RIGGING

Everything which hangs in the air MUST be inspected by the School’s Technical Director or Associate Technical Director. When flying pieces are being designed, the Resident T.D. must be consulted and approve the designs before building commences.

General:

• All hardware used to rig at the School, must be rated to lift a specific load. This “Working Load Limit” or “Breaking Strength” should be stamped on the hardware. This load may never be exceeded and depending on the hardware should be considered at half it’s value when used onstage. Please see The Resident T.D. for further details.

Shackles:

• When rigging with shackles you must always follow the instructions which are available from the manufacturer.
• All shackles must be mounted so that any lateral load is induced onto the bell of the shackle and never the pin
• As long as the forces are operating on one axis, the pin should always be mounted down to reduce the chances of the shackle rolling.
• The exception to this is when you are rigging from an elevated position. When this is the case the shackle can be mounted pin up if there is a smaller chance of dropping anything while rigging it.
• All shackles must be “moused” once they are in a confirmed position

Turnbuckles:

• All turnbuckles must be safetied with a separate aircraft cable running between both supporting connections
• All turnbuckles will be moused once they are at the proper trim

Crimping:

• Crimping should always be done in accordance to “The Stage Rigging Handbook” by J. O’Glerum
• Use only copper sleeves for rigging
• A thimble the same size of the cable must be used on every termination. When crimping is finished the thimble should have some “play” but must not be able to slip out.
• Crimping at Ryerson should be done in one of two orders. 1) From the end of the oval sleeve near the thimble to the furthest, or 2) from one end, then the other with the centre crimp last (the order of ends does not matter).

• After every crimp is made it must be checked using the correct Go/No Go gauge for the size and material being crimped.
• Please see “The Stage Rigging Handbook” to determine the number of oval sleeves required and the number of crimps per sleeve needed for any given size of cable.
• If at any time a manufacturer’s directions contradicts any of the above, ALWAYS proceed using the manufacturer’s directions

Wire rope clips:

• Wire rope clips may be used instead of oval sleeves to terminate cable. Although they are “re-usable”, any cable that is terminated must be cut back to get rid of any kinks previous terminations may have caused.
• Please see “The Stage Rigging Handbook” for the number of clips needed for any given size of cable.
• The important thing to remember when using wire rope clips is that the U-bolt part of the clip must never be used on the side of the cable supporting weight. The saddle should always be used on this side. Hence the expression, “Never saddle a dead horse.”
• To tighten the nuts on the clip use a nut driver, and finally a small torque wrench to tighten them to the manufacturer’s specifications. NEVER USE A C-WRENCH OR A RATCHET TO TIGHTEN CLIPS AS IT IS EASY TO OVER TIGHTEN THEM!
• If at any time a manufacturer’s directions contradicts any of the above, ALWAYS proceed using the manufacturer’s directions