revolving stage wheels

[dancarden]

can anybody tell me why revolving stages tend to have the wheels (pointing upwards) fixed to a frame that lies on the floor with the revolving platform turning on top of the wheels as opposed to the wheels being fixed to the underside of the platform and running along a track that sits on the floor.

i would be really interested to know what the difference is.

[sk8rsdad]

There are a number of advantages to having the wheels mounted to a frame pointing up. In no particular order:

• dust and crud accumulate on the floor, not the "ceiling", so having the wheels track along the ceiling means the revolve runs smoother for longer.
• when the wheels need maintenance it may be easier to disassemble a section of the revolve deck to get at them rather than having to flip the revolve
• venues would rather have the revolve take the wear and tear than the stage floor.
• smoothing and levelling the track may be easier to do with the revolve deck than the stage floor.
• shimming the wheel frame is easier than shimming the stage floor.
• deck construction is simplified since the deck doesn't have to be built to handle the wheel mounting hardware.
• there might be some advantages once you start fastening other set pieces to the revolve, maybe...

I'm not sure why this question is in the wiki and not a discussion thread. Shouldn't it be a discussion first?

[Van]

The main reason, in my research and experience, is Noise. <that's inaddition to what Sk8rsdad posted above>Beacuse sections of a turntable can have flex they can, at time, rise a bit and the load can be uneven. this results in a lot of wheel chatter.
Another reason is ease of storage and reuse. Turntables are often reused/reusable < cause they can be a pain to construct, and be very expensive. If youfollw the construction of the plans I have uploaded here You will notice that the wheels are mounted to Radii sticks. Because of this you can store all the Pie piece Wedges of the turntable in an area approximately 4' long by 24" deep. If the casters were connected to the underside of the ewedges the space requirements would quintuple..
One last reason, sort of eluded to above, If you have a turntable which uses the deck as is race surface, and the side of the platforming are open or hae a gap, it is possible for bits of stuff to get under there. You might be surprised to learn that an entire show can be held up by a dropped earring because it got wedged between a wheel and the deck. Having the race surface "upsid down" eliminates the possibility of dropped junk ending up on a weight bearing surface .

[dancarden]

thanks for your time and advice guys. its been a long time since i have used a revolve and when i did they where permanent and it wasnt my job to take care of them. im about to commission a company to fabricate 2 x 12m revolves that are modular and can be used as a 6m/9m or 12m so as you can imagine i will be spending a lot of money and need to dot the i's and cross the t's.
thanks again, good men.