How to read truss Loading figures

[razor]

So I’m working on wrestling show and in the process of designingthe lighting rig but I have never used truss. I have found the lode data but haveno idea what I’m looking at can anyone help please

 

[Pete McCrea]

With all due respect, if you can't understand the load tables, then you are not Competant to select components and design a truss system to suspend hardware above people.

 

If you want to learn how to do this, which it sounds like you want to do, then approach a reputable company, and explain the gig to them. Ask them to design a system and install it, and tell them you want to shadow them as they do this so you can start to learn the process and techniques involved.

 

There is also a myriad of legal issues that our could risk exposing yourself to if you get if wrong and injure people and damage property. I know it can be 'fun and exciting to be involved with this sort of work - I still get a buzz from it, but you need to really **know** what you're doing to be safe.

[GR1]

I agree with Pete's reply. Consult someone with experience you can learn from.

[kerry davies]

Fully endorse Pete's post but this seems to be the re-run of a query we had some while ago. Can anyone remember or locate the earlier topic on lighting a wrestling tour using truss?

[razor]

I agree with Pete's reply. Consult someone with experience you can learn from.

 

 

 

This is what im doing by asking for help on here. This was my first port of call

[Simon Lewis]

[This is what im doing by asking for help on here. This was my first port of call

 

It's great that you are asking for help, and nice that you are asking here. The posters are being understandably cautious for a number of reasons:

 

1) lifting or suspending loads has the potential to cause injury or death. Our industry does lifting on a temporary basis with equipment designed to be easy to transport. There is significant scope for doing it incorrectly.

2) there is quite a bit of legislation surrounding the subject - so you need to know this and apply it

3) advice from an internet forum is free, but you cannot always trust it, and it isn't usually accepted as the acceptable training or instruction needed as part of making you competent to suspend stuiff above people.

4) competence comes from a mixture of attributes (but isn't limited to)

• training
• knowledge
• experience
• skill

These are attributes that take time to learn and develop. Therefore, we'd say "go to someone who does this for a living and is competent at what they do". By all means ask questions here, but you will need training and practical experience before safely hanging heavy things over the public and highly paid performers...

[GR1]

If the venue has a preferred rigging supplier use them. If not come back here for advice on how to choose a rigging supplier. Give them an overview of the result you want to achieve and let them deal with the specifics.

[Stuart91]

It might be handy if you could give us some idea of the size and scale of the show.

 

I've been involved in a handful of wrestling show, they were certainly fun to be involved with. From a lighting point of view I found that the customers were more concerned with entrances than the ring itself. The sheer cost of a properly flown rig meant that the ring was lit with houselights, with the addition of a couple of followspots. All of the exciting stuff was used on the entranceway with heaps of smoke, dry ice, etc. etc.

 

It might be worth working out the budget you'll have available, and think about what's going to give the best "bang for the buck".

[Pete McCrea]

Being brutally honest, if you're stuck reading them, then there is a chunk of learning that you need to do to help you understand the terms they are written in. Things like UDL's and Point loads, Span etc. If you can understand these terms, the tables become reasonably self explanatory. It would be quite easy to tell you how to read and apply them, but you need to be able understand how to apply the loads accurately, and that takes time to learn, and experience.

 

I'd agree with the others that competence is best learnt through the routes mentioned above, and I dont think that the base level of learning can be done through such a question in this forum.

[Stuart91]

Depending on the layout of the room, another option is to put four reasonably high tripods in each corner, and use some narrow profiles to get enough light onto the ring. This avoids the cost and uncertainty of overhead lighting, and whilst the angles won't be perfect you will still get adequate light onto the ring. Of course, this layout won't work if the customer wants moving beams zooming around the ring...

[No Longer A Member 220516]

It might be worth contacting a company to help you out with this, many will be willing to give advice or quote you for the job. A good starting point for some advice might be the litestructures catalogue, it has loading calculations etc. https://www.dropbox....ures%202012.pdf

[trussmonkey]

not to put you off totally and to help you out a little. Dont worry about the type of truss leave that up to others more capable. design your rig using any truss type in WYSIWYG or a similar program. The go to a lighting company (PRG/Neg Earth/Bandit etc) and they will work the rest out for you.

 

asking questions on a forum is great but you should not be basing your end rigging design on the say so of people you dont know. there are a lot of people who post on this forum and I can probably count on 1 hand (maybe 2) those I know and trust to give good solid advise. advise you can trust. rigging is a highly specialized discipline and it takes many years to master. some riggers dont even go into the rig design side as this is even more fraught with dangers.

 

if you are that inexperienced then do you self a favor and ask some one with the right credentials. unfortunately if you mess it up then people will die - plain and simple.