(I could have sworn we've already had a thread on this, but I couldn't find anything from the search, so my apologies if I missed it.)
What does everyone else do when you need to stiffen a sidelight ladder or similar position? I'm mainly speaking about ladders that you deadhang from the grid that can't be supported from the ground, due to space or other reasons. Obviously, if your ladder is hanging on one point 40' or more below the grid, any pressure to the ladder is gonna cause a lot of rotation and movement - and even with two points, you're still going to move a considerable amount, making focus very difficult and inaccurate. Also, say that you have a moving light on a ladder, or you have some strong air flow in your venue - how do you keep the ladder perfectly motionless?
I'm mainly referring to longer-term installations here, as for short gigs, most of us probably just leave it alone and it doesn't cause problems. But for more complex or longer-term installations, I'd feel very nervous about leaving this totally unstiffened. Also, on more and more plots, I'm starting to see a designer note that "all booms and ladders must be stiffened prior to focus."
The only real way I've ever seen this done is to attach one end of a pipe to the ladder with a cheeseborough, and the other end to an overhead electric or truss. But this isn't a great solution, and it obviously requires an overhead point that will never move - and unless the ladder is trimmed within a few feet of the ladder, this doesn't really work anyway.
So - anyone have any ideas?
What does everyone else do when you need to stiffen a sidelight ladder or similar position? I'm mainly speaking about ladders that you deadhang from the grid that can't be supported from the ground, due to space or other reasons. Obviously, if your ladder is hanging on one point 40' or more below the grid, any pressure to the ladder is gonna cause a lot of rotation and movement - and even with two points, you're still going to move a considerable amount, making focus very difficult and inaccurate. Also, say that you have a moving light on a ladder, or you have some strong air flow in your venue - how do you keep the ladder perfectly motionless?
I'm mainly referring to longer-term installations here, as for short gigs, most of us probably just leave it alone and it doesn't cause problems. But for more complex or longer-term installations, I'd feel very nervous about leaving this totally unstiffened. Also, on more and more plots, I'm starting to see a designer note that "all booms and ladders must be stiffened prior to focus."
The only real way I've ever seen this done is to attach one end of a pipe to the ladder with a cheeseborough, and the other end to an overhead electric or truss. But this isn't a great solution, and it obviously requires an overhead point that will never move - and unless the ladder is trimmed within a few feet of the ladder, this doesn't really work anyway.
So - anyone have any ideas?