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ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! No machine costing $20 is going to last very long nor will it have any sort of useful value. Surely there are rental companies in Tokyo??

I really think that some serious sit-down talks with the venue staff is needed here. Bottom out what they THINK the problems are and arrive at some workable solutions going forward.

Things to be wary of - some of which have already been covered: 'Smoke' is not really the effect you're probably looking for. In a theatrical situation, filling the stage at all levels with dense smoke is going to give you all sorts of issues with visibility and will affect lighting. 'Fog' is going to be a better term to look for and 'low fog' even better. Dry ice (CO2 granules dropped into heated water) is far and away the best visual option I've ever used, and although there are some machines on the market that can deliver a similar effect, it's not easy and they ain't cheap. Chilled smoke can look OK, but you HAVE to use fast disperse fluid, else as soon as the fog warms up again it'll rise and create the problems mentioned above. And it'll warm up very quickly!! Chilled smoke machines that use regular ice just never works well in my opinion mainly because it only chills the smoke to a much warmer level than CO2 - and if you're going to get CO2, then you may as well go the whole hog and do it the dry ice way. Dry Ice machines are pretty simple and comparatively cheap to buy - Google Pea Souper for example. What puts the price up can be getting hold of the CO2 depends on whether there's a supplier near you (we get ours from about 45 mins away in insulated containers) - you'll need to work out how much you need in advance and have suitable storage for it - DO NOT use a working domestic fridge or freezer - you will wreck it. A dead one could be viable as an insulated box, (chest type best), but fill any empty space with packing to reduce the air trapped inside and the ice will last longer. If your show (incl rehearsals) lasts more than 2 or 3 evenings, then you'll need to get multiple deliveries. Buying vs hire - unless your school envisages using ANY purchased gear on a very regular basis, it is ALWAYS best to rent what you need when you need it. Buying cheap is very often a false economy - especially in a school environment, where inexperienced hands mean incorrect care and maintenance. As for quantity... Whatever you end up using, it won't be anywhere near 12!! Depending on a) the size of performance space and b) type and level of effect needed you can manage with just one or two each side MAX - that's just from 2 sides, not three, as your post suggests.

Try searching for sharkstooth gauze as an option.

Hmmm... (tm) Looked over the Sumup web site earlier and they do look as though they can manage itemised business using one of their options, linked to the iPad (which is what my venue has invested in). However, a tad concerned about the 90 day thing... Although may not be a huge issue as most of our ticket sales go via Ticketsource, and I'd hazard very few over the counter via this system - though it IS possible. I wonder if the same stricture applied to Zettle...

This bit is interesting... The reason we went for iZetlle in the first place was that it was very easy to set up with categories of purchase - so that box office could have an individual item for each show coming in, with sub-divisions for different ticket pricing, so that any takings received could be attributed to the relevant companies. Are you saying that Sumup def does NOT have that facility?

OK - not directly theatre, except that Zettle (formerly iZettle) is the system that we currently have behind our bars and box office for taking card payments. Historically it's been fine with no major niggles, but a few months ago we did start to get connection problems occasionally between the readers and the iPads set up to get the payments. And I found out this evening that a 4-night show run last week had major issues with connection drop-outs etc. Now, Zettle was taken over by PayPal a while back and I believe that problems have occurred mainly since then. However, rather than attack the problem by taking it up with their support techs, the theatre board decided to cut and run, investing not an insignificant figure in new iPads, new readers, monthly software costs and other attachments from SUMUP. I'm currently off-piste with the board so have had no direct input into those decisions, but I'm trying to establish whether this is something wider spread than just our venue. So - does anyone else have experience with Zettle and if so have you noticed any problems, maybe getting worse of late? And as an aside, does anyone's venue use SUMUP and how doe s that stack up in the reliability stakes...?

I didn't think that the DMX spec includes tying pin 1 to screen/earth?? I certainly don't do that when making up cables

This is the crux. It's a LOT easier to think about accessibility in a new build, and rightly so. But altering an existing facility, whatever that is, will be of a magnitude much harder to implement changes to accomodate even a small number of disabilities.

I've seen quite a few people wearing those round-the-neck fans lately and whilst I haven't tried any personally, the reports have been quite good. Amazon Link The benefit to these, I'd say, is that it'll always be directing air at your head, rather than you having to sit in the airflow from a desk-type fan. Obviously if you're trying to cool the sweat on your torso that isn't going to work, but maybe a combination of the two might work for you... One caution if you're going the rechargeable route... I've been caught out before when an item does NOT work when it's plugged in to recharge... So if your battery dies part way thru a show, you're then without the fan cooling until it's been plugged in a while...

