I too, am fond of manpower, though I‘m not much for pikes or lifts without an assist from some mechanical advantage. With even multipart tackle we’re still in simple machine territory, not much to break down.
Not only is it always big fun to raise this way, sometimes it is just the right tool for the job.
I’ve shared the same story as Tim, literally gotten work because the other framers the client called first weren’t interested in raising on some out of the way inaccessible site, without a crane.
And in this instance, a frame I raised (with the help of many – a workshop cut frame) back in ‘ 01 at the New Hampshire Farm Museum it really was the best tool in the box.
Necessarily a piece on piece raising, it took two full days to assemble.(a long time for a scribed frame) Though the use of the derrick was to add interest to the workshop, it also was a little cheaper than raising with a crane and safer and allowed for far greater control than swinging pieces with the telehandler.
One person to lift each stick, and somebody behind them to tail the rope, one person to turn the mast and luff the spar, and two monkeys on the frame to seat either end of each stick.
Here we are removing the spar, and about to swing the derrick mast out from the center of the frame, and then swing the cubidle up into place (Yes a tree service crane was there for fortyfive minutes – no half day rate though, they volunteered to the museum)
The heart of the derrick was a set of castings (a base plate and box to ride it and the guy line ring and swivel and the fittings to fit the end of the spar and mast) which used make their living at one of the states many granite quarries, and are part of the collection at the museum. The raised spar (raised to put it above the frames roof system) is not traditional, and called for a nontraditional mast, a forty foot length of schedule 80 6” thickwall pipe and a little welding and fab.
And is it just me ? Does this thread not drive everyone batty ? Can’t the offending oversized photograph be re-sized or deleted ?
"We build too many walls and not enough bridges" - Isaac Newton
