xllx

3 hours ago, Dave m said:

I cleaned a shed load of 743’s and others once and nigh on doubled the light output. 

In the first theatre I worked in, we had an advance bar of 743s over the first row of the audience. The producton desk was only a couple of rows back and in those days pretty much everyone smoked so when I used to do the annual maintenance and dropped the whole rig for cleaning, I reckon we got about 20% more light out of the 6 or 8 over the production desk for about 3 months before they were recoated in nicotine!

Standard practice was to remove the lenses and put them in the glass washer in the bar.

What's the issue with the 743s? The Ramas are OK, but no better and possibly not as good as the 743s. Would a good service and some spare parts be a better option? There are always 743s on ebay, you could possibly buy a couple on there as donors for your existing ones.

1 hour ago, James said:

 Any suggestions on effective ways of cleaning / treating to stop further deterioration on these or similar stands? 

Autosol and an sheepskin polisher in an electric drill. 

Consider rivets as an option. Much less fiddling about with M3 nuts and washers!

On Facebook, search out a couple of the vintage disco groups, you could well find people on there with a collection of "classic" gear!

Another option with your skill set, might be in the event IT sector. Temporary networks, wifi and setting up computers, printers etc is quite a big industry. It's not lighting, but it's still events, a mixture of practical skills running cables, rigging etc and configuring equipment.

It's not lighting, though funnilly enough a lot of ex lighting people have gravitated to this field. Cat 5 is considerably lighter than socapex! 

You will have the same problem splitting your time between a 9-5 job and event work, but it might be an option to consider.

35 minutes ago, J Pearce said:

Ah - there are two interspace systems - the Mastercue which is the conference cueing system, and the TheatreCue which is a theatrical cueing system (built under license from Leon Audio in Aus)

Ah, you live and learn! I've only met the Mastercue, didn't realise TheatreCue even existed.

The Interspace system is very much designed for conference use, generally with the presenter on stage cueing the crew and nowadays can be connected directly to laptops to trigger slides or audio cues.If you are looking for the more traditional style theatre system, with a Stage Damager cueing all the various departments, then the ETC system might be.a better fit.

A friend of mine is involved in a possible project to create a fully accessible theatre. This would mean allowing access for wheelchair users and people with other physical disabilities to places such as fly floors, control room, lighting bridges etc. 

I have a vague recollection of reading about a theatre, possibly a school or community theatre built like this some years ago.

Anyone know of a theatre space that is fitted out with disabled access throughout?

I think I have one. In the " might be useful one day" pile...

Earliest I could have a look is the weekend.

Pretty sure I have an Act 6 available

Think it's analogue, and I seem to rememeber it has one faulty channel but to be honest it's nbeen a long time since I put it on a shelf at the back of the warehouse 🙂

If you can collect (from Birmingham) you can have it for free.

Got a few other bits and pieces like some fresnels if they are any use to you. Would rather they go to a community group for a bit of beer money than into a skip!

29 minutes ago, DorsetGuy said:

I still don't understand what putting the Speed slider in either 5 or 10 minute mode actually does.  What does the 5 or 10 refer to ?

It changes the scale of the speed fader from 0-5 minutes or 0-10 minutes. the two different scales are printed either side of the fader.

Many years ago, I used to work at the ICC in Birmingham. There was, and maybe still is, a button in the control room that would kill all the exit signs and step lights for I think 45 seconds and then wouldn't activate again for I believe 3 minutes. In 4 or 5 years there, I can only recall one time it was used for a science demonstration of some sort, and extra stewards were posted in the audience with torches. I can't imagine most places would have this facility, and it would involve pulling fuses or flipping breakers in plant rooms, most venues just aren't designed to make this easy. Our H&S people were reasonably happy because the light would only be off for a set time, it would restore automatically and it was a designed system being used as designed. For use these days, I would imagine some pretty compelling reason would be needed. 

I've used Unity a few times, but only to link remote sites. It has come on leaps and bounds in the last two years.

It would work in a venue quite well, assuming you had a good stable wireless network and that everyone kept their phones charged, and didn't receive a call or a notification at an inopportune moment. The other option is phones that are just used as intercom beltpacks, and a charging regime not unlike that which we are used to fro radio mics.

These sort of soft intercoms have their place, the last couple of years have shown that, but I don't think they're a direct replacement for a good wired system.  A couple of dedicated devices linked into a cabled system would be useful now and then, but only with the proviso that the wireless network is robust and properly designed, not just a domestic access point at FOH!

