# What material are my counterweights made of?



## Anonymous067 (Dec 22, 2010)

How can I determine what material my counterweights are made of? I'm looking at the spec sheets (generic) the rigging company has on their website, and they have Steel, Cast Iron, and Lead. I'm guessing, based on the weights, that it isn't lead, because I *generally* use one brick per 2 S4 instruments...(around 30lbs). Help?


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## mstaylor (Dec 22, 2010)

Steel will have a fairly smooth finish, cast iron has a grain to it similar to pipe fittings or pipe bases.


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## Anvilx (Dec 22, 2010)

Here's a reference Metals and Alloys - Densities


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## Van (Dec 22, 2010)

If you posted a picture I could tell you in about two seconds. As MSTaylor said, Steel will have a smooth finish, they usually have vertical lines in the cut-out / dimple areas that straddle the [-]yoke bar[/-] arbor rod(s). The lines are from the plasma or laser cutter. Cast will have a pebbly surface and the edges are <usually> rounded. Don't know that I've ever seen a lead Stage weight, but it would be soft, scratch easily and the scratch would remain very bright and shiny.


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## photoatdv (Dec 22, 2010)

Van said:


> If you posted a picture I could tell you in about two seconds. As MSTaylor said, Steel will have a smooth finish, they usually have vertical lines in the cut-out / dimple areas that straddle the yoke bar. The lines are from the plasma or laser cutter. Cast will have a pebbly surface and the edges are <usually> rounded. Don't know that I've ever seen a lead Stage weight, but it would be soft, scratch easily and the scratch would remain very bright and shiny.


 
Lead ones did exist (my theatre had them MANY years ago). Don't know if they still do.


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## DuckJordan (Dec 22, 2010)

photoatdv said:


> Lead ones did exist (my theatre had them MANY years ago). Don't know if they still do.


 

I've also seen some Lead weights encased in Aluminum to provide the outer strength with the small amount needed with lead to equal the same weight.


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## derekleffew (Dec 22, 2010)

Anonymous067 said:


> How can I determine what material my counterweights are made of? I'm looking at the spec sheets (generic) the rigging company has on their website, and they have Steel, Cast Iron, and Lead. ...


Kind of a backwards approach, but it should work: Measure one, weigh one, then use JR Clancy's iRigging App counterweight calculator.
EDIT: Disregard. That calculator won't work that way. But I'm sure there are others.

As said above, (unless painted) steel will be gray and hard, lead soft, and pig iron is usually reddish due to surface oxidation (rust).


N.B.: In researching this answer, I came upon this: Riggin | Baby Names, Name Meaning, Popularity | BabyCenter . Wish I'd never seen that; sometimes Google is too good.


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## Sony (Dec 23, 2010)

Lead weights do still exist, The Zeiterion in New Bedford where I work still uses solid lead weights without an aluminum casing. They have not upgraded for many reasons, mostly because the lead weights are the best for their purposes. Reasons to use lead include:

A) The Z has a double purchase fly system with relatively small arbors, therefor we need the heaviest weights possible in order to get the most out of our linesets, a lead counterweight weighs 42lbs per 1" thick 6" wide brick vs. 21lbs for a steel brick of the same size. We can only fit 1400lbs of weight on each arbor WITH lead weights which means each pipe can only hold 700lbs.

B)The theatre has always used lead and therefore we already have lead bricks in stock and they don't have enough money to afford new bricks anyways. Also lugging new stocks of bricks up to the fly tower would be back breaking and take at least a week without the use of a helicopter to lift the pallets and place them on the roof. (The Z's fly tower can only be accessed by exiting the roof access hatch and climbing up the side of the fly tower to get to the grid access door.)

That being said...gloves are a requirement when working with lead weights as well as long sleeved shirts. Mask's are also recommended and you must be extra careful NOT to drop the weights as they are easily damaged and lead particles can be dislodged and become airborne. Lead weights are usually soft and a dark grey color, scratches appear silvery at first but quickly tarnish to the dark grey color as the surface becomes Lead Oxide very quickly.

Lead weights are never installed into new theatres as far as I know, the ones at The Z are relics of the 1940's and 50's and all new theatres built after the discovery that lead was poisonous will not have them, they went the same way as lead paint. I'm sure when The Z gets the $35 Million they need to renovate the lead bricks will disappear with the rest of the old fly system.


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## banjokeith (Dec 23, 2010)

I can't imagine working at a theater with lead weights and not getting bored one day and melting one down to play foundry. Just think of all the cool little castings and decorative puddles you could make with one of those


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## DuckJordan (Dec 23, 2010)

banjokeith said:


> I can't imagine working at a theater with lead weights and not getting bored one day and melting one down to play foundry. Just think of all the cool little castings and decorative puddles you could make with one of those


 
Now if only there was a way to get rid of that annoying cough and metal in the bloodstream


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## MPowers (Dec 25, 2010)

A magnet will tell if a weight is lead or not. As for Steel vs: Cast, Steel is usually "flame cut" or plasma cut. That means the sides will show a slight "ripple". Cast, on the other hand will have (as others have stated) a "grainy" surface and it will be the same on the sides as on the top and bottom surface.


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## Sony (Dec 25, 2010)

banjokeith said:


> I can't imagine working at a theater with lead weights and not getting bored one day and melting one down to play foundry. Just think of all the cool little castings and decorative puddles you could make with one of those


 
lol trust me...when you have to load weight on a regular basis with lead weights, you will want to stay as far away from them as possible as much as possible. I would much rather load 20 steel weights than 10 lead ones, slinging 42lb weights all morning is not my idea of fun, especially when you have 10 or 15 linesets you have to load with 1000lbs of weight or more because they are double purchase. 42lbs may not seem like much...but they are VERY heavy and because lead naturally wears down and becomes very smooth after a while, they become hard to grip, especially because you have to wear gloves, and the extra weight makes them hard to pick up off the floor of the loading rail and they don't have the nice courtesy notch in the corners like the steel ones do. I hate those things...


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