Urban Roll Down Security Grate

[jowens]

Hey everybody!
Kids at our school are so excited to be putting on In The Heights this year! A major element is the security roll down grate that you'd see in front of a closed shop in NYC. Any ideas on how to make something like this, or where to find something used? At the end of the show, the great comes down with a mural painted on it...any thoughts?
Thanks all!
~Joe

 

[sk8rsdad]

It could be done with painted fabric and a sound effect if that's what the budget can handle. You could also glue muslin to wooden slats if the door needs to be more rigid. A steel door is going to be very heavy and require a torsion spring or some sort of counter-weight mechanism. You might find a local supplier with a google search. Depending on the how the rest of the set is constructed, you might get away with a painted flat that hides behind another part of the set and flies in, if there's no need for the public to see it actually unroll.

 

[Van]

I built a gate like this for a production of "Little Shop". It was over Mushniks door at the beginning, then the walls rolled away and the door rolled up right on cue. I used a Garage door openerto turn a drom that I made out of sonotube. I bought thin black nylon webbing and laid out three pieces on 16" centers. < The grate was 3'-6" wide. > I hot glued strips of 2" wide 1/4" luanonto the strips leaving about 1/2" between each strip. Then I came back and hot glued 1/4" dowell in the open space between the slats.< this wrks as a visual for the hinge between each panel and buys you wiggle room when the thing rolls up.> Then the fun began!
You flip the whole thing over on toip of a piece foam. With a wide crown stapler set to low pressure, you shoot 2 staples through the luan into the nylon, one staple through the dowel. Oh, 1/2" staples at least. THEN you flip the whole ting over again on top of a concrete floor. Now you pound over the legs of the staples and put a dab more hot glue on each. Take the Top end of the nylon and attach it in three places with srews to the Sonotube. Fiddle with the settings of the limit switches on the garage door opener et viola' Instant grate!

 

[kicknargel]

It wouldn't roll, but if it could fly or track up and down, you could build a frame and cover it in corrugated plastic roofing material, painted as desired.

 

[jcuempire]

Store front roll up doors

I will be building sets for my daughters high school production of In The Heights and I need ideas for roll up doors. They want them to be able to be opened. Has anyone come across something like this before? Is it something to build from scratch or use existing ones? I can't them too wide. Thanks

 

[MarshallPope]

Re: Store front roll up doors

Do they have to actually roll up or is there sufficient headroom to hide them vertically?

 

[jcuempire]

Re: Store front roll up doors

There *may* be room to hide them vertically. I think if I slipped them behind the 2nd story of the building that might work. But what do you make them out of? Ideally, it would be a segmented metal grate that you see over store fronts. But there might be room for artistic license

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Re: Store front roll up doors

there's nothing like the real thing to look like - well - the real thing. Unless you can do them painted on a flat - ugh - i think it would be hard to reproduce the look for much less than the real thing.

Metal bars and links or coiling doors that look corrugated? Get a picture of what you want.

 

[jcuempire]

Re: Store front roll up doors

I get it - the real thing is better. But I worry about opening it and metal just makes a lot of noise on a small stage. Here is the NY production. Obviously I can't approach this level, but I'd like to come close, if possible.

 

[Robert]

Re: Store front roll up doors

Some materials that come to mind:
Corrugated metal roofing or get plastic versions in white and use that. Making it roll up is really a problem.
Real doors would weigh too much for me to consider mounting at a high school with minimal help, but maybe the local roll-up door company will loan or donate some used ones. Would require lots of structure. Worth a shot for free.
See if you can get oversized roller shades and paint them to get a roll up effect. Expect to pay a premium.
PVC pipe cut in half length wise could be mounted on muslin and attached to a drum to roll. Still a lot of mechanisms to get to work right.
I like the idea of flying them out behind the wall. Just remember to think about proper structure and safety before you get too involved with rigging, flying, and lawsuits.

