Sorry for the delay. We just had a baby. I will clarify the man basket ordeal. The company I worked for was in the market for about ten new ones and they are extremely expensive. We took the guy a store bought one to give him an idea of what we wanted. After he came up with the drawing he called and made sure all the welding was to be done by qualified welders ( also noted on the drawings). After a few days and several thousand dollars he sent us the drawings. When I reviewed them I saw that he had went with 5/16 wall tubing instead of the 3/16 the factory one used. No big deal. We use fairly large cranes so a little extra weight is not a problem. The problem is that the information he gave us to have stamped on the tag was as follows Weight: 1000# Capacity: 500# NET Weight 25000# along with a serial number. I called him to make sure that the 25000# was a typo. He promptly told me that it was right and the crane operator would know what it ment. I told him I am an NCCO certified crane operator and know what it means. It means I have to treat that basket as if it weighs 25000# even if I know it does not. As per the new OSHA standards (ASME b30.5) I would have to use rigging that is good for 5x the NET weight stamped on the basket (125000#), and not exceed 50% of the cranes capacity at a given radius. So in short you could only pick it up with a 250 ton crane. After I explained about the crane side of it he would not budge. So we have a very expensive stack of papers and factory built baskets.

       This is what I want to avoid. That company has plenty of money for screw ups like that, I dont. I understand fully the issue of liability and am willing to do it right. I already have one of these built and really want some one to look at it and tell me what I need to do for it to be right or maybe tell me I am wasting money over building it.

Thanks I will give him a call.

Safety first.
Beat only with the proper sized wrench.
And after you break the tip off a knife blade, it is then a much better screwdriver...

Just my take on it, but every hour spent picking "good" engineering saves hundreds of hours in fabrication/consumable use.
Good engineering, to me, is someone with a very specific understanding of service conditions, a understanding of your current capabilities (does no good to specify large scale sub arc/robotic if your work is in the windswept field off of 1 ton trucks in the mud for example) and willing to work with you thru the design process.
There's a lot more poor engineering available than there is good ones. Poor engineers are always willing to pontificate on subjects they have no experience with (and have certainly never paid for!), good ones don't. They usually charge the same : )
Good engineering is worth it's weight in platinum. Bad engineering makes everybody's life hard. I'd rather spend 3 weeks of my life finding the right one than pay the consequences down the road.
You can pick wrong, and pay out of your own pocket for the (often unsuccessfull) education of a PE math wizz, who doesn't understand the specific field you work in.
Good engineers often take home brewed designs and make them cheaper thru less material and less weld. Excess weld is probably the most expensive item in the industry.
Some stamped drawings are useful for starting a bonfire, some are money making machines.
It can be difficult to find the right man/woman willing to take on relatively small projects but it's worth it in my experience. I have no problem working over long distances with a sound engineer so it really doesn't matter where they are located. If they are willing to respond to your phone calls and email, it's all happy. And if they can address mid stream changes on the spot, all the mo better. I've called some very sharp engineers from the wind/snow swept prairie and had official changes made within 3 minutes, the documentation following via email. That saves some maaaajor dollars.
I'll add that in my experience, the older the engineer the wiser the engineer. Young guys tend to rely on what they lernt in school (?!), old dudes tend to have real world experience.
The biggest thing to look for (again IMO) is someone who understands the relative costs involved. Young kids seem to have little understanding of outside field conditions and NO understanding of equipment costs. You of course, bear those costs, not the virgin engineer in his/her cubicle.

J

I was asked to make an 'idiot proof' fixture when I was in my 20s. (a long, long time ago) Even then, I knew better. Told the boss, I can make it idiot resistant, but not idiot proof, will that be OK?
He just laughed, and said go ahead.