James Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 Hi all. I'm looking to start investing in truss. Just a couple of pieces to start with for a specific project but expect to build over the next year. The question is what system to go with long term. My local hire firm stocks trilite so there is an argument for that (however I probably will go for square section as I can see myself needing to make a 10m span in the future and I can't do that with trilite). So other than that are there any suggestions. Having only ever hired bits when needed I have no experience of long term problems, has anyone had any problems with any types or is there anything that will bite me in the future. (reliance on specific adapters, incompatibility etc... ) Thanks James PS of course if anyone has some pieces hanging around that they would be interested in getting rid of please give me a shout. :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 Square truss has the advantage of needing less different types of corner as you don't have the issue of which way the apex points. But used trilite is normally the easiest stuff to find on the second-hand market. Only other point I can think of is that some used truss is sold because it's failed inspection and might be bent or have cracked welds, etc. If you are buying second-hand stuff, be sure to check it out very carefully. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 All truss becomes Work Equipment or Lifting Equipment and each piece needs a certificate of manufacture and further certs of periodic inspection. There's also a lot of unbranded three and two tube truss coming into the disco trade informally referred as tri- / bi- lite with no provenance at all. Buying truss srarts you on the paper trail of certs for every piece and designs and load calcs for every rig up. Read Chris Higgs' books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted October 21, 2004 Author Share Posted October 21, 2004 Dave, Thanks, I hadn't though of the different angles required, of course that is a little obvious now I think of it. It's another reason to go for square section (I was thinking mainly of the extra loading I could get out of it ultimately) Jivemaster. The instalation I'm thinking of at the moment is two vertical sections of 3m square truss on floor plates sandbagged down with a pair of short arms on either side supporting a pair of SX300's to be rigged in a balcony where I don't have enough floor space to rig a tripod. I take you point about the paperwork but this isn't any more lifting equipment than my current rig of speaker stands, Powerdrive stands and scaff T bars are. I will however read Chris' book as despite the fact I don't intend to do any more flying than I currently do I think it would be interesting reading Cheers. all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianl Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 Jivemaster. The instalation I'm thinking of at the moment is two vertical sections of 3m square truss on floor plates sandbagged down with a pair of short arms on either side supporting a pair of SX300's to be rigged in a balcony where I don't have enough floor space to rig a tripod.<{POST_SNAPBACK}> from your breif description I would say no - don't do it, calculating balast on ground suport speaker stands is one for the experts even on the smaller scale you describe. if you do want to , then I strongly suggest describing your use to a suplier and getting them to spec what you need rather than choosing parts yourself you could talk to total fabrications as they make/sell slick litebeam (roughly trilite size but a lot stronger) and 12"x12" box truss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slim_mcslim Posted October 22, 2004 Share Posted October 22, 2004 calculating balast on ground suport speaker stands is one for the experts even on the smaller scale you describe which experts are this? the ballast calculating company ltd? Lighting tree's are fairly standard, made of a base plate an upright and a number of T pieces, its not so much ballast that you need to think about its more the size of the base plate. I have done it a using 12" box truss, but using a baseplate that is 1m square and made from 10mm steel and this happily takes the weight of 4 S4 zooms whilst remaining very stable. It all depends on the frames that you want to use to fly the speakers with and keeping the centre of gravity over the centre of the base plate. However I wouldn't do it with a base plate of less than 1m square, and if you have that much room then you can probably get a speaker stand in!!! Yet again with most things in life, and a lot of the problems on here (or the way I see them) is a judgement call, if you feel confident working out how to hang speakers using a ground support truss and base plates then do it, if you don't feel confident then don't do it! As for truss recommendations, Slick Lite-Beam is fairly easy to get hold of and is a good strong multi purpose truss, you could use the quad version of tri-lite but I am not a fan of spigots! or total fabrications XO series or a cheaper version of the lite-beam/XO series is Milos Systems from Czech Republic, they have a few UK distributors and are generally cheaper, but are still safety certificated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted October 22, 2004 Author Share Posted October 22, 2004 Thankyou Slim, The reason why I can get a base plate in and not a speaker stand is that this is a raked balcony with each layer of seating on a step. I can put the base plate under the seating where a stand would not be appropriate. Thanks for the sugestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maporama Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 ladies and gents the simpliest thing to do is buy litec cheap as chips hard as nails if you go for the heavy duty stuff you wont be dissapointedand the connection sets for it are childs play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 ladies and gents the simpliest thing to do is buy litec cheap as chips hard as nails if you go for the heavy duty stuff you wont be dissapointedand the connection sets for it are childs play<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Now why isn't this a surprise? Would a Moderator be so kind as to explain the way things are done around here, or do we take Maporama 'round the bike sheds & give him a slap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted November 20, 2004 Share Posted November 20, 2004 ladies and gents the simpliest thing to do is buy litec cheap as chips hard as nails if you go for the heavy duty stuff you wont be dissapointedand the connection sets for it are childs play<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Now why isn't this a surprise? Would a Moderator be so kind as to explain the way things are done around here, or do we take Maporama 'round the bike sheds & give him a slap?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hmmm. While I wouldn't have put it quite in those terms (!) Andrew does have a point. What Maporama fails to mention in his glowing endorsement of Litec truss is that he is an employee of their UK distributor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lightnix Posted November 21, 2004 Share Posted November 21, 2004 calculating balast on ground suport speaker stands is one for the experts even on the smaller scale you describe which experts are this? the ballast calculating company ltd? Lighting tree's are fairly standard...<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I take you point about the paperwork but this isn't any more lifting equipment than my current rig of speaker stands...Even so it's still covered by LOLER, what we think simply doesn't come into it any more and hasn't done for some time. The state of play these days means that even the simplest rigging "systems" should be designed and specced by "competent" people and I'd strongly echo ianl's suggestion to put the spec out to tender. It won't cost any extra and you may be able to do a deal on servicing and maintenance while you're at it. Read Chris Higgs' book by all means, it will probably give you some insight although bear in mind that reading it won't make you comptetent, by itself. Yes, public safety is a bore sometimes, but it's in your interests to keep your own :o rse properly covered. Surely your livelihood, liberty, reputation and solvency are far too valuable to be risked over a measly few quid on some poxy bit of truss? ladies and gents the simpliest thing to do is buy litec cheap as chips hard as nails if you go for the heavy duty stuff you wont be dissapointedand the connection sets for it are childs play<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Now why isn't this a surprise? Would a Moderator be so kind as to explain the way things are done around here, or do we take Maporama 'round the bike sheds & give him a slap?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hmmm. While I wouldn't have put it quite in those terms (!) Andrew does have a point. What Maporama fails to mention in his glowing endorsement of Litec truss is that he is an employee of their UK distributor.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>Well, he's still a bit new. Maybe a quiet word in his mailbox and a referral to these previous discussions on advertising will help... Reps SectionModeration In ModerationProduct LaunchesAdvertisingAnd of course the Terms & Conditions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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