Homemade Truss

[Jake R]

HI

 

I was looking in to trussing and found it a wee bit to expensive so I wondered if I could make my own this was my plan;

 

It has to be able to fit in the back of a car

 

so if I used this stuff;

http://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/product.aspx?code=504-8883

and then used these to connect it together

http://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/product.aspx?code=514-0695

use these to turn it in to the triangle shape

http://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/product.aspx?code=504-9198

 

the span I was thinking of was about 6m to fill the school hall I do discos at.

 

now to the electrical side,

 

the top rail I wanted to be a IWB fitted with 15A sockets 1 for every fitting I was looking at 6x64's and 6x56's (64's on the rear and 56's in front) and then fitted with IEC plugs

to connect each length of the IWB together

OR

Do I just for get this idea and but some T bars?

[Dj Dunc]

Im not a rigger or structural engineer but your idea sounds bloody dangerous. Truss is expensive for a reason!!

 

Buy something safe, rated and with a SWL printed on it.

[dosxuk]

*scared* :blink:

 

Do I just for get this idea and but some T bars?

 

YES!

[IRW]

For numerous reasons, which I don't have time to expand on right now, but I'm sure someone else will very shortly, I'd say go for the T-bars.

 

Truss is expensive for a reason, and scaff bars and double hook clamps arranged into a triangle do not make truss.

 

Ian

 

E2A...Beaten to it!

[paulears]

By the time you have bought it, it would be far too expensive - plus none of the double enders are made for taking any side loads. On top of this, thick wall ali tubing is damn heavy. Three chords connected with double enders may look like truss, but it has none of the characteristics for practical purposes. Truss is very strong and very light. The chords being linked with diagonal links provides plenty of resistance to bending. Using this home brew method would be stupidly heavy and would bend like a banana - it would be no stronger than the individual length of tube. The weight of the two above would probably make it bend even more.

 

Buy some proper lightweight truss, not a bendy bodge up.

[cedd]

I had to check the date. Nope, April 1st is still a few days off........

 

I started reading thinking you were going to weld it up yourself, but it gets worse!

 

Don't go there! Truss is welded together, tested and certified. Sorry, but 3 bits of tube held together by thumb screws on glorified hook clamps just won't hack it.

 

Where's the diagonal bracing that actually makes truss strong? Unfortunately it's expensive for a reason!

 

Get the T bars!

 

Edit; Did we all just panic and get in there at exactly the same time boys????

[Wol]

Do I just for get this idea and but some T bars?

 

^^^ Choose that option.

 

For a bit of home experimenting, try this:

 

Take some drinking straws, sticky tape 4 of them end to end, and stick some paperclips between three of these lengths to make them into a triangle shape. Support them at either end on some plastic cups, and see how much weight you can stick on them before it collapses horribly. Now put a load of dancing kids underneath that.....

 

If you look at some pictures of truss, youll also see that if you look at one side of the triangle shape, that the cross braces make triangles also. The clamp you were suggesting would just make these at right angles, and wouldnt be solid, and wouldnt provide any structural support.

 

DO NOT MAKE YOUR OWN.

 

For 12 cans, some T bars will be fine, significantly cheaper, significantly stronger, and a lot safer.

[ptrturner4]

just a suggestion why dont you make it out of broom handles, im joking theres no point in this just buy some truss you will be looking at the same sorta price anyways, no brainer!

[Jake R]

Hi

 

Right, it was just a thought.

 

Edit; I suppose this trussing aint that bad (price wise) the 2 metre long bit I was looking at http://www.10outof10.co.uk/acatalog/10_out_of_10_On_Line_Ladder_Truss_100_Series_291.html

 

but then how would I adapt it to fit one of these;

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Lighting_Disco_Index/Disco_Lighting_Stand/index.html

 

the triangle tuss is what I was originally looking at.

 

OR plan "B" and totally totally forget truss.

 

Thanks

Jake

[cooldc1]

Good to see that all the time people are spending on health & safety & educating our industries workforce is time & money well spent!

[Dj Dunc]

Jake, you dont seem to understand the whole thing about weight. To do it safely, and follow a traditional "goalpost" route, Id suggest the following:

 

2x http://www.doughty-engineering.co.uk/cgi-bin/trolleyed_public.cgi?action=showprod_T55510

 

with either two of the following

 

http://www.doughty-engineering.co.uk/cgi-bin/trolleyed_public.cgi?action=showprod_T57210 for TRIANGULAR truss / SQUARE truss.

 

or

 

http://www.doughty-engineering.co.uk/cgi-bin/trolleyed_public.cgi?action=showprod_T58700 for LADDER truss.

 

and a length of truss (2m or 3m would be fine depending on your loading calculations)

 

If you let us know what you want to hang on the truss, we may be able to help further

 

 

EDIT 2 ADD: Whilst occassionally I do use a single doughty T57210 with a 2m section of ladder truss on top, it is only for hanging LED parcans on and NEVER anything of any weight, and is always balanced, and safety chained.

 

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a rigger or engineer, so what I say is not gospel, and most likely someone will correct me if I am wrong.

[themadhippy]

It has to be able to fit in the back of a car

fold flat truss any good?

http://www.totalstructures.com/products/folding.htm

[Ashley R]

A person I know had a almost identical problem that you do - Needed a 6m span of truss, that could be broken down to fit in a car.

 

The solution was this:

6x 1m section 240mm c-c Global Truss F32 - http://www.jdsound.c...asp?ProdID=2000

2x Winch Up stand - http://www.jdsound.c...asp?ProdID=1506

4x Half conical coupler to O clamp - http://www.jdsound.c...asp?ProdID=1995

 

Just so your aware, the site that I've linked to is Australian. You should be able to find similar products easily from somewhere closer to you.

 

So they would just assemble all 6 pieces of truss together, and then insert the clamps into each end of the span of truss and then clamp it to the stands.

 

DISCLAIMER: I am not a rigger or engineer, so what I say is not gospel, and most likely someone will correct me if I am wrong.

[Stuart91]

A person I know had a almost identical problem that you do - Needed a 6m span of truss, that could be broken down to fit in a car.

 

The other option is to put the truss on a roof rack. Leaves you more space inside the car for the rest of the kit and lets you use longer pieces, 2m wouldn't be a major problem this way.

[Jake R]

HI

 

Right had a thought last night and I'm going to for get Truss till I can get a van and I need to learn more!

 

so I'm just going to get the TLC tripods they have good height and I can double stack the PAR cans 4 on top and 2 at the bottom leaving empty space for other lights strobes etc.

it's a genural puprose rig so I won't just be using it for Discos there will also be a a few shows where we need more space than the stage we have e.g last Dance show was done up the side of the hall and we only had 2XSelecon Acclaims fresnels lighting them up. (That was a fail the hall is 25m Long)

 

My last Q is the tidyness(trying the reduce the trip hazard)

 

would it be an idea to replace the cable from the PAR 64s that I'm getting a fit it with 1.5mm silicone flex and then wire it in to a IP55 box using glands and socapex out down to the dimmer packs insted of have 6x 1.5mm flexs going down to the pack. (which also looks messy)

 

The packs will be loacted under the T bar OR by me so about 30m of cable will be needed 15M each way. Haven't decided yet. Would it be better to have them by the T bars to allow me to add other light fitting the light there faces or have them next to me (where the DB will be)? it would also mean I can pack them into the same flight case and add a patch panel. I have the old Pulsar 6 Channel packs with dual 15A sockets mounted on the front. I would also need Demux to allow it the Run off my Eurolight LC2412.

 

Cheers

Jake