I seem to remember back in the lockdown days, that all the Unity servers went offline for a few hours... Rememebr if you are relying on an external cloud based server it could all go wrong and nothing you can do about it.

3 hours ago, richardash1981 said:

On the "get something else for the show" route, I'm seeing a couple of Light Processor Q series desks available. I've never met one before, but they seem to be basic two-preset desks with DMX out (and various fancy stuff I hope not to have to use!). Anyone got any opinions?

Light Processor were lovely little desks back in the day. I think I still have a couple in the pile of "to be sorted one day" kit. Do remember they are probably 30 years old now, and mine at least suffered from dodgy faders, which can make them flicker a bit during fades. You could easily find yourself with the same problem if you buy one on ebay. If you have time to give the faders a good clean and maybe replace one or two then go for it!

5 hours ago, ianknight said:

Eventually Keith @ Zero88 and myself suspected there was oddness with the mark/space ratio

I have a six way desk, can't remember the brand, but it is one of the cheap clones. It doesn't seem to output channel 1 correctly, depending on what it is controlling 2-6 can work fine, but often 1 just does nothing.

I use it for one particular show where we put some RGB pars on stands, with a DMX lead hanging down. Walk over with the battery powered desk, set a look, unplug and walk to the next stand and repaeat. We have just got used to setting all the pars to address 2.

I seem to remember a thread on here a couple of years ago about this subject of non standard DMX output, but my search skills aren't up to it, especially having to wait 2 weeks between searches 🙂

There are loads of little 6way desks available from the likes of Botex, Stairville, Elation etc. All probably the same inside!

All about £30 from Thomann or on eBay.

Probably your cheapest way of doing what you need, and simple and reliable.

If your other show would benefit from a slightly more advanced desk, and you have the budget, buy something suitable for that show, and leave the six way for its usual role.

Pretty sure these will be the non Pulsar standard (aka Zero 88). I can't recall anything except Pulsar kit using the Pulsar pinout.

You do occaisionally see Zero 88 demuxes come up on the auction sites. They have 8 pin din on them, so it's a straight cable to each dimmer to connect them up. If you can or know someone who can solder well, then adaptors from the various other makes of demux either new or secondhand are easy to build.

For completeness, this is the Pulsar pin out which I'm pretty sure you don't need 🙂

Pin 1 = Low Voltage Supply In

Pin 2 = 0V

Pin 3 = Channel 1

Pin 4 = Channel 2

Pin 5 = Channel 3

Pin 6 = Channel 4

Pin 7 = Channel 5

Pin 8 = Channel 6

Call the archaeology department of your local university!

But seriously, there is no harm in advertising. You may find someone to take them off your hands if they want them for spares to nurse along another Permus system, but sadly I suspect IRW may be right, and you won't get any real money for them and even might have to pay to have them taken away.

If the presenter has the laptop on the lectern, then laptop has the notes view on local screen, then split the external output with a DA to feed comfort monitor and main screen. I rarely have had to put the notes on the comfort monitor, if you do then you either need two video outputs on the laptop, or a second laptop tracking the first.

I've done it with a Macbook which has a docking station that has two HDMI outs on it but rarely. 

You could use a USB (or USB C) to HDMI to give you a second output

On 2/9/2022 at 8:56 PM, Barney said:

Can't for the life of me think what we used to call them, so Google isn't helping!

Firelighters we used to call them!

Forever getting all crispy and charred inside.

There was a brief period when you had to pay import charges, but now VAT and customs charges are included in the price.

From the Thomann blog:

"Final pricing means no additional VAT applied after the order has been placed, no handling fees and VAT paid to couriers, just the convenience of knowing that the price you see at the checkout is the total price you pay. VAT (20%)* and handling fees are now factored into the final online price so you don’t pay more. Simple!"

https://www.thomann.de/blog/en/an-update-for-our-valued-uk-customers/

I have ordered stuff recently, and it was fine. 

His Linkedin profile still shows him as Service Manager for Le Maitre

If your neon is against a black background, you can form a loop outside the figure you are making. Where the non neon crosses itself you get a right angle, then cover the loop in black tape. 

On 1/22/2022 at 5:45 PM, adam2 said:

For a bonus point, does anyone know for what these were used ?

It's been a while, but some of the Strong followspots used a 28v Arc Lamp. Not mercury vapour I suspect, so maybe not what you were thinking of.