smash!!!

[bruce]

The old Glasgow Apollo was famous for how it's balcony allegedly "bounced". There's an apocryphal tale of how the bouncers (no relation) and roadies could judge the popularity of a gig by the deflection of the front of the balcony. I certainly remember going there in the early 80s and feeling a bit uneasy. There were stories at the time that it would deflect by up to a foot or more when Quo or the Clash were playing. However, it appears that these were largely untrue - one internet source (which may of course be nonsense!) says that the "foot deflection" at a Quo gig was actually measured as one inch.

[w/robe]

the "foot deflection" at a Quo gig was actually measured as one inch.

 

This, and possibly the previous case, is partly to do with perception. A floor moving 1" feels like a lot of movement and the light hitting the stage from any lanterns attached to the balcony is, of course, moving feet, hence people saying that there is a 12" movement.

 

Think about how far 6" feels if you miss the bottom step when coming down a flight of stairs.

[JMC]

I'm aware of quite a few venues where, if you are focussing on a circle front, you have to take into account that when the audience is in, every focus will be around 2-3 inches lower than intended :)

[samrulesapply]

When you ask an engineer what the floor loading of a place is and they have no construction data, they do a "deflection test", which involved putting a load in and measuring how much the place bends. The deflection distance is measured quite accurately, as it's quite small. Five inches of movement would scare the bewhatsits out of me, and I too would leave. Quickly.

 

I mentioned my discovery of this forum to the other techs and apparently it has all been checked out and its fine. 6-inches of give are accetable..... aparently. They never told me because they found it hillarious watching me go all white and clammy when movements accured. I mean its a big ol' building but I'm stll gonna have one eye on the stage and one on the ceiling. back to the topic of this board a crew member droped a par lamp from the top of our tallescope which made a satisfying if not slightly anoying smash.

[norty303]

Back to the original topis briefly, I recently had my first drop experience whilst packing down from a gig.

 

I was using ladder truss hung between 2 wind up stands which had been wound down to its minimum height (about 6ft) so we could uncable and remove fixtures.

 

As I've recently bought some bigger heads I'd invested in some half couplers over g-clamps as I felt safer using them. We'd removed cables and safety bonds, ready to lift heads off the truss. I was coiling cables and warned the 2 poeople that the new lifghts were a 2man lift and to be careful. I turned away and about 5 secs later heard a shout and crash.

 

One of the people (my other half as it happens) had been helpfully unscrewing the pinch bolts on the g-clamps ready to lift off and had come across the half coupler and proceeded as normal. Obviously it loosened to the point where it flicked open and down came the head. (Very) fortunately, the person who'd been bent down underneath looking for a dropped bolt had stood up barely moments before, and my other sound guy unfortunately caught it on his leg.

 

I had a good long think about what had happened there, and it really fell to me for responsibility. I should still have ensured that my enthusiastic girlfriend was suitably briefed on the new bits and bobs I'm using, and also ensured that I was supervising the actions. however its easy to think these things afterwards, and not whilst trying to just get on with the job of breaking down. we all got a bit of a wake up call and its changed the way we do things now, and everyone is a bit more on the ball.

 

for those of you interested, the light (a Futurelight) fired up fine and only needed a new mirror barrell and a slight bend to one of the gobo motor supports to be back to normal.

 

It was an enormously lucky thing all round!

[zonino]

that's an ideal example of why I really like the new Megaclaw type clamps http://www.teilighting.com/images/accesori...ntelliclamp.gif is a really tiny picture

[TomLyall]

that's an ideal example of why I really like the new Megaclaw type clamps http://www.teilighting.com/images/accesori...ntelliclamp.gif is a really tiny picture

I've never used those, are they similar to doughty trigger clamps? I'd really recommend against using half-couplers for fixing lights for exactly the reason you mention. Trigger clamps are much more appropriate for the job.

 

http://www.doughty-engineering.co.uk/cgi-b...showprod_T58300

[zonino]

Yes, they're similar, Megaclaw is an American brand,

 

the main difference is the Megaclaw goes completely around the pipe rather than leaving a gap, this is a better picture http://www.thelightsource.com/products/7/p.../huge/image.jpg

[peternewman]

I'd really recommend against using half-couplers for fixing lights for exactly the reason you mention. Trigger clamps are much more appropriate for the job.

Rigging with half-couplers does always seem to be a real PITA, although they are a lot more compact than a hook/trigger clamp.

 

The intelliclamps look like they may be the same, it's hard to tell.

[andy_s]

a long time ago, I was up a ladder focussing cantatas when the moving light tech asked me if I'd tweek the focus on the adjacent goldenscan. Now I'd never touched one of these before -they were pretty new - but I had a look and the lens assembly looked a bit like a p23, so I thought I'd give it a go. No one told me that once you'd undone the locking screw, there was nothing else to stop it falling off (p23's used to have a little bit of chain) and it was a bit heavier than I'd anticipated, so it hit the deck from about 25 feet up. luckily the stage was carpeted so it bounced, someone passed it back up to me and I re-attached it.

[norty303]

I'd really recommend against using half-couplers for fixing lights for exactly the reason you mention. Trigger clamps are much more appropriate for the job.

 

Thanks, wasn't even aware of the existence of those types of clamps. I found it a little bit ironic that the accident happened as a result of me trying to 'do the right thing'.

 

Shoulda just stuck with the g-clamps!!