Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1999 - 66

Product 7(eviews

New

Elbin Cleveland

edt/or

Little Rigger Chain Hoist
You may have seen them on the Stage
Expo floor, a small 500 pound capacity
chain hoist, the "Little Rigger" from
Rigstar. You may have even wondered if
they could be useful. Well, they are.
Through a combination of end-of-year
funds and a frustrating semester of
deadhanging the same traveler three
times in five shows, I purchased three of
the hoists for Williams College. They
have worked well (since September,
1996), but they would never be confused with a CM Loadstar.
They pick stuff up and let stuff dowlI.
As far as I can tell, they have the load limiting equipment required by law, to keep them from lifting more
than their capacity. I found this out when I accidentally jammed
the chain (fortunately, not a frequent occurrence).
They do have some less than pleasant features. The worst
is the control pickle. Tills is a lightweight piece of plastic enclosing an electric drill switch. It has an up/down lever and a
trigger, just like a reversible but non-variable speed drill. The

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30 ft. control cable is not well strain-relieved at the pickle. I've

had to re-grip the cable at the pickle on two separate winches
so far. The cable itself is not very robustly insulated or flexible.
The whole control assembly seems lightweight and llimsy,
though we've had no failures to date.
I purchased the longest travel available, 34 feet at 16
fpm. Afull lift under full load will max out the I minute duty
cycle. The minimum hook-to-hook distance is 1'-8". Maximum hook-to-hook is 36'-0". There is no way to adjust the
limit switches without voiding the warranty. The power lead is
all of sixteen inches long willch is not very useful, especially in
inverted applications when the winch travels over the load.
One more annoying feature (before we get to what's good
about these thmgs) is the slight delay between squeezing tile
trigger and the winch actually starting. I suspect there is a load
sensing circuit involved somehow, because sometimes after
stopping in the middle of a heavy lift (250 Ibs) the winch
sometimes won't start on the first try. Pulling IDe tJigger again
usually starts it up. Tills can be tricky when using multiple
winches to lift a load.
Despite IDe preceding complaints these thmgs really do
work. I'm not talking about lifung loaded trusses in an arena
here, but in our small proscenium and IDrust stage
theatres they nicely replace block and falls. (Ever
tried to lift 500 lbs on a block and fall?) It is especially nice not to have to tie off a line to hold the load
as you would have to do with rope tackle. For example, the shop foreman and I easily loaded three 4
foot x 16 foot stressed-skin platforms onto the top of
12 foot high leg assemblies before the student crew
showed up to bolt them in. The biggest hassle is running an extension cord to the winch (es). Make sure
it is a heavy duty cord so tllere is no voltage drop to
the \\~nch under load. Also, secure tile connection so
that it doesn't pull out halfway through the lift. That
can really slow trungs down.
Otller nice feanlres: They are small and lightweight
(about 15 pounds), so you can hang IDem one handed.
The \\wch hook is non-S\\~veling but IDe chain hook
S\\il'els. You can tlrree-fer them onto one 20 anlp circuit. They come equipped \\itll a nllty chain bag.
Ob\~ously you have to make sure that what you
are attaching them to will carry tile load, and they're
definitively not for lifting people. Standing under a
load is also unwise. The units are a bit pricey at
$800+ each. I probably would not have bought them
if I hadn't had that end-of-the-year money - but
now I'm glad I did. Just don't drop the pickle.
Reviewed by Cosmo Catalano, Jr.
Production Manager at Williams College

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1999