Bracing a frame

[mike42]

Hi

I'm removing some hanging tiles from the side of the house (not good for the bat survey!) and have bought a "cheap" 250Kg electric hoist so that I can easily lower buckets full of tiles from the top of a scaffold tower to the ground.

The hoist comes with 48mm square brackets that I think should ideally wrap a metal beam of similar dimensions. I don't have one and wouldn't know where to get one but I'm only lifting about 15Kg each time - nowhere near the 250Kg. Anyway, I set up a temporary rig at ground level with a piece of 47mm square timber at a the same span as would be used at height (fair bit wider than in picture). It looked/felt quite stable, no bowing etc but I wondered if I screwed and glued a second piece of timber then maybe that would improve maximum loading.

You can see in the attached picture, the original baton going through the brackets and the second baton above. So my question is, does adding that second baton improve the overall strength (and if so is it a significant improvement?) or does it do nothing (since the brackets are below it). Unfortunately, my limited common sense doesn't help me and I just can't get my head around it.

 

[Burnerman]

Your added on batten, so long as it is well fixed to the original one, will considerably increase it's load carrying ability and minimise deflection. 15kg is no problem there!
John

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

If its fixed securely, it will decrease the deflection by 2 ^4 or about 16 times.
Frank

 

[themiddleagedun]

Or go old-skool & just drop 'em on't floor?...

 

[mike42]

Thanks for replies. Put my mind at easy for sure even if I can't intuitively reason it.

Regarding dropping them on the postman, the main problem is I might need to put them back if we don't get planning permission. There's around 200-300 each side of the house and they are hopefully carefully labelled.

 

[maltaron]

For info, 48mm is the diameter of a scaffold tube, which those hoists are designed to fit.