Stage Weights

[choirgirl]

Does anyone know where I can purchase stage weights? I need someone that will ship to Utah. Thanks! Also, how much should I expect to pay for them?

[thatactorguy]

icewolf08 is in SLC and could probably help you with local sources...

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by choirgirl

Does anyone know where I can purchase stage weights? I need someone that will ship to Utah. Thanks! Also, how much should I expect to pay for them?

ANY manufacturer of stage rigging equipment WILL ship to Utah. After all, you, as the purchaser, are the one paying the freight charges. Which will, in all likelihood, be more than the cost of the materials. If these are to be used with a counterweight fly system, they need to come from the same manufacturer as the arbor, as there is no standardization.

[Soxred93]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

Which will, in all likelihood, be more than the cost of the materials.

I'm wondering how much Flat-Rate shipping will cost for shipping weights...

[Footer]

I have seen some film dollies that ship with what are basically carcasses of a weight. You have to take them to a shop and get them filled with lead. Call your arbor manufacture and see how they can get them to you. Its not going to be cheap, but if you need them... you need them.

[Van]

The other way is to take one of your existing weights to a local steel fabricator. Here in PDX I use Service Steel. They can cut stage weights for you from 2-3" stock according to the specifications of the original installer. Upside of this is you save a ton on shipping. Downside is you have to settle for the cutting ability of your local steel fabricator. If they have Plasma or laser cutters < which they should > you'll get perfectly smooth, lovely weights. If they have torches you weights will be jaggedy and icky. Rememer that if you want a heavier weight you need to make sure they cut it from thicker stock as you don't want to add mass by making the weight wider or it might hang on it's neighboring arbors, and that is bad.
As a last word of caution be sure you do not overload your arbors. Your original installers should have equipped you with enough weight to load every arbor to it's maximum. I know that somehow even stage weights have an ability to walk off, but please do not exceed the OEM specifications of your rig.

PS Steel prices are fluctuating wildly but right now seems to be a good time to buy steel just don't be too shocked at the price they quote.

[icewolf08]

Originally Posted by choirgirl

Does anyone know where I can purchase stage weights? I need someone that will ship to Utah. Thanks! Also, how much should I expect to pay for them?

Originally Posted by thatactorguy

icewolf08 is in SLC and could probably help you with local sources...

I would suggest giving Oasis Stage Werks a call. That is who we go through for rigging supplies. I know that they deal in rigging systems and should be able to get you weight.

That aside, hi from another SLC local! If there is ever any local help you need, don't hesitate to get in touch.

[FatherMurphy]

A few thoughts - the rigging manufacturer we are dealers for only sells counterweights in 1,000 lb increments (although I think you can mix 1" and 2" weights within that, irrc), and the final cost is somewhere in the $1.50 to $2 per lb range, not counting shipping. Getting weight cut locally saves both freight and allows you to customize the amount you're buying. Many manufacturers flame cut the bricks from sheet steel, how jagged the edges are is a function of how well they dial in the torch. Cutting the bricks from bar stock and milling the notches gives a smooth finish, and water jet cutting is also an option. Bricks used to be cast iron, but cut steel is slightly denser, stronger, and easier to work with given today's manufacturing methods.

Taking a brick to the machine shop is the easiest option. If you have to measure the arbor rod diameters and center-center spacing for them to draw and build, make sure they cut things a bit bigger, so you have some clearance to work with. Weights that wedge at a diagonal inside the arbor are no fun at all.

Most new installations I've worked on have supplied somewhere between 65 and 80% of full arbor capacity as the amount of counterweight, under the assumption that since you'll almost never load everything to full, why pay for and store the extra bricks?

One thing to avoid is trying to weight the lineset with anything other than counterweight bricks. Over the years I've seen everything from sandbags to manhole covers tied to arbors to get a little more weight into the equation, but all you do is risk a tangle overhead, or damage and danger from overloading the rest of the components of a lineset.

[choirgirl]

Thanks everyone! I guess I should've been more specific. I want a couple of weights to sit on pieces of set to balance them. We, unfortunately, have an open theater without any curtains, flys, booms, etc. at all. Everything is out in the open for the audience to see, so we have to always build freestanding scenery. I want to build u-shaped buildings that roll (3 sided exterior, then interior) and I want a couple of weights inside of them to help them be stable for the height. In the show I was in this summer, the director used some leftover stage weights, so I want to try and do the same. Does this make any sense? A big shout out thanks to my new friend from Utah!

[Van]

That makes complete sense and while you could go out using the responses that I and FatherMurphy referenced you might save yourself a tone of time and money by finding a local building materials recycler ad buying some used sash weights. these tend to be 1.5 - 2" in diameter and 8 - 16" in length. They fit nicely into pockets that you can build right onto the scenery.I use them all the time when counter balancing scenic pieces as I do not have a fly system at all.