Bridge Crane electrical

[woodzy]

I have installed a bridge crane in my shop and I have a question on electrical. The main beam is 17'6" and the beams it runs on are about 16' long. I have a cable suspended the length of of both beams and looking for ideas on how to install the electrical cord. I added some pulleys to the cable and then zip tied the wire to the pulleys but the twist in the wire really wants to bunch up. Is there a key to start out correctly? I had a very flexible 100' 12-3 extension cord that I was going to use for the wiring since I really hate 100' extension cords. It has been on an wire wheel for years.

I know they make festoon wire for this but the cost of this wire is high and they have very expensive trolleys hangers. Crane requires 14amps so I really need to stick to 12 gauge wire.

 

[jeepxj]

cheap *** way? a retractable reel with the stops removed. its a single point to point to the power head.

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200660257_200660257

add a support grip for fancy

https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/overview/catalog/wiring_solutions/wiring_devices/strain_reliefs,_support_cord_grips_-a-_pull_grips/support_grips

 

[alfredeneuman]

A bridge crane like this costs how much?
There's no reason to cheap out installing it

 

[woodzy]

Well the cost of the bridge crane was almost zero - my buddy had all the beams and he fabricated all the brackets. After a few attempts of using pulleys and then 3D printed trucks to run on the wire, I talked to an old farmer friend. He showed my his setup he has used for the past 30 years and no issues.

Cheap old school shower curtain hooks on the cable. I ended using a different cable as the original one was rubber coated and that caused some drag. So, $30 later it works.