Rigstar spotlight with Steven Kendall

Set the Stage with the D810 touch and Rigstar

By bwauters

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03/14/2019

We visited Steven Kendall of Rigstar to find out how he uses his DISTO D810 touch to lay out bridle systems for the rigging industry. Steve teaches a wide range of professionals in theatrical and industrial rigging at his shop in Northampton, Massachusetts. Steve has been working in the rigging industry since the wild west days of the 1970's. His tours with bands like Heart, Stix, Jethro Tull, Lynyrd Skynyrd and many more, taught him everything you'd ever want to know about lifting gear, people and the occasional piano or dirt bike. Steve used that expertise to configure an Excel spreadsheet that figures out bridle configurations for you. He takes his measurements with his Bluetooth DISTO D810 and shoots those measurements directly into the spreadsheet, in his words, "saving tons and tons of time."

Steve's week long course covers the full gambit of rigging. If you're new to rigging, Steve will teach you all the basics and, of course, all of the important safety precaustions you need to take. If you're an experienced rigger, Steve will take you in depth through what is probably the most difficult aspect of any type of rigging, the math. 

Steve's shop even comes equipped with a stress tester, that he built, that tests the load capacity of chain, roundslings, steel cable and basically anything else that you can use to suspend people or gear. Hopefully, next time we visit Steve we'll shoot some video of the stress tester at work. 

You can contact Steve through his website at rigstar.com