Hanging lights on a fixed bar

[Chris_H]

Hi, I've got a school production coming up soon and I need a light hung at a certain height, but, the bars on the school hall are fixed and I need a light hung about a metre below this.

I would think about using scaffholding, but then realised the H+S about it all (not safe really at all).

Has anyone got any ideas on how I could get a light dropped about a metre off of a bar?

Any ideas would be useful,

thankyou all

[Bryson]

1 metre long double ended hook clamps:

http://cgi.www.doughty-engineering.co.uk/theatre/products/photo/T20800.jpg

 

Like that.

 

then a short bit of scaff.

 

Result.

[Chris_H]

Thank you

[Bryson]

I should also have said: They're manufactured by Doughty or it's possible that your local hire company will have some in stock.

[Chris_H]

Aye, I think that white light (north) do them for summat like 50p a week, cheap as chips, Cheers mate

Chris

[gareth]

I noticed that someone has replied to your message in the ABTT forum, suggesting M10 stud ... that would be my recommendation too, if it's just a single lantern that you need to drop down. If it's more than one, then it's probably safer to use the drop clamps as detailed above, and some scaff. Don't forget, though, that technically-speaking you should have a safety bond between the fixed bar and the drop bar .......

[benweblight]

whats is the reason for this, if you dont mind me asking

[colinmonk]

whats the reason for which bit Ben?

[Jivemaster]

M10 studding can be cut to length -- may be an advantage. Long wire bonds may be harder to buy.

[benweblight]

for having lanterns 1mtr of bar

[Stu]

for having lanterns 1mtr of bar

Well in some venues (such as the one the original post describes) the LX bars are fixed at a certain height, and as such, you have to put up with where ever the installation company originally put the bars.

 

But sometimes, for whatever reason, you might need to drop a lantern down slightly from the bar (perhaps there is a border in the way (as in right in front of the bar! :blink:), and you need to backlight something), in order to achieve what you need to do. Some of the larger tours will also have all their LX rigged on 6 way bars (with soca or lectriflex outputs), and all they require is the in-house LX bars so they can be flown. Typically this means the touring bars will have double ended hookclamps on them so they can be attached to the in-house bars, and then flown to the grid, or to their deaded height.

 

I'm sure there are other reasons as to why you might want to, just can't think of any right now.

 

Stu

[colinmonk]

another major reason maybe angle of the light as it hits the stage!

 

Or you may need to light further upstage from an advance bar but want the angle to be shallow as you light the upstage area.

 

Many Many reasons... too many to be listed!

[robloxley]

Remember the double hook clamps aren't rated for that much (40kg IIRC) - I'd prefer steel wire ropes and barrel hangers. Load rated steels are readily available from Rope Assemblies and the like in any length or SWL you want. As for stud, you really need a stud cutter else the threads get knackered and putting nuts on becomes really tedious. For bars-of-6, lots of people seem to be moving away from double ended hook-clamps to double aliscaff half-coupler-type clamps.

[gareth]

As for stud, you really need a stud cutter else the threads get knackered and putting nuts on becomes really tedious.

There's a very, very old but very useful way of preventing this - put a nut onto the stud or bolt first, make the cut, and then unscrew the nut over the end which has just been cut - that pretty much gets rid of any 'orrible rough edges which would make it difficult to put a nut on.

[Tomo]

[snip]

put a nut onto the stud or bolt first, make the cut, and then unscrew the nut over the end which has just been cut - that pretty much gets rid of any 'orrible rough edges which would make it difficult to put a nut on.

Very true Gareth - probably the best trick in the book for cutting threaded stock.

 

To get a better and safer finish, use a metal file to clean up the end before unscrewing the nut, as that way you don't get any sharp bits of thread sticking out to cut your fingers on.

 

To actually cut the studding, put several nuts onto it and tighten them against each other before clamping it in a vice, as that will protect the thread and hold it steady while you attack it with your hacksaw.

Soft jaws aren't really suitable for holding threaded stock as they don't hold circular items properly.