moo Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 Hello Right I have looked for this topic which I thought would have already have been covered - but couldn't find it, so if I'm wrong and have not put in the right search words I do apologise. I am looking at upgrading the way in which we tour our side lights (we are a dance company, enough said) Now I've seen loads of companies with some great side light towers, on two wheels but can anyone give me a company who makes these things? Or if you have any ideas or comments on using these instead of conventional booms and bases. I have thought of getting them made locally but am also interested in the lightest way they can be made. Am in the process of contacting the companies I have seen with them but just wondered if any one had any more thoughts. Ta Moo :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 How about dance tower truss?Hang your lamps inside and lift into place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 I quite like my sidelights. They're a ladder of scaff, made with key clamps, with an IWB up one side. They sit on a wheeled tray and so are entirely wheelable. The only thing I'd add is brakes on the wheels, but to be honest that hasn't been a problem yet. I'll add photos later. What I've done recently is give each boom it's own Alphapack2 so it's entirely self-contained, and will work just as well in the theatre as in the studio, or wherever. Who makes them? I suspect the best way is to buy the bits and make them yourself. If you're more towards the large-scale end of the Touring scale, then call Sadler's Wells and ask about their folding, tapered sidelight trusses. They had them custom made by a truss company (I forget which) and they are amazing. They fold in half for transport, they have a ladder up the back for focussing, they have nice, lockable, wheels. They rule. Too big for my venue, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 All the touring side light towers that I've seen dance companies using have been custom-built to some extent - the simplest being 8-foot lengths of pre-rig truss with a bit of modification and cabling, the most complicated being built from scratch, with everything exactly where it needs to be. At the moment Rambert Dance Company are in one of the spaces in the theatre where I'm doing some work - their sidelight towers are truly excellent pieces of kit, very well thought-out and ideal for a company that does lots of weekly touring. I'll try to get a photo of one tomorrow and post it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 All the touring side light towers that I've seen dance companies using have been custom-built to some extent - the simplest being 8-foot lengths of pre-rig truss with a bit of modification and cabling, Maxi beam works quite well for this imho and you should be able to pick someup reasonably cheaply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seano Posted March 15, 2006 Share Posted March 15, 2006 If you're making your own, you may also find unistrut a handy ingredient. It can give you a lot of flexibility for moving fixtures around, and enables you to lose the hook clamps, making things a little more compact. Seanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 The Birmingham Royal Ballet towers were custom made by Total Fabrications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 As promised, a couple of pictures of Rambert Dance Company's touring sidelight towers.Picture 1Picture 2 Made from box section steel, with space for five lanterns on each (four Source4s within the tower, and a Source4 PAR on a 'stick' at the top - this latter unit drops down to the top of the tower for transit, and is pushed up into position and locked with a couple of kee-clamps when the tower is in place). Trunking on the upstage back corner, with all the ins and outs for power and data - 6 dimmer feeds on a Soca, hard power on a Powercon, and DMX on an XLR drop down from a cross-stage multi feed and just plug straight into the base of the tower. Each tower has a scroller PSU mounted into the bottom of it. The one in the photo has a foldback speaker on it - some of the others have a Mac250 wash in that position. Moving the tower around is easy - it just tilts back onto the two castors on the upstage edge and wheels about. There's not a great deal of weight in it, all things considered, and it's quite easy to find a position for moving it about that's reasonably well-balanced. The tower is deep enough that the scrollers don't have to come off the lanterns for travelling, so it really is a case of just wheel it in, hoist the 'stick' up, plug in the three cables, and go! A very well-thought-out bit of kit, most impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 Very nice, Gareth. How many of these assemblies do they have per side, on what size of stage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 16, 2006 Share Posted March 16, 2006 4 a side, normally. Not sure whether they reduce that for smaller stages. The whole rig is just as well-worked-out and user-friendly. They're a company who spend most of their time touring on weekly moves, and have really put some thought into how to make things as efficient as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grahame Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 Scottish Ballet tour some nice alloy ones made to my specification by Thomas Engineering. There are 8 towers in all, they have 4 locakable wheels on the base, the downstage ones are also adjustable for raked stages, and 4 on the back so that they can be run horizontally for loading on and off wagons. They are internally wired with 6 outlets, fed by a multicore. They normally take 5 Source 4 Zooms, although they are wide enough that you could have pairs of lamps side by side. The top section is also removable so that the downstage tower can fit under low perches, or all the tops can be removed and assembled together into an extra tower. These are now 15 years old and still going strong! ***Edit - just back from tour so have had time to add some pics of these: http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/2233/sbtowers17iz.jpg You can see the Lectriflex connector and the IW sockets here:http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/8305/sbtowers28pb.jpg Note lower travel wheels have been inverted here - they were getting in the way in tight wings!http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/9205/sbtowers38gs.jpg And a close up of the adjustable wheels:http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/7990/sbtowers42rh.jpg I've heard the new BRB side booms are very good indeed - anyone got pics of those? I can also recommend the 20mm box steel and unistrut approach if you want more flexbility in configuration, for example if the towers are likely to be used in a wide variety of situations. Fix a 6-way IWB in one corner and you're off!Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake and Edward Scissorhands tour booms like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Apologies for commiting necromancy on this thread, However I saw this and thought of the thread. Currently on Ebay http://i24.ebayimg.com/01/I/000/8b/37/aa6c_12.JPG No link with auction other than spotting it James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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