)

 So those were welcome indeed.  Also welcome was a high grade (Tripp Lite), steel cased, isolated outlet, RFI filtered, surge arresting, outlet box.  ie; ISO-BAR 6.  These units are very nice indeed, and this one  will go straight into the 3D printing lab/bench.

 And I got another present which I shant detail, because it's prurient / naughty and thus not suited for this blog.  So there.  Yes I know I frequently curse in my "family-safe" blog.  Shaddup. ;P

 Might not seem like much, but we're kinda broke.  The good news is, we're not really into the crass commercialism of the season.  We prefer giving things which are thoughtful and appropriate to the person, not expensive.

 Merry Christmas, and new tool wishes to all of you.

~≈{👁}≈~

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* pro tip: MIG welding gloves at the welding store are fifty bucks.
   The EXACT SAME gloves are sold in gardening shops as "rose
   gauntlets" for twenty-five bucks.  I like the "MUD" brand.
   You're welcome. ^_^

† this AM I happened to notice lacy holes in the cuff of my lounge
   pants.  "oh yeah," says I to myself says I, "I should wear my new
   spats AND stop being a literal 'pajama welder'."

The Hoisting Cart project, part 5: The Outriggers

  So far, when the load is on the boom (hoist) and the boom is pointed away from the cart, the whole thing is prevented from turning over by counterweights at the other end of the cart.

With the boom over the cart's deck, the load is inside both sets of casters - the cart is 2X longer than the boom.

 A reasonable nerd might ask, 'why not have outriggers which project toward the load - like a shop crane - instead of counterweights?'

 Forward outriggers on shop cranes really get in the way.  Every time, without exception.  Ask me how I know this.  The outriggers on shop cranes project forward so far that the crane boom cannot approach the work.  Been there, done that, bought the black satin tour jacket.  So counterweights it is.

 Which are fine until we swing the load around, because this cart is narrower than it is long, like most 4-wheeled carts, I suppose.  When the boom is at 90º to the long axis of the cart, the load will pull the whole thing right over.  Well, shoot.  Part of the point of having a 360º rotating boom is to be able to put things on its own cart to move them.  I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I didn't want that.

 So now we need outriggers anyway.  But now, the outriggers can go straight out the sides, directly supporting the weakest overturning direction.  With them, we can have guaranteed stability* in 360º, at least it sounds good.

 The boom swings 24in off centerline, and I would be foolish to assume someone won't carelessly swing a load at an angle, moving it outside that 24in circle.  So it made sense to me that the outriggers need to reach at least 36in from centerline.  Note that when using the electric hoist, the vertical load line will never be at the end of the boom; there is some built-in "fudge factor" there, in my favor.

 What this looks like in practice, I think, will be this:

 Both ends of the outrigger tubes will be closed, and the outboard ends get simple jack screws, made from coupling nuts and threaded rod.  I might have some nice machine feet for the bottom, we'll see.

 These outriggers socket into a larger tube that extends across the full width of the bottom deck for strength - lots of force will appear on these outriggers.  (This tube does not exist yet and must be fabricated from straps.) And the socket openings are probably going to get stout collars to prevent them from tearing out.  Lots of force, etc. and I note these outriggers, much like the boom, are life-safety, cannot-fail items.  Ahem.  There is no sin in over-analyzing, over-engineering, or over-building, these parts.  Some real-world crane builders have found this out the hard way.  I watch YouTube videos.

When not in use, each outrigger will stow beneath the bottom deck, I hope. They will be retained in the sockets by hardware store spring clip pins.

~≈{👁}≈~

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*(ahem, wheel chocks are probably a good idea, despite outrigger feets.  Product not intended for other than ruler-flat, perfectly level floors, cough, wheeze.  There's nothing stopping me from putting jack screws at the other and, which I might do.  That would give a wider "wheel base" for the major counterweight to sit inside of, further discouraging turnover on that end, and partially unloading the outriggers... gee, when I put it that way, I guess I really will have to do that.  But first let's get the thing working at all.)

shop safety - lifting

 I now have a back injury - a pulled muscle in my lower back - which hurts like the devil and is severely limiting motion.  I've done this sort of thing in the past, not that it's a good idea mind you, and I expect it will be better "soon" which means it could be magically gone by tomorrow afternoon, or it could still be aching and stiff a week from now.

 The cause was two-fold: yesterday, I removed the rotary table from my mill so I could:

A) tram the head, since I had taken it out of tram to cut something on an angle a while back and

B) figure out where the non-squareness problem was coming from between the rotary table and the vise
(it turned out to be rust on the bottom of the rotary table - to be fair, it came that way and I forgot about it - this thing is not trivial to turn over)

 This involved setting it down on a low storage place, something I should not have attempted alone.

 That alone might have done it, although I hadn't suffered any symptoms today, until... I was again working on the mill and leaning over things, straining my lower back... then suddenly something spasmed and I was in agony.

 Wouldn't it be nice if one could afford to have such things made out of titanium, say, instead of cast iron?  As it turns out, you wouldn't want to do that, because metallurgy and a long explanation I won't go into, but the short answer is that for the purposes of building these specific devices, either steel or cast iron is absolutely desirable, even if we could afford (the much lighter) Ti.

 So either I can only install and remove the rotary with help from another strong person, or I have to get a shop crane of some kind.  I haven't the space for the traditional automotive shop crane, like this:

 Those are cheap, and lift up to 4,000 pounds depending on boom position, but even folded I have no room in my shop for one.

 A much sexier option is the Sky Hook™ line of material handling shop cranes:

 There's a whole range of these things, large and small, with various mounting options for mounting the crane to mills or lathes or other machines, they can also be mounted on rolling floor stands or on carts too.

 It uses a machine (think cyclery) link chain, so the load won't spin. And based on reviews and videos I've seen*, they're well-designed, well-made, and a pleasure to use.

 Unfortunately, they are priced well out of the reach of the average amateur consumer - they are strictly for companies with a healthy material handling / safety budget.  I've saved an eBay search anyway, in hopes that a used one turns up in my local market (they are heavy, I'd rather not ship it) but I am not holding my breath.

 Maybe I'll win the lottery.  Not sure how that works - do you have to buy tickets for that to happen?  ;D

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* reviews and videos about the Sky Hook:
https://youtu.be/mCufgAwqhac
https://youtu.be/sWMmH6coe7M
https://youtu.be/aZItaoyndAc