Crank up Lighting stands

[church]

I recently went looking for some extra crank up stands and finally purchased some Global Truss ST132 stands. Very pleased with the quality, they also will lift 220lbs at 13 feet and have one leg that can be adjusted for an uneven floor. The price was also very good. I much prefer them to the Manfrottos and applied electronics stands.

[NickJones]

Very nice, I was busily cranking up a tree a few years ago, and was told by one of the guys putting in the massive stage, that trees were now illegal in Aus. I wasn't sure whether this was true or not, and have not needed to use them since, I can see why push up stands would be a major problem, but I wasn't aware of them being made illegal. All the hire places in the area still hire them out, even the push up ones. Any Aussie techs got any ideas?

[JD]

In my mind, a "push up" stand is one where you push the section up and then lock off the segment with a clamp or threaded fastener. I guess you could call a crank stand a push-up stand as a cable is used to pull the ends of each section together, pushing up the lengths. By that definition, a Genie Super Tower would be considered a "push up" lift. Unless you have some structure to rig to, the elimination of those lifts would require a massive scaffold build every time you could not rig. Doesn't sound right.

[gafftaper]

Illegal? That seems a little extreme. Dangerous? Well in the wrong hands they sure can be. Just wanted to take a moment for the standard safety lecture. If you know how to use them they are safe and an excellent tool to have in your arsenal. If you don't know what you are doing you can create an incredibly dangerous situation where people could easily be badly injured or even killed. If you buy or rent a crank up stand be sure to have a trained professional teach you how to properly use it.

Crank up light stands definitely are part of the rigging world and as such any discussion about how to use them alone or in conjunction with truss will not be allowed. This thread's discussion of if they are legal or not in Oz is of course acceptable to discuss on CB.

I now return you to the previously scheduled discussion...

[Chris15]

The original winchups are illegal because no one ever got them certified...

18' w/ups are becoming much harder to find these days, 12' are still reasonably commonplace.

One will find regular application of WD-40 to the moving stems of a winchup to be beneficial, it's quite annoying when a stand gets stuck at some height up. Particularly if one has to resort to pulling on the multicable attached to the bar up to to get the stand to come down...

Also be careful that you don't fall victim to the snatch points, particularly around the various pulleys and the winch drum...

I'll see if I can get a photo of a winch up, I suspect we are talking about a slightly cruder product than our overseas bretheren are used to...

[BillESC]

You could always go with Genie Super Lifts or Super Towers. About the best crank stands available.



800 pounds to 26 feet.

[Chris15]

I promised a pic earlier, so here we go:

[NickJones]

Yeah, that's the type I was using, one of the guys putting in the stage told me, he didn't seem to sure, I couldn't find anything on Google to prove / disprove this claim.
Nick

[jmac]

Originally Posted by church

I recently went looking for some extra crank up stands and finally purchased some Global Truss ST132 stands. Very pleased with the quality, they also will lift 220lbs at 13 feet and have one leg that can be adjusted for an uneven floor. The price was also very good. I much prefer them to the Manfrottos and applied electronics stands.

Forgive resurrecting an old thread, and my lack of knowledge on booms and stands... and disregard, if deemed no-no rigging questions..

What are these generally used for, just par cans? Or are these crank up stands with cross arm suitable for mounting, say four Source 4's using C-clamps, as opposed to bolting on lighter par cans. Looks like this would be well within the 220# rating, but.... Or would it be better (or common practice ) to use two stands and a piece of truss, (obviously more expensive)?

Looks like there are alot of portable light duty DJ stands available, suitable for a few par cans, but what if anything is reasonably available, in something portable and easy to set up, that is suitable for the added weight of Source 4's and the like?

Our local rental shop seems to use home made booms using the 50# boom base and 1-1/2" pipe, to which are added sand bags or blocks, but again, typically just for par cans or fresnels. And these guys aren't exactly easily portable.. (I did read the ANSI E1.15 referenced here elsewhere, which has some guidelines for this type of boom, but I don't know if it is applicable to the tripod style stands..?).

So, has anyone come up with a solution for the heavier fixtures, or are we limited to the lighter par cans? Can you comment?

[derekleffew]

What BillESC fails to mention is the Genie ST-25 weighs 555 pounds. Not something easily tossed into the back of a minivan.

jmac, this might suit your application.


ETC SmartStand

However, for theatre purposes, very few items rival the standard 50# boom base and 1/5" pipe.