 

[Les]

Re: Store front roll up doors

Maybe you could use something like this:





According to Walmart, they are called PVC Roll-Up Blinds. You can get them in large sizes and they roll up and down like a roll-up door. I'd think that the right paint treatment, antiquing, and a well-cued sound effect could get you where you want to be. Best part is that they move like a metal door.

Alternately, you could re-purpose an old projection screen, but it might be too flimsy to really be believable when people are interacting with it.

 

[MarshallPope]

Re: Store front roll up doors

This is all suggested with the idea that it wouldn't actually have to roll up.

-You might want to play with plastic corrugated roofing material painted silver or maybe some of the grated fluorescent troffer diffusers.
-If you can get away with the folding-to-the-side type, something like this: may not be too hard to fake with strips of wood. I think there may even be some strips of vinyl that I've seen in maybe the fencing or decking section that could be used for that.
-Maybe you could even simply find a lattice that could work.

 

[jcuempire]

Re: Store front roll up doors

Some great ideas. I like the roll up shade - if they can be made to look like metal. I may try some tests with that. I may still hit up some businesses for corrugated metal since I need some awnings as well. They would be small enough that weight would not be a problem. This is such a great forum. I appreciate the help.

 

[Les]

Re: Store front roll up doors

This might get ya closer to that metallic look:



Good luck!

 

[jcuempire]

Re: Store front roll up doors

That sideways movement would eliminate the weight over the actors heads. I like that idea. It would still look correct. I guess I should get with the director and see what she is envisioning. And then determine what and all volunteer crew can come up with. I say all volunteer, but these people are veteran volunteers who do work at all the local theaters in the area. That's a huge advantage.

 

[jcuempire]

Re: Store front roll up doors

This might get ya closer to that metallic look:



Good luck!

From 50 feet away, it'll look pretty real, I figure

 

[NickVon]

Re: Store front roll up doors

Maybe you could use something like this:





According to Walmart, they are called PVC Roll-Up Blinds. You can get them in large sizes and they roll up and down like a roll-up door. I'd think that the right paint treatment, antiquing, and a well-cued sound effect could get you where you want to be. Best part is that they move like a metal door.

Alternately, you could re-purpose an old projection screen, but it might be too flimsy to really be believable when people are interacting with it.

This is essentially what we used. Picked it up at Homedepot if I recall. We found one that actually had thicker bands with small bands in between the thicker ones. We wrapped it around a length of sono tube, and mounted the "drum" behind a small curved shell.

 

[jcuempire]

Re: Store front roll up doors

And if you replace the string with a small chain, it would look and even sound the part. This is great. I'm going to test it out. Thanks

 

[JohnD]

Re: Store front roll up doors

I knew this was a familiar question, of course one mans roll up door is another mans roll down door.
Here is another thread about the same show:
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/scenery-props-rigging/30463-urban-roll-down-security-grate.html
I really like post #3 from Van.

 

[jcuempire]

I built a gate like this for a production of "Little Shop". It was over Mushniks door at the beginning, then the walls rolled away and the door rolled up right on cue. I used a Garage door openerto turn a drom that I made out of sonotube. I bought thin black nylon webbing and laid out three pieces on 16" centers. < The grate was 3'-6" wide. > I hot glued strips of 2" wide 1/4" luanonto the strips leaving about 1/2" between each strip. Then I came back and hot glued 1/4" dowell in the open space between the slats.< this wrks as a visual for the hinge between each panel and buys you wiggle room when the thing rolls up.> Then the fun began!
You flip the whole thing over on toip of a piece foam. With a wide crown stapler set to low pressure, you shoot 2 staples through the luan into the nylon, one staple through the dowel. Oh, 1/2" staples at least. THEN you flip the whole ting over again on top of a concrete floor. Now you pound over the legs of the staples and put a dab more hot glue on each. Take the Top end of the nylon and attach it in three places with srews to the Sonotube. Fiddle with the settings of the limit switches on the garage door opener et viola' Instant grate!

You wouldn't happen to have any pictures of this, would you? I need the same thing for our In The Heights. I understand up to the foam part. What is the foam doing? Thanks