paul freeman Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 I'm doing a project on fly towers. Can anyone recommend a website or book that can help me? I'm trying to explain (and understand myself), in simple terms, how a fly tower works. I bought the book 'Theatre engineering and stage machinery' which is good, but it doesn't have the annotated drawing plans and sections that I need. Also is there anyone working in a theatre that could show me the fly tower, or the scenery workshop? within a 100 miles or so of Brighton.I have been trying, with no luck so far, to get allowed backstage into many different theatres. I guess it's too busy during panto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 This help? PDF at Hall's web-site, more here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted December 29, 2006 Share Posted December 29, 2006 If, by "how a fly tower works", you mean "how a flying system works", then a good bet would be to get hold of the relevant ABTT code of practice - link. Plenty of good info and pictures in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul freeman Posted December 29, 2006 Author Share Posted December 29, 2006 This help? PDF at Hall's web-site, more here. That's just the sort of info I need. Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nat_Keiller Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 Also is there anyone working in a theatre that could show me the fly tower, or the scenery workshop? within a 100 miles or so of Brighton. Theatre Royal Brighton may be a good place to contact... although I beleve they are a hemp house, so maybe not quite what you need? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 Theatre Royal are indeed a hemp house, and have developed an effective, but in many ways unique, method of working. If you're looking to see an example of a modern counterweight (or even powered) flying system, it probably isn't the best place to visit. Why not give Glyndebourne Opera House a try? They're just up the road from Brighton, they have an extensive counterweight installation as well as various odds and ends of powered lifting equipment, and they're 'between seasons' there at the moment and therefore pretty quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave singleton Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 You could give Chris Wilcox (technical manager) of the Hawth Theatre in Crawley a shout. I'm sure he would arrange a look around for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul freeman Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 You could give Chris Wilcox (technical manager) of the Hawth Theatre in Crawley a shout. I'm sure he would arrange a look around for you. thanks, I'll give that a go Also is there anyone working in a theatre that could show me the fly tower, or the scenery workshop? within a 100 miles or so of Brighton. Theatre Royal Brighton may be a good place to contact... although I beleve they are a hemp house, so maybe not quite what you need? I've tried the theatre royal, they're panto'd up. thanks anyway Theatre Royal are indeed a hemp house, and have developed an effective, but in many ways unique, method of working. If you're looking to see an example of a modern counterweight (or even powered) flying system, it probably isn't the best place to visit. Why not give Glyndebourne Opera House a try? They're just up the road from Brighton, they have an extensive counterweight installation as well as various odds and ends of powered lifting equipment, and they're 'between seasons' there at the moment and therefore pretty quiet. I'll try that one, cheers.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 being panto'd up - to me suggests maybe the contact didn't go quite as well as you thought. In the middle of panto isn't hugely busy - everyone has got used to the system and the work load actually goes down as it beds down into a stream of resets and a tech manager or other senior person could easily show you around - if, you came accross as someone worth putting yourself out for. My panto, I've had quite a few visitors. One was a 6' 5" Royal Marine who asked if he could watch how people did things backstage. He knew when to be 'invisible' noticed a space in the wings was about to become 'not a space' - all that kind of stuff, and was no trouble at all. I've agreed a Uni student can come and take photos backstage as part of a 3rd year photography project, and even had one guy stand behind our sound op for a couple of shows as he asked nicely and was interested. In most cases, you simply let people know what the 'stranger' is doing and they (like our sound op) are pleased to have the chance to show outsiders what they actually do. We had a 92 year old lady want to have her picture taken on one of the large Cottage trucks and the crew quite happily reset it and then put it away again - good lot here in Plymouth. It all depends on what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsoperator Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 I found the Hall .pdf hard to follow, because all the lines are the same weight and color. You might try two textbooks that are so famous over here that they might be in a UK library, by A.S. Gilette and by Burris-Meyer and Cole. They have excellent drawings. Be sure to investigate complex uses of the fly tower, like permanent fire curtains with dual-releases, dashpots and stop chains. There's also ganging arbors and variable loads (like flying a person) to consider. And get to see a chain-hoist show in a theater with a grid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowan Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 This sounds like quite an interesting project, What's it for? Are there any particular aspects of the fly tower that you are interested in, or just generally how it works? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_s Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 we're 5 minutes walk from London Bridge Station, (handy for the Brighton Line) and have an interesting flytower solution using CW (singles and doubles) hemp and electric chainhoist. PM me if you're interested in a little look round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Does this drawing help?http://www.eastanglianradio.com/counterweights.jpgI drew this a year or two ago - for some odd reason, I put the rope locks at stage level (where they are in my venue) - in many installtions they are up out of harms way, only workable by people on the fly floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seano Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Hi Paul, On your 'double purchase' drawing, you've drawn the handling line as a single purchase one - ie: connected directly to the top and bottom of the counterweight cradle. Is this what you have in your venue? Usually, the handling line is also double purchase - ie: it runs over a pulley at the top and bottom of the cradle, and is anchored at the top and bottom of its travel. This means that the handling line moves at the same speed as the flying bar (with the arrangement you've drawn it moves at the same speed as the cradle - 1/2 the speed of the flown piece) and also gives the flyman a bit more leverage to get things moving (and stop them again) than he would otherwise have. Seanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Paul, Is the position of the cradle not wrong in the first drawing? I don't suppose it matters much, but if anyone's trying to figure out how counterweights work from the picture, it could be a bit confusing. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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