Fly System In A Gym?

[NickJones]

Whats the best way to light a gym? We have trees, but they block out sight. Would up-lighting work?

[Pie4Weebl]

it will probably be more than you can afford by the sounds of it, contact a local company with a rigging department to give you real quote and tell if you if the structure can even support that load.

[avkid]

Your question is very vague.
Drama, musical, dance recital, talent show, school dance?


Did I miss something?

[DCATTechie]

What are you trying to light? Sometimes trees can be disguised as scenery or worked into the theme? What are your using to light your scenario?

[Stoldal]

I know what you are facing, up till this year everything i did was in a gym. It is hard, and really when it comes to rigging, call a professional. a started a thread some time ago, that may help http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/l...russ-roof.html

[MNicolai]

Not to infringe upon CB's ToS, but If your gym has exposed beam-work, then it wouldn't be too difficult to rig up trussing for lights to hang on. You still have to deal with power distribution also though.

When I say, "wouldn't be too difficult," that's aimed towards professional riggers. Don't try to do anything on your own; there are companies that do rentals for gigs like that where temporary rigging needs to be erected and power distributions set up. I strongly urge that you do absolutely nothing on your own and leave it up to the professionals, should your budget allow for that.

[MNicolai]

Question: How many lights do you plan on using?

Volleyball standards work pretty well for hanging lights high enough in the air, but still keep them from being /above the audience./ The downside is that you can only hang a couple lights on each standard to make sure it doesn't become unbalanced.

Your best bet could be calling a local rental shop and seeing what they have. If you don't need too many lights and have exposed beam-work, there are clamps that work well for hanging fixtures on the flanges of I-beams.

I wouldn't do anything without having a rigger come in and give advice first though. Another problem you'll face is with fire regulations. Fire marshals get very touchy having AC power runs over the audience which were not intended for that purpose. Because of that, if a professional group does the work, then you'll get far less flak than if you've got your own cords making all of the runs.

[zuixro]

I'd just like to note that I am not giving rigging advice.

That being said, when we did "The Wizard of Oz" a few years ago in high school, the local sound and lights rental company brought in a truss, and flew it up on motors attached to the beams on the gym ceiling. They hung movers on that, but they could have just as easily hung S-4's or PAR's or whatever else.

[mc2880]

So, a dual-use space with theatre space always an after though. I deal with this all the time. It's either a Cafe-teria or a middle school gym/stage (gy-age? no... that doesn't work.)

It's a no-no to give specific instruction so I'll run down a few options I usualy go over with clients, you mentioned motorized so I'll start there.

The cheapest installed motorized lighting pipe is approx. $18k Tork-Winch makes a great system which I've worked with. The limitation on the less expensive systems are weight capacity and duty cycle. The Tork-Winch system isn't a 100% duty cycle so doing a yo-yo focus will require pauses for the system.

Schools usually use fly systems because students are not allowed to climb ladders/use scaffolding/use manlifts. If you have access to a manlift and are trained and allowed to use it, a dead hung pipe with safety cage would be much cheaper and do the job just as well. A safety cage under the lights will help prevent stray volleyballs and soccer balls from knocking a light loose and may even keep your focus depending on the design. I prefer a safety cage dead hung below the fixtures with an opening on the back for focus and bulb replacement. There are other options like individual fixture safety cages or fully enclosed ones.

Now, another approach is a temporary installation. Motorized truss is a real slick way of doing things. If you have the money for a rental package with truss, motors and fixtures it works well and is a pretty quick install.

I have done temporary installs with beam clamps on the lights directly to the OWSJ running parallel to the stage with a safety cable to the beam. I provided power with a SOCA runs to 20a Twist break-outs. This was for a middle school musical where we added about 48k of extra dimming.

How are you going to power the lights on this position ? That is the most expensive part. Do you have extra room in the dimmer rack to throw some more modules in and add a couple runs ? Is there existing power you can use?

