Welding Tips and Tricks

My boss at work wants me to make a material crane for one of our trailers.

He wants me to take 2' of 4 inch structural pipe and weld it to a 1\2 steel plate and then bolt it to the said trailer. Then weld a another 1/2 plate 6"x6" to the top of the 4 inch pipe cut a 3 inch hole out put a 6' piece of 3inch pipe into the hole and put a 4-6 foot arm on it that will hold the block for the cable. He also wants me to mount his old 2000lbs ATV winch on the thing to cable up/down.

He wants a 3 foot support piece going from the main arm to the block arm and he wants the 2' 4 inch pipe to be oil filled.


My question I have made similar type of little cranes or what ever you wanna call them but only for hanging deer up. So my question is. Is this thing really gonna be able to withstand lifting materials all day long

Instinct without even seeing this thing is DON'T ! if you make it at home for your own personal use then why not - if you know your own limits of welding / engineering skills or are just redneck / Darwin award candidate it does'nt matter BUT once it's in a work place then it's a piece of lifting equipment & as such needs to be designed by someone qualified to calculate the loading on its components - it needs testing to 1.5 it's SWL & it needs regular inspection / insurance - a winch intended for vehicle use is not considered suitable for lifting under any circumstances & there is no way of knowing what it will lift depending how much cable is on the drum - bottom line is when this thing breaks or something drops from it & causes an injury / fatality the investigating authority ( HSE in the UK ) will go straight after who made it - the fact your boss told you too will not count for anything - it's all about liability & lifting equipment is a minefield.

I was wondering about this because I am sure my welds would hold I have faith in the pipe. BUT working on transmission power lines tends to maka person really believe in freak accidents my main concern is the lifting mechanism the winch is there something cheap that would qualify for a better lifting mechanism? And my boss does not own the company I've only started here last week I love the job but should I say something to higher up above my boss?

Put your winch on top of this.....


http://www.amazon.com/Pickup-Truck-Cran ... ruck+crane

That's a tricky one - as the new guy you will feel pressured into doing what the boss tells you even if you believe he's wrong so as not to give a bad impression - I'm sure others will chime in on this one & liability maybe different based on where you live - my thoughts are tell him your concerns both on structural design & suitability of the winch - I hate to say it but sometimes a firm can be so cheap skate they will risk workers safety for a few bucks - maybe when you point it out he will understand - suggest there are many companies that make inexpensive davits / cranes for light material handling on vehicles / trailers & the price is not that bad for a tested dependable product - if he still wants to go ahead suggest an independent tester should inspect the finished crane & perform load test / certify SWL on it - as to the winch it's never right to use a vehicle winch even if brand new to operate as a crane - small ATV winches use the motor as the load brake through a planetary reduction - if any part of this fails the winch will free wheel - a proper crane type will either have a separate brake or possible be a worm drive that self locks when not under power - I don't know of a cheap source that's suited to vehicle low voltage power - there are several relatively cheap 110volt electric hoists intended to be used on scaffolding that are more suited to the purpose - I wish I had a better answer but someone more knowledgeable will chime in soon I'm sure.

Thanks for everyone's advice I just got off of the phone with him and he said yea it dose sound like a bad idea. He said he was gonna come up with a different winching/lifting system he wants me to still build the main piece tho and put the block on it which I will happily do. But I did tell him that I would not use the vehicle winch as I do not feel safe with it being for a vehicle he has agreed to spending around $1500 for a more practical lifting system.


If he brings back another vehicle winch as bad as I hate to I guess I could go one step above him as I do know his supervisor. Would it be wrong or make a bad impression if I did do that? Thanks everyone

Glad he backed off on this.

All cranes that are used on a site/in a situation that must comply with OSHA must meet the requirements of ASME/ANSI section B30 and all subsections that apply. Even if you want to hang a chainfall or come-along off an arm. There's a TON of stuff there. You can't just scratch-build... You need a licensed engineer involved.

Steve S.
(NACB certified overhead crane inspector)

Now this could be a felony!
Especially if someone was injured or worse.
Buy the crane and let the manufacturer deal with the liabilities.

OK now I'm concerned about this guy being my boss. Or shop foreman whatever's you wanna call him should I report him to OSHA?

Trapperdude464 wrote:OK now I'm concerned about this guy being my boss. Or shop foreman whatever's you wanna call him should I report him to OSHA?

No. A misstep is not being dangerous. He did listen to you, and did make appropriate changes. If you feel really uncomfortable at that company, then drag up and go somewhere else.

OK well he has decided to do something else after telling him what all could go wrong and I'm going to the apprenticeship in 2 weeks for the boilermakers union

Trapperdude464 wrote:OK well he has decided to do something else after telling him what all could go wrong and I'm going to the apprenticeship in 2 weeks for the boilermakers union

Congratulations!

Both for educating your boss, and for getting accepted to the apprenticeship program!

Keep us updated, please. A brief "diary" of your journey will be very educational for others considering the same path.

Steve S

I will and thank you Steve and everyone else for educating me on this subject.

I'm glad there is a form like this if there wasn't I probably would of done something really stupid in fear of losing my job and making a bad impression if the thing was to break or some thing really bad happened

This a great forum,with few snickers,but some tongue in cheek meant as humour.
The moderators are great.
A persons errors may be pointed out, but won't get flamed.

Trapperdude464 wrote:I will and thank you Steve and everyone else for educating me on this subject.

I'm glad there is a form like this if there wasn't I probably would of done something really stupid in fear of losing my job and making a bad impression if the thing was to break or some thing really bad happened

Congratulations Trapperdude! Your post shows a lot of maturity, professionalism and insight! Good for you! Please, please post your experiences as an apprentice! I will share your stories with my class!

Good for you, and congrats again!
Gary

I will Gary thanks everyone I will post a lil journal type thing once I start in the apprenticeship and I get some real stories to contribute to the forum lol.