Definitely not!! BUT (and this is my view on the topic overall) it doesn't matter how many areas 'we' make accessible to wheelchair users, or partially sighted users or physically less abled users (there are so many different disabilities) - whether those individuals are able, either within the limitations of their physical abilities or with the restrictions of any equipment that able bodied people aren't encumbered by, to do anything other than a bare minimum once there is what will define whether they're going to feel included as part of a tech team. For example - you're in a studio theatre and a wheelchair bound guy/gal has been trained on a motorised winch system and therefore can sit at the console and bring trusses/bars in. (*) Great - but unless they are also physically capable (some very well may be)of actually rolling over, and humping a mover out of a case (which in all likelihood is going to mean taking it over their head height....) then they're limited by their situation. Yes - they most certainly can wheel along and plug up the power/data along the truss, but doing so with a team of maybe half dozen otherLX types on a quick turnaround getin, where there are going to be cables all over the deck to navigate is going to take some manouvering. Of course it CAN be done, if the crew work together and have a system worked out, but it's not a job that would be practical as a casual, who'd be working with techs who arrive on the day and wouldn't have had chance to develop the co-working practice. (*) And don't forget that in a pro venue it's likely that the flyman will have responsibilities for lowering the grid, and not necessarily getting involved in what actually goes on the barrels when they're in. The answer to anything like this is, and always will be, "IT DEPENDS". Because, as I said, there are so many different types and levels of disability, there's never going to be a solution that suits even a small percentage of them all. Making it practical to get a wheelchair to a fly floor is one thing - whether that person is then able to do anything of note once they are there depends entirely upon what abilities they actually have. Anyone who thinks all things are possible is living entirely in a world with a sky of a different colour... 😞

I was ABOUT to say.... "Phono pins are quite a bit bigger than the pyroflash pins, so....." However, I caught myself before I hit SUBMIT and as I happen (bizarrely) to have a TFM pod on my shelf here and a phono lead or 6 in the drawer I was very surprised to find that they are indeed a pretty close match. But not quite sure about how well they'd fit as replacements in in a pod... Hmmm... (tm)

I'd hazard that you won't get the replacement from anywhere - it'll have to be investment in a new unit I'm afraid.

They both look familiar but I'm not enough of a noise boy to say what they are... But QUALITY mounting there... 😄 😄 😄

In many cases, yes, I think it will. Rightly in some cases, not so much in others. Again, I think the advice we were given was that any upgrade of an existing facility must be financially practicable as well as physically - there's no good making those changes if in doing so it would put the venue owners/operators into serious financial difficulty. But on the other hand, if a measure (or lack thereof) would result in the potential for patrons, able bodied or otherwise, to claim compensation should injury occur, then .....

This may well be an unpopular opinion to hold in these days of equal opportunities and the like, but I often feel that there are too many do-gooders out there who try to enforce the idea that we should be making every effort to make everything accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability or otherwise. Yes - in an ideal world, that would be, well, an ideal that in any given situation someone with life-changing injuries (or less able from birth) SHOULD have the chance to do or experience whatever their heart may desire. But the practicalities involved in making that happen come hell or high water just don't match up when you look at the huge variation in disabilities out there. Take wheelchair users - they will range from individuals who only need the chair when going some distance, and may be able to walk to some extent, right up to the amputees who use racing wheelchairs, or play basketball or other sports right back again to the other extreme of quadruplegics who sadly spend pretty much ALL of their lives being wheeled around. Trying to come up with accessibility options for that range of people to be involved in many aspects of our work (for example) would be prohibitive. With new builds and significant upgrades to facilities, yes, we CAN do our level best to make as much as is practicable an accessible option, but there are (and have to be) limits. And the expectations on existing buildings are actually far lower than you might imagine. We were looking some years ago at what we might do in my venue, and the local council disability officer basically said that if putting in an accessible feature impacted negatively on the majority of our audience (eg) who are fully abled, then it may not in fact be approved. Case in point - we wanted to look at making the first row of our auditorium a wheelchair row with a ramp up to it. However, the only way that ramp could have run, at the correct slight incline, would have made it a long run, taking it directly across the front main doors and halfway across the second set of doors - thus creating an uneven trip hazard for pretty much everyone. We eventually removed the actual front step so that the wheelchair spots were all on the flat, but you see the point. Any accessibility option HAS to be practicable within the confines of any existing building, and worked in properly to all new builds, but there are limits to both.

Ah - so the change was that you replaced the machine, THEN had problems with data?

Hmmm... (tm) If a rig works fine for ages without a term in the end fixture and suddenly starts to misbehave, I personally would be looking at what has changed in that run to cause the need for it. It's unlikely that there's nothing else that caused the issue, and my money would be on a cable breakdown of some sort...

I'm not entirely sure that that was autocorrect..... 😄 😄 😄 😄 😄

But if a little wobble isn't a major problem, surely for a single fixture (on a solid log beam...) 2 or 3 slings onto a scaff pole should do the trick - easy peasy. That said - does the log beam have any SWL detailed for it? I've little doubt that it would support what you're talking of, BUT the caveat there would be to check FIRST HAND how that horizontal is actually secured to the verticals. NEVER assume that because something looks strong and sturdy enough that it is properly suspended to take additional weight like this.

Wry smile at that bit - if it's rotten, WTF are you even considering hanging even a birdie off it??!!! 😄 😄 😄

Still not entirely sure what exactly happened to scupper that status... Mis-management presumably, as that's a surefire way to kill a successful company

So - came across this article...

Another point to bear in mind is that unless you're REALLY lucky, and/or have some definitely useful skills to the right company, don't expect to fall into anything like a top job anytime soon. Like any career you need to be prepared to start at the bottom rungs and work your way to where you think you want to be.

One of the VERY few mistakes that ETC ever made, I reckon. Don't know anyone who actually liked the Congo OS. 😞