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knightdan65

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    Lecturer/Tutor on theatre related course
  • Current Employment or place of study
    Abingdon & Witney College: Theatre Technician
  • Full Name
    Dan Knight

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  1. Looks like my naivety has got the better of me once again! Thanks for the clear response - my research does seem to support your statement. Guess I'll stick with hiring for now and slap it on the capital bid for next year
  2. Hi All, I know naff all about projectors and AV, beyond the basic concepts and terminology behind image projection. Nevertheless I'm endeavouring to source a projector suitable for use in a college theatre, the relevant dimensions of which are below: maximum projection area: 7m width X 6m height maximum distance from projection source to surface: 12m maximum possible height of projector position above stage level: 6.3m Intended use would largely be projecting / back projecting images and videos on to gauze cloths - no need for 3D stuff. I have a budget of just £750 ideally the projector itself would weigh less than 30kg Does such a thing exist? Or am I limited to hiring? Not too keen on going down the used / ex-hire purchase route Thanks in advance
  3. Thanks all for the input and the sympathy! It is indeed frustrating that H&S will insist on carrying out checks that could be completed internally, and moreover, that it should come from my budget (a tower check alone is £325 + VAT and only covers the same ten minute check over that I do every week anyway) - believe it or not that's a substantial chunk of my annual running budget. But alas, such is the nature of educational theatre (and theatre in general I suppose), I'm very much at the mercy of the H&S elves. For clarity, I did not design the tower as such; the structural and mechanical design was developed by Interlink Alloys Ltd in response to my criteria, so they have advised me on its usage parameters. We've not had to deal with LOLER rated equipment here in the past, so this is a new realm for me and so I'm more than happy to have this aspect covered by a professional engineer. Obviously the more cost effective route is to get me trained up to do so but once again, H&S and senior management here have very little faith in their own technical staff.
  4. Abingdon & Witney College has a small theatre dept, consisting of a 65 seat black box auditorium, rehearsal studios, workshops and offices. I am currently the technician but am moving to a new role within the dept, which has created a vacancy for a 0.5 technician contract, payable at pay band 4 (20 - 21k). The job involves general maintenance and upkeep of the theatre's spaces and equipment as well as providing technical support for student productions, which will often involve supervising production students working across lighting, sound and stage roles. Additionally you'd work alongside the theatre manager to invest in and develop the department's resources. Please see the link below to view the job role and apply. It is listed as 'performance and production technician' Working With Us - Abingdon & Witney College (abingdon-witney.ac.uk) Dan Knight Theatre Manager AWC Theatre Abingdon & Witney College
  5. I did put this idea forward, but the college's H&S dept are insistent on having external suppliers come in to provide a third party view of our equipment and practices (at huge expense of course).
  6. Hi all, Hope this is the right place for this question. I'll shortly be taking delivery of a custom access tower that has an in built pulley system for roping fixtures up through the tower. The tower will therefore need both an annual pasma inspections and a loler check. Does anyone know of any companies within 50 miles of Oxford that would be able to do both in one hit? Thanks, Dan
  7. Update (for those interested in how this thread panned out): Interlink have designed us a custom tower with an appropriate work height and a built in 3-1 pulley system to lift fixtures up through an oversized hatch. We'll retain our single width for focusing / tight spaces. Thanks all for your input
  8. Anyone know where I could find a workshop manual for a Martin mac 600? I've requested one from Martin a couple of times but to no response. To be clear, I'm after the actual service manual, rather than the standard user instruction guide. Reason for request is that I have some belts and switches to replace but having not worked on them before beyond general cleaning etc, I'd appreciate something to refer to. Thanks, Dan
  9. This is also a great point I think. I wonder - as a total aside - what the process would be to get the OP registered as a PASMA trainer / assessor. Wouldn't it be great if students could be taught the correct 'PASMA' process for erecting the tower, and leave college with an industry ticket too? In the past we've sent small groups of students who were keen to get PASMA trained but budget constraints have stopped us doing so. What you suggest is intriguing and I think I might propose it, though the college would stipulate that I continue to supervise regardless (and rightly so), so I doubt they'd stump up the dosh if the only reason for doing so is to give students a better experience. Sadly, this seems to be the precedent in FE these days. Lots of food for thought here folks, thanks very much. On reflection, I think enough people have voiced similar concerns about the nature of the Monkey Tower to persuade me against it. Genies etc are unsuitable due to their weight and Tallescopes only enable a single operative. So it looks like I'm back to scaff towers as many have advised. I've contacted Interlink to design a custom tower with staircases instead of ladders and oversized trapdoors, which should make getting equipment from the floor to the bars a bit easier. So in principle we'd use that for rigging and keep our existing span 500 for accessing tighter spaces.
  10. Didn't expect this level of response - thanks all for your input. Given the discussion this has prompted, I feel I ought to add some more info: The venue is a college studio theatre. Stage is not raked and we have 5 top bars at a height of 6.3m. Currently we use a span 500 single width tower with a platform height of 4.2m. We run a backstage production arts course here where students learn rigging and focusing at height (among other things). Here are the issues: 1. We get (I'm happy to say) a lot of girls on the course who tend to be on the shorter side and struggle to reach the bars without going on tippy toes and over extending - not a safe practice in my view, especially when trying to get a 25kg moving light up. A taller tower is of course an option, but only solves half the problem as you'll see in point 3... 2. For the purposes of instruction and paired learning exercises, I need something that can comfortably fit two operatives (either myself and a student or two students) plus some tools and equipment. This rules out tallescopes, reachlift and most small MEWPs. Equally however, anything with a footprint greater than a single width tower would cause problems when focusing with a set. 3. The bars themselves have a point load rating of 20kg p/m (30kg at mounting points) and so are not suitable for lifting from - we have to rope fixtures up through the tower. This becomes rather difficult when moving lights are introduced, due to size and weight. So, the criteria are: - a working height of around 6m - a two person basket / platform - a capacity to lift equipment - a footprint no larger than a single width tower - easily portable and storable - under 500kgs in weight - a sub 5k price tag So far the Monkey comes closest to ticking all the boxes, the two major caveats being A) it has no rescue facility (but then, neither does a tower) and B) it requires constant repositioning (which, while certainly being a pain in the a**, isn't necessarily a safety concern in and of itself). Maybe I've answered my own question, unless anyone can think of any other alternatives? In any case, I'll book a demo in. Really appreciate the time everyone has taken to input on this
  11. Thanks all - I'm enjoying the cleudo-esque direction this thread has taken. The guys from Monkey Tower have offered a free demo so I'll take them up on this and see what I think of it in the flesh.
  12. Hi, Looking for something more efficient than an access tower for rigging at 6m in a small theatre, but can't use scissor lifts etc due to floor load limitations. Anyone used one of these 'Monkey Towers' as an alternative to conventional access towers for rigging etc? Any significant drawbacks? Thanks, Dan P.S have already investigated the winch bars installation route, but the price tag makes this a non-starter for now.
  13. Hi pal, thanks for the advice. Pan makes a nasty grinding noise but functions normally. Tilt is more problematic. At moderate to high speed it intermittently 'falls' as it gets towards its range limits as though the belts are slipping over the gears or the stepper motors are struggling. Belts and gears appear to be in good order. Martin have advised to replace belts and final pos switches as a first resort. Waiting for them to tell me if they have any left over at the bottom of their spare parts bin from ten years ago!
  14. Thanks pal, I've been on the phone to Martin and they have advised to try replacing belts and final pos switches as a first port of call. I'll bear your advice in mind if this doesn't solve it.
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