Recent content by Gregi

First, thank you all for your input. It certainly has given me a lot to think about. I will definitely arrange for a meeting with the engineer and the administration to try and set the ground rules. I have always stressed safety on stage and in the scene shop. I would never take chances with the...

I know I'm showing my age here. Back in the day we used clout nails to attach keystones an triangles to flats rather than screws or staples. The nails were about 3/8" longer than required to fasten the 1x and the triangles. You place the steel plate on the floor under the joint. When you pound...

Last spring while we were busy building the set for our spring musical we had an accident; one of our new adult volunteers fell into the orchestra pit and broke his leg. He in turn sued the school district for his medical bills, lost wages, etc. Although the accident had nothing to do directly...

A turntable project, one of my favorite subjects. The reason I came to this site two years ago was I was seaking advice on building a turntable for a production of Les Mis. I had never built one before. The best advice I can give is to do your research. Talk to people who have built...

We managed to straighten the drop while it was still hanging. We took your suggestions and carefully attached 100# of stage weights to the pipe in the pocket in the bottom of the drop. We spread the weight out along the 15' where the drop was raised above the floor. The worst spot was a 4" gap...

Thank you all for the suggestions. We will try and wet it down and stretch it this weekend. We open in one week, I will let you know how it works. Thanks again,

We prepaired a new drop for painting by attaching it to the floor along the edges and applying the sizing (watered down latex primer). We probably didn't allow for enough slack in the material. One section in the middle of the bottom edge broke loose from the floor and dried that way. The drop...

I built a 24" turntable for a production of Les Mis last spring. I used a similar drive system. You can increase the maximum rotation speed by replacing the drive sprocket with a larger diameter sprocket. We used a 2HP, 3 phase motor with a 20:1 speed reducer and it had plenty of beef to drive...

Anyone out there ever built a life-size snow globe? We are looking to do this effect for a show where a dancer can get inside a life-size snow globe for a winter scene with snow blowing around. I have been googling life size snow globes and stuff like Glinda's bubble from Wizard of Oz with no...

Just a follow up to my earlier posts, we ran three shows last weekend with the traction tape in the chain slot on our turntable. No problems. Three more to go. When I first found this site back in January I had never built a turntable (revolve) before. I want to thank all of you on this site...

Thanks for the tip on the close weave carpet for the chain track. Are you referring to thin pile (commercial grade) carpeting, or outdoor stuff used on a deck or patio, maybe 1/4" thick? I'll keep this in by back pocket, we open on Friday night, April 24. By the way, the motor & chain are...

We are doing a production of Les Mis and I've spent the last 3 months researching and designing a 24' turntable for our show. And we ran into the very same problem. The 2 HP motor and 20:1 speed reducer have no problem moving the turntable at 1 RPM with 20 actors. We ran a load test last week...

We are in the throws of a Les Mis production at our High School. I was hired as the Tech Director in mid January. I have been working on the show virtually every day since then. Most of that time has been spent researching and designing our rotating stage. The original budget was $4000 for...

Hello, I found this site looking for some information on how to build a revolving stage for an upcomming production. I got involved in stagecraft when I was in high school back in the '70's and I've been doing amature / professional productions on and off ever since. Now I'm helping out with...