CraigG Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Hi all, I've found a couple of existing threads on saddlespans but a bit of a mix of information so just wanted to ask all in one place. I'm designing several lighting rigs for festivals with Saddlespan stages over the coming weeks (lucky me!..) and the variety of information I'm getting from Production Managers and even different tent suppliers is just confusing. Most are S2000, and one is a S5000.Does anybody have any totally basic CAD models of these they'd generously be willing to share? I'm struggling to get decent technical drawings from some suppliers let alone a model? Hanging lighting - firstly, am I able to get a half coupler/trigger clamp/hook clamp around the tent truss of an s2000 or is it significantly larger than 48mm? If so, what is the best way people have found to hang lamp bars/small movers to the tents? And weight loading - figures/details I've been given are 90kg per arch for an S2000 - is that 4x90kg UDL for the 4 different curves or something else? Thanks for any and all advice you are able to provide, and I will of course keep liaising with tent providers. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 One of those threads was me, I did a job in an S5000 a few years ago. I never found a CAD model, but it all ended up ground supported anyway so it didn't really matter. The metal structure is much bigger than 48mm and if I remember correctly it isn't round, it's oval. So forget half couplers. I ended up sliding a short scaff bar into the web of the truss and using hook clamps onto that but it was quite fiddly. On the S5000 the weight loading was 120Kg x 4 (i.e. each end can take 240Kg). So 90x4 sounds reasonable for the smaller one. In other words a 6-lamp par bar is pretty much it. Having said that I have seen photos of trusses and all sorts hanging off them - for example the image below I found on google. That must be pushing it for 240kg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modge Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 I concur, a solid no to half couplers. I've stropped the saddle span and used that to hang short ali-scaff bars (via a doughty eye), backed with a metal safety. I can't remember the weight loadings, but it was remarkably little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigG Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 Thanks guys - not what I wanted to hear but good to know. Why do people hire these low weight stages, fill the floorspace with backline and then expect me to fit a rig straight off the Pyramid stage into it... Time to find out if they can stretch the already tight budget to a bunch of spansets and pipes as well then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 The best results I've seen have a ground support structure across the back of the stage and vertical truss either side at the front corners of the stage. With just basic face lighting hanging off the actual structure. The tent gives the stage quite an unusual shape and you need to play to its weirdness rather than trying to fit a more standard rig into it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigG Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 Yeah believe me if they were able to afford a ground support, that would've been my first thought - but we're looking at £900 inc VAT for a week hire including all cable, distro and control... I can just about afford fixtures, let alone a truss system as well. On of those cases of asking for more than you can really afford perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsharp7th Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Tentnology, the Canadian manufacturer of Saddlespans, were reasonably helpful when I needed to check some details of a tent a few years ago, sadly I didn't ask for a set of CAD plans. (I've got some scans of dimensioning plans of the S5000 if they're any use - PM if you'd like them). If you can mention which UK supplier is supplying the structure, they should hopefully recognise them as a customer of theirs and supply what you need. http://www.tentnology.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 With saddlespan's it's the fabric in tension that actually holds the metalwork up in the air, as a result they have very low weight loadings and Tentnology actively design them to make it difficult to attach things to them specifically to stop people from over-loading them. Aside from one frontlight bar with a few parcans on it you should really be expecting to ground-support everything. The other thing you need to know is that they move, a LOT, forget trying to line up projections on to the canvas and expect anything attached to the structure to move around a surprising amount in fairly light winds.If the client is pleading poverty remind them they are hiring probably the most expensive marquee or stage cover it is possible to rent so they're not cutting corners anywhere else and an extra few hundred pounds on stands/truss for you will be only a few percent of the hire cost of the saddlespan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 These people obviously didn't read the loading spec... this is an S2000 so only 180kg for the full arch... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigG Posted May 11, 2016 Author Share Posted May 11, 2016 Yeah I believe it's seeing images like that that make the client think and expect they can fit huge amounts of fixtures up there straight to the arches since that is how it looks - what those pictures don't show is how unsafe that may well be, and certainly how tricky it will have been to get all those lamps up and onto it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
empyfree Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 I got sent that exact picture when tasked with rigging a big birthday party in one of these. We ended up rigging a 6m circular truss where two arches met (ours had four arches) to take advantage of two arches worth of weight loading. The rest we ground stacked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelgrian Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 I got sent that exact picture when tasked with rigging a big birthday party in one of these. We ended up rigging a 6m circular truss where two arches met (ours had four arches) to take advantage of two arches worth of weight loading. The rest we ground stacked. I don't see the ground support in http://www.tentnology.com/tent-catalogue/saddlespan-tents/s5000-concert-saddlespan_4.aspx from their own website and that bar looks like rather too much weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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