Show dictionary · Rigging & Staging
Spanset (Round Sling)
Also: round sling · soft steel
A spanset (genericized from the SpanSet brand) is an endless polyester round sling: a soft loop used to wrap trusses, beams, and tubes as the attachment between structure and hardware. Rigged in a choke, basket, or straight pull, its capacity depends on the hitch and its condition.
In practice
Soft slings exist because steel-on-aluminum is a bad marriage: a spanset choked around a truss chord grips without chewing the member. Hitch choice changes capacity (basket highest, choke lowest), and entertainment practice keeps slings tagged, inspected, and retired on visible damage; a cut jacket is a discard, not a discussion.
On steel structure, wire rope slings and burlap-protected baskets take over where heat, edges, or standards demand. The sling-shackle-motor chain is the grammar of every point; the sling is its first word.
How you’ll hear it
"Choke a two-foot spanset on the downstage chord and shackle the half-ton to it."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.