Vinyl Dance Floor Storage

[ibjorn]

Hi All,

 

I work as a stage technician at the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, and since we have moved to a new house we are searching for a new method for storing our vinyl dance floor rolls. Currently we use pallets with 6 rolls lying in a "pyramid" on each pallet (800x1200 mm) and some wagons similar to "Gerriets Vario-wagon". None of these methods are 100% satisfactory in the long run and therefore I want to know if any of you guys

have come up with a good system. preferably horizontally and pallet based in a way. But I´m open to suggestion:)

 

ibjorn.

[Bryson]

I used to use the Harlequin Dance Floor carts but they were very, very heavy, and shockingly expensive.

 

I suspect the way forward is to design something that does exactly what you need and have a local welder make it for you out of box section steel or similar.

[GridGirl]

Ours is stored on a "meat rack"; the rolls have 48mm pipe through the centre of them, extending out a foot or so from the end of the roll, and they slot into the rack. Six rolls to a rack, otherwise the weight is too high, and there's enough room between rolls that we don't have difficulty lifting them out.

[Grahame]

I agree with GridGirl - meat racks are the way forward. Scottish Ballet have some custom ones that each take four rolls of main-stage lino. The rolls are kept on heavy-duty plastic pipe formers (about 15cm. diameter?) and these are end-supported on steel 'christmas tree' frames, two rolls to a side. The top is steel framed and covered with 1/2" ply so you can put an extra two rolls on there if needed, although they are then really too heavy to manoeuvre easily.

There are steel bar handles on the ends of the racks, and six heavy-duty 6" castors.

I'll try and grab a picture next time I see them in a couple of weeks.

[ibjorn]

Thanx for your quick reply!

 

As for making, we have in house metal and wood workshops, so that´s no problem.

 

I´m not familiar with the meat racks, but I suppose they can be handeled with a forklift?

 

The scottish Ballet ones sounds interesting, so it would be great "Grahame" if you could get me some

pictures of them!

 

ibjorn

[neilalexrose]

I´m not familiar with the meat racks, but I suppose they can be handeled with a forklift?

 

maybe it's a British nickname? Or maybe it doesn't translate well into Norwegian!

I'm sure you've come across them, and I'll do my best to explain....

Meat racks are basically mobile storage racks for equipment that is mounted on bars, typically lighting bars/IWB's so they don't need to be de-rigged, and then re-rigged in each new venue. Think of a box trailer with two levels carrying kayaks or similar, then picture the same box trailer with bits of scaff tube and lights hanging off, or in this case rolls of dance floor I guess would be suspended on the rack.

 

Typically as they're on wheels, no they don't need a forklift to move them around.

 

Please feel free to modify my description and add anything to make it clearer!

 

Neil

[Roderick]

Picture says a thousand words!

 

Here's a quick drawing of what a dancefloor 'meatrack' could look like:

http://www.stagesafety.com/Stuff/Meatrack.jpg

 

Even added sleeves for the forklift tynes :blink:

[Grahame]

Great drawing, Roderick. I promised some pics of the Scottish Ballet floor racks, and here they are (click to enlarge):

 

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/3171/sbfloorracks2yw1.th.jpg http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/5755/sbfloorracks1bv9.th.jpg http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1971/sbfloorracks3qe4.th.jpg

 

Not too different from your sketch, but the 'hook' arrangement is a bit different as SB use larger cores to store the rolls on. And they only have 4 wheels, not 6 as I thought.

[Roderick]

Despite everyone's effords this appears to be another dead thread.

The OP hasn't been back since posting the question.......

 

Why do people do that? :)

[Bryson]

Great drawing, Roderick. I promised some pics of the Scottish Ballet floor racks, and here they are (click to enlarge):

 

 

Hmmmm. The primary difference in design there is in how the roll is supported. In Rodericks drawing, (and in the Harlequin trolleys I used to use) the roll is supported by a bar through the middle of the roll, that is then picked up by the structure. In Scottish Ballet's version, the roll rests directly on a "shelf" - but crucially, only at the ends, not in the middle.

