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I zip tied a water bottle to my crane hook to check my swing and it actually worked
Last Tuesday I was spotting a load on a 60 ton and could not get a read on my swing from the cab, so I taped a half full water bottle to the hook block with two zip ties. I figured it would just spin around and look dumb, but the water sloshes and shows you exactly where the load wants to drift. I ran 8 picks with it and my spotter said every landing was inside 6 inches, which never happens for me. The bottle survived the whole shift and I only lost one zip tie when it snagged the headache ball. Now I keep one in my bag and guys on the crew keep asking to borrow it. Does anybody else rig up dumb little homemade tools like this or am I the only one?
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thea_bell7d ago
Man, I gotta push back on this one because that water bottle is gonna get somebody hurt. You slosh test shows you where the load drifts once it is already moving, but it does nothing to tell you if your swing brake is holding or if the load is creeping while you sit still, and that is the part that actually bites you. Zip ties on a hook block are a snag waiting to happen, and you already lost one to the headache ball, so what happens when it lets go over a crew? Your spotter calling good landings eight times does not prove the bottle works, it proves you had a decent day and got lucky on wind. Hand signals or a radio with a real spotter beats a half full bottle every single time, and if you cannot read your swing from the cab you fix the cab setup or you stop picking blind. Save the water bottle for drinking and keep your hook clean.
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