Eye bolt rating

[whateg0]

If I plan >250# per corner with a safety margin, I can almost guarantee that it will not end up on the floor.

BTW, I did find working load ratings for these common eyebolts, which are of course, far less than closed ring eyebolts. Hampton rates their eyebolt with a 1/2" thread at 350# working load. I am probably going to just cut lifting eyes out and weld them to the lifting cradle, so there are no eyebolts used at all, but thanks for the input.

Dave

[liveaboard]

If you're in a hurry, bore holes in some nice steel strip, cut tabs off, and weld them to your square tube frame. You could do all 4 in 20 minutes or less if a drill press and saw are available to you.
In a pinch, really fast, flame or plasma cut the holes + all.
cheap, fast, strong, safe.

The only drawback is that the square tube will be more difficult to reuse than if drilled for a bolted eye.

[Russ Hanscom]

Remember that eyebolts are designed for straight line loads. If the force is applied at an angle, such as with several slings without a suitable spreader bar, the allowable loading becomes much less.

[whateg0]

Remember that eyebolts are designed for straight line loads. If the force is applied at an angle, such as with several slings without a suitable spreader bar, the allowable loading becomes much less.

Absolutely. The pull on the eyebolts, if used, will be straight up.

Dave

[whateg0]

If you're in a hurry, bore holes in some nice steel strip, cut tabs off, and weld them to your square tube frame. You could do all 4 in 20 minutes or less if a drill press and saw are available to you.
In a pinch, really fast, flame or plasma cut the holes + all.
cheap, fast, strong, safe.

The only drawback is that the square tube will be more difficult to reuse than if drilled for a bolted eye.

That's the beauty of having a CNC plasma table. Cutting things like this is as easy as pressing "R"! I am going to have a couple pieces of angle welded to the tube also, so there will be a few inches at each end that will become waste. It's possible, too, that the organization may want to purchase the lifting pieces in case of later moves, though I don't expect they'll need to move these again.

Dave

[Russ Hanscom]

Our old company designs required that the lifting eyes, pad eyes as we called them, were welded to the equipment and were to be strong enough that one would hold the entire load if the other failed - made for some serious eyes - but never lost a load either.

[whateg0]

That's how I tend to treat stuff. Overkill maybe, but I'm okay with that.

Dave

[10 Wheeler Rob]

You can get next day shipment from McMaster Carr or the other major suppliers. Little more cost but fast service.

I agree with not using bent eye bolts for lifting. Nothing but an accident waiting to happen. I would bolt on a piece of angle iron drilled to make a lifting eye in a pinch. That I calculate its strength at least.

Rob

[liveaboard]

And a few days after responding to this thread, I get this spam email; "Rigging Products-Lifting Eye Bolt"
Coincidence?

[whateg0]

The hills have eyes!

[whateg0]

Ended up not using eye bolts at all. No time to go look for them. It also started raining, so I didn't want to drag the plasma cutter out to cut lifting eyes. So, I just bent up some 3/8" round bar and welded it to the ends of the tubing. Also welded up a spreader to hang the machine from. The round tube was galvanized so I ground the zinc off the outside, but you can see the residue on the inside. The welding was done in an open doorway.

Dave

[BadDog]

I didn't think about it when reading the earlier posts, but I've done exactly the same thing with good result. I bent them with a cheap HF strap/bar bender. After I got done with them I cut them off and welded the bottom of the U onto my welding/fab table where they now provide holders for a selection of hammers used on the fab table.

Glad you got it sorted.