 

Rodericks way adds weight and length to the trolley, but importantly, lets the roll sit there unmolested. The Scottish Ballet version, however, while lighter and shorter, carries a significant risk of damage to the end of the rolls, especially if they are ever not rolled properly. I'd expect the rolls to pretty soon end up with crinckly edges that make them hard to tape down.

 

Despite everyone's effords this appears to be another dead thread.

The OP hasn't been back since posting the question.......

 

Well, if that sort of thing bothers you, think of it in this way: What we're doing here is two things:

1. Answering people's questions directly.
   
2. Creating a database of solutions that people can refer to in future.
   

I actually think that the second one is the most important, so don't get too angry!

[Grahame]

In Scottish Ballet's version, the roll rests directly on a "shelf" - but crucially, only at the ends, not in the middle.

Rodericks way adds weight and length to the trolley, but importantly, lets the roll sit there unmolested. The Scottish Ballet version, however, while lighter and shorter, carries a significant risk of damage to the end of the rolls, especially if they are ever not rolled properly. I'd expect the rolls to pretty soon end up with crinckly edges that make them hard to tape down.

Put your specs on, Bryson - there is a centre support bar clearly visible in the pics. :)

It doesn't have the retainer 'wedge' of the outer bars, but it's there!

Damage to the ends of rolls has not been apparent, and they've been using this system for some few years now. The advantage is that the rolls are much more stable when moved - if they're just resting on scaff bars as per Roderick's sketch, they tend to wobble around when being moved, which can make the whole rack unstable.

[Roderick]

I think it all comes down to the application.

I can see the advantages of the SB trolleys for a touring company, they are more stable and don't have bits that can go missing.

But for a venue, where the floor could be in storage for months, I would prefer the 'hanging' version to reduce the risk of indents caused by the supports.

 

 

Well, if that sort of thing bothers you, think of it in this way: What we're doing here is two things:

1. Answering people's questions directly.
   
2. Creating a database of solutions that people can refer to in future.
   

I actually think that the second one is the most important, so don't get too angry!

Yes, I know and I agree, I just think it is rude.

But hopefully someone will find our comments helpful - and that's what it is all about! :(

[ibjorn]

Roderick & Grahame, thanks a million for your contributions!!

 

Yes It´s true, I haven´t been logged in here for a while. We are about to open, 12. april and the upper and lower machinery is not yet finished!

So we are all a bit stressed and there´s a million things to get sorted as you all now, especially when opening a new opera house:) The last weeks I have been busy "furnishing" our (the stage technicians) workshop, big and small inhouse storage + buying tools for all 40 of us + the light department +, + . I´m not complaining though, but I´m also at the same time trying to have some privatelife, ha-ha:)

 

Thanks for the drawing Roderick! It´s not very different from the one´s we´ve made ourselves, just that ours are more like an "A" shape like the Harlequin ones.

 

Grahame, I kind of like the Scottish Ballet ones, but is there a specific use for the top plate? The ideal for us would be to be able to store them in a pallet rack/shelf, I got some ideas after seeing some equipment here on the building site. The problem is only that when in use, the trolley should have wheels, but not when stored in the shelf. It is of course possible to make the wheels retractable, maybe that´s the ultimate solution!

 

However this a job for our metal workshop. I´ll have a chat whit our chief engineer.

 

I´ll keep you posted with our solution if or rather when we have time to come up whit one!

 

In the meantime, please have a look: http://statsbygg.no/Prosjekt/Opera/Bilder/byggeplassen/

 

Regards, ibjorn:)

[Grahame]

Grahame, I kind of like the Scottish Ballet ones, but is there a specific use for the top plate?

There are multitudinous uses for the top plate - carrying extra rolls of lino, tool boxes, props, dancers' personal skips, bits of set, sleeping technicians....! :)

it just seemed more useful to have a flat platform that you can put things on rather than an open frame.

When they're not touring, the company store their rolls of various floors on some scaff-and-plywood shelving. The racks are just for touring really.