The most expensive part will be the wire runs. If there is no inexpensive way to get power from a dimmer up there it's usually a lot cheaper to get a few 20a receptacles installed to power some small dimmers. Like the ETC Smart Bar or NSI DDS/D4 or Leprecon ULD dimmers. Typically schools around here get away with about 6-12 ellipsoidals on a FOH position. This is where modern 575w fixtures really shine (sorry for the horrible pun). (3) 575w Fixtures fit on a 20a circuit really nicely*. So that would be (4) 20a circuits to give you room for (12) 575w fixtures.

Now, (4) 20a circuits sound alot cheaper than 6 - 12 new circuits, eh? You'll also have to get DMX out there but another conduit could be run or there is cable rated for free-air runs. However, you shouldn't see a huge price increase for a 1/2" conduit run for the data and it is infinitely more serviceable. Having DMX sounds great for all those toys (I-CUE, Scrollers,Movers) doesn't it ?

What is really important is choosing a company that has the knowledge and experience in this sort of install. Most rental companies can get the temporary install done and working adequately, always check for their liability insurance, and ask around the other schools in the area for who they use. For a permanent install your board will have a Bid Tender procedure for all purchases for a certain amount.

Here's the approx. figures for the options;

Motorized FOH: $18,000 +
Dead-Hung FOH pipe: <$1,000 (installed, 20ft.)
Dead-Hung FOH pipe w/ Safety Cage: $1,000 - $3,000 (20ft)
Rental w/ Motors and Truss and Fixtures: $1,000 - $5,000 (I don't know your local prices)
Rental w/ fixtures and install to existing: $700+
Electrical work for 12 new circuits: $12,000ish typical
Electrical work for 4-6 20a: $3,000 - $6,000 typical

I can provide some typical rigging drawings and such for reference if that is allowed on this board. They could help quite a bit when specifying equipment with suppliers. ALWAYS make sure everything is load rated. If it isn't stamped with a manufacturer and model or rating don't trust it. It probably isn't rated.

/Hope that wasn't too much information ?

*Electrical ceveat
----I AM NOT AN ELECTRICIAN----
but, I can do simple maths.

So here's where I get that (3) 575w fixtures on a 20a circuit from.
Most breakers and wiring assume an %80 max continuous load, theatrical dimmers (good quality ones) usually have %100 max continuous. However, this is where you'd have to talk to the electrician doing the install and go over power requirments, ect.

The math works like this;
120v, 20amp circuit = 2400w
de-rated to 80% = 1920w
1920/575 = 3.34

So that's 3 lamps pulling their maximum amperage in a theoretical world. However, we live in a world with power issues. Voltage drops will and spike can cause problems for which you need to leave a little room. 4*575=2300w so if you could work out 100% rated everything with the electrician it may be possible to get (4) lamps safely on a 20a circuit.

[lieperjp]

Is this temporary, or is this permanent? I'm thinking back to my high school days when we had a rigger/LD come in and set us up... almost literally. Showed us how to do everything. Not that I'd feel comfortable doing it myself now anyway (which means that I won't be doing it...) For renting it definitely won't cost you big bucks for three weeks. Yes, it will cost a lot, but it won't be as expensive as installing a full rig.

For non-theatrical stuff like choir and band concerts we have steel pipes that run across the gym on which the lights are clamped. For dimming we just use shoebox dimmers hung on the pipes, which are plugged into the properly rated outlets we had installed in the ceiling by a qualified electrician. Total cost for dimmers, pipe, conduit, DMX cable, and the like (not including lights) was about $2000, allowing 12-16 lights at 9 different locations over the gym. (Think of a square broken up into thirds vertically and horizontally.) Not exactly the prettiest situation, but it works. We also used to use a distro box and ran individual extension cords up to the ceiling for each light, every single time. It was a pain.

But either way, definitely call up a qualified rigger and have them, well... rig something up for you. It will be safer, it will work, and they have the experience to come up with the best possible solution.