Recent content by beachbum

Been using these from Constantines woodworkers supply for years. small strong and discrete, lay over 180 degrees and pretty simple to rout in https://www.constantines.com/solidbrasstablehinge.aspx

We have had good results with old fashioned drafting paper, like Clearprint--translucent enough to transmit light, but opaque enough to mask the source. If you are careful, you can get it to lay very smooth. As it is paper, it isn't workable everywhere--close to instruments, on pieces where it...

if you can work it out, a light coat of silver paint will also kill sharpie and other markers, as the metallic content blocks the marks from bleeding through

I built about 30 of the pvc pipe/diaphram units 16 years ago and they have been in fairly constant use ever since with minimal maintenance. We generally use portable air carry tanks--about 5 gallon--from the auto parts store or Grainger filled to 120psi with a secondary regulator set for the...

now I feel really old--tell you in a week

15 or so years ago I built a pair of shaft drive units based on a design from a TD&T article (which I can no longer find) each with a 1hp motor and a 40:1 reducer. We have used them under various wagons and turntables, sometimes alone, and sometimes in pairs--the motors run close enough to...

In my experience, polyurethane is problematic. I "inherited" a large stock of 5" Colson polyurethane casters many years ago when I took my current job, and used them for a stock 34' turntable. While the load bearing properties are very good, I learned that over time,3-4 years, the poly keeps...

We have often used solenoids as triggers--they seem to work best when used indirectly. Try using the solenoid to pull the pin on a latching device rather than using the solenoid bar itself to hold the effect in place, that way the solenoid can be mounted where it makes the most sense, and not...

if memory is correct, my old copy of Burris-meyer and Cole's "Scenery for the Theatre" had a pretty thorough step by step with pictures for scene painting draperies. That would give you a more theatrical look, so choice of technique would depend on size of venue and distance from the audience

You may want to look at a trolley that is intended to hang sliding glass shower doors. They usually attach to one side of the piece, are offset so the door hangs plumb, can support considerable weight and may well fit within your parameters

We did a production of Madeline's Christmas with just that kind of idea. 12 little girls on ridgid carpets attached at their waists, with fake legs on top and black skirting about half way inside the edges of the carpet. lots of fog, star drop and "rooftops" behind them. They all went all...

Exactly what we did about 4 years ago when we did the show. We did a flattened hexagonal shape for the face, mounted a flat screen monitor in the center with "Soul Sensor DX 12" written around it in a suitably snappy type face, then worked out a powerpoint show with enough number variables to...

They look like standard traveler tracks rigged with a piece of hardware called a "back pack" (Automatic Devices Company) which fits on the operating line between carriers (also called a backpan). This causes the drop to stay flat until the offstage carrier hits the live end pulleys and begins...

Having had some success in the past with 2-part epoxy as a sealer over many surfaces, you may want to try that. Just make sure you mix it thoroughly or it will never dry. Also, only mix as much as you can reasonably spread in about 5 minutes or so. Once had a painter make up a half gallon in...

We have 2 spaces--600 seat proscenium and 300 seat platformed space. The big house has 50' battens dead hung on steel cable with chain tails, the smaller space 48' battens on threaded rod. Both do the job just fine. Both spaces have woven cable skydeck grids also hung with threaded rod. The...