Across stage truck move- how

[Apspete1]

I have 4 stage trucks that are made from 18mm ply with 4 swivel Bil/guitel castors mounted on each truck.

 

on each of these trucks is a 2m x 2.5m led wall weighing 350kg per truck.

 

the trucks all come together to make an 8m x 2.5m screen, but they need to split from the centre during the show to make two sections of 4m x 2.5m screen with a 3m gap in the centre between the two screens.

 

What succesful schemes have you used to keep trucks tracking parallel to the front edge of the stage as they are pulled apart. im assuming I would use steel cable or pull rod to pull trucks from each side of the stage with mandraulics! People could be located behind the trucks to assist.

 

I may be able to fix to the floor (although unlikely) so I was thinking along the lines of 18mm ply with a routed guide track for a pin bolt, but how many pins and where, and what product is robust enough for the pin?

 

the trucks have to be stored back stage and moved into there inital closed postion during a break >30 minutes.

 

Any help or suggestions that have worked for you would be much appreciated.

[lite_lad]

track in the floor with 'mice' that have a rectangular hole in them. Then some steel 'spades' which slot into those.

 

A winch attached to the mice, because of the weight youll probably need to separate them out onto multiple winches as it will be pretty heavy to move by hand. Set the whole lot up with some steel wire and pulleys.

[ImagineerTom]

remove the swivel castors, replace with fixed plane castors, that sort of weight the trucks will only travel in one dimension surprisingly accurately.

 

 

Build 2 small dollies to use for moving the trucks pre/post show in to their storage space.

[ontoprigger]

You probably need to give us a bit more detail if you want to get the best answer for the situation, how many shows, is this a one off or indefinite run, what type of show is it ie am-dram or professional production, if its am dram many crew are likely to be your best option as they are free (or a few pint of beer),

 

How big are the castors, if they are the correct size for the load they are going to need to be quite large, its no good sticking something on that good for a 100kgs each they will last 5 mins, I would be using something rated at 200-250Kgs each, its cheaper in the long run compared to replacing an LED screen.

 

Is there a rake on the stage or is it level or at least flattish as a stage can be, especially the old ones

 

As Lite_lad said a floor track with 'mice' or 'knives' is one way of doing it if you can either lay a false floor or slot the existing one.

 

Also do you need to have all 4 castors swivel having two fixed makes for a much more controllable truck is you have ones you can lock in a particular direction all the better especially if on a floor track as swivel castors want to rotate when you change direction .

 

What type of venue Is it if they track on and off you may be better to talk to someone like Triple E and rent a hung scenery track and do away with the trucks, that will be a lot easier to control but needs the correct setup even if the screens sit on the floor on runners so the tracks not taking all the weight..

 

Otherwise you could try to run a steel cables across the stage that pass through some eyes on the upstage and downstage edge of the truck that may help but you are going to need to put one hell of a lot of tension into that cable which gives you a whole lot of other engineering issues to consider as well as two cables across the stage.