Getting started

The Sandbox is where RiggingSense starts: a beam or truss, two supports or hoists, and a load you can drag. Everything else in the tool builds on what you see here.

Quick start

1. Open RiggingSense from the dashboard. Read the disclaimer and press Got it — it collapses to a slim strip that stays visible.
2. In the Sandbox tab, choose Truss & hoists.
3. Set the truss length and the two insets — how far each hoist hangs in from its end of the truss. Real motors rarely hang at the very ends, so give each one a metre or so.
4. Leave Loads on 1 point load, type a Weight (kg) and a Position (m).
5. Drag the load along the truss in the diagram. The two hoist loads move as you go; the closer hoist carries more.
6. Drag the load past Hoist 2, into the part of the truss beyond it. The UPLIFT — unstable! warning appears and explains why: Hoist 1 would have to push down, but a chain can only pull — it goes slack and the truss is free to rotate.
7. Press Show the math to see the lever rule solved with your numbers.

The tabs

• Sandbox — three sub-modes: Beam (supports on the ground), Truss & hoists (hoists overhead, set in from the ends, plus chain weight) and Overhang (a ground beam with a load beyond a support). Load modes: 1 point load, 2 point loads or Distributed (UDL).
• Bridles — two-leg bridle geometry and tensions. See Bridles.
• Safety factors — MBS, safety factor and WLL, and what D8, D8+ and C1 mean. See Training and safety factors.
• Training — the estimate-then-check quiz. See Training and safety factors.
• Saved — your named scenarios.

Top right: the Unit selector (kg, kN or lb), an ⓘ on units, and the Glossary. Underlined terms anywhere in the tool open their entry.

The Sandbox and Bridles tabs need a tablet or a computer (768 px wide and up). On a phone, the tool offers the Training quiz instead.

Reading the sandbox

• Self-weight. Truss self-weight adds the truss as a full-span distributed load — Off, one of three illustrative presets (light-duty ~5 kg/m, standard 30 cm ~7.5 kg/m, heavy-duty 40 cm ~11 kg/m) or Custom kg/m. Chain weight per hoist (kg) adds the chain hanging under each motor.
• Check line. R_A + R_B = ΣW (or hoist loads − chain = ΣW) confirms equilibrium: the two reactions add up to everything hanging, the truss's own weight included.
• Skew warning. One hoist carries X % of the load — heavily uneven. It appears when one hoist takes roughly two-thirds or more. The heavier hoist is the one that reaches its WLL first, so it is the one to look at.
• WLL line. Under the reactions, the sandbox compares its highest hoist load with the example WLL of the hardware picked on the Safety factors tab. It is a teaching comparison, not a rating of your rig.
• Keyboard. With the load handle focused, the arrow keys move it 0.1 m; hold Shift for 1 m steps. The numeric fields do the same.

Save, share, print

Under the diagram: Save scenario stores the setup under a name in the Saved tab, Copy link puts the whole scenario into a URL a colleague can open, and Print opens a page with the diagram, inputs and the full working, marked as a training exercise. Scenarios and quiz progress sync with your account once your email is confirmed.

Next

• Bridles — why a flat bridle is dangerous.
• Training and safety factors — quiz yourself, and compare a WLL with the sandbox.