Re-purposing a screen

A new screen was just installed in the auditorium and the old one is sitting around, waiting to be taken off to god knows where. The old one is motorized, and I'm wondering how difficult it would be to take the screen off and use it as a way to lower a backdrop or other fabric piece. Has anyone ever done this? If so, how, how difficult was it and was it worth the effort? Attached is what they took down. I figure I would take it out of the wooden box. The screen itself is about 12 feet wide.

I have a habit of ripping motors out of old machines with the intent to use them in home brew machines. I've used one motor and have a collection of about 10 collecting dust on a shelf. Right now you have a hammer and you're searching for a nail, and my guess would be that this thing will sit in storage and never get used. If you've got a nail right now, keep it. If not, let it go. My .02

If its functional, and you have the room to store it, I dig that idea. If you don't have fly space, you could achieve some cool effects with it. I'd experiment well before you need it, especially if there are limiters or something that are going to affect the length of the scroll you can dispense. If it's a school auditorium, you might consider getting their logo or crest printed and mounted in this, and be able to drop it in against a traveler or cyc upstage for graduation and such. Especially cool if it replaces something you already have to hang on a regular basis.

You would need a material with little stretch. If not, it will eventually bind up as it won't roll straight every time.

dpak said:

A new screen was just installed in the auditorium and the old one is sitting around, waiting to be taken off to god knows where. The old one is motorized, and I'm wondering how difficult it would be to take the screen off and use it as a way to lower a backdrop or other fabric piece. Has anyone ever done this? If so, how, how difficult was it and was it worth the effort? Attached is what they took down. I figure I would take it out of the wooden box. The screen itself is about 12 feet wide.

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Some thoughts:

1. Install it on the back wall of the auditorium with a cheap/used projector pointed at it and use it as a big confidence monitor (particularly useful for lectures and choir performances);
2. If you have the head room above the stage, remove the screen material and replace it with some very thin steel cable (or perhaps even tie line if the length of drop permits that thick of a rope) and use it to fly in the US flag during the pledge or national anthem;
3. Otherwise, pitch it -- it takes up too much real estate.

m

To connect a new material is harder than mounting a new screen. It must be square to the tube otherwise it will roll off center. Usually held with gaf tape and a few wraps. That process needs to be done on the ground. That is a challenge. If you have fly space then fly the fabric direct to a batten. There are also limit switches to adjust.
IMHO Unless you plan on using it as is, just scrap the motor and aluminum tube for cash.

lwinters630 said:

To connect a new material is harder than mounting a new screen. It must be square to the tube otherwise it will roll off center. Usually held with gaf tape and a few wraps. That process needs to be done on the ground. That is a challenge. If you have fly space then fly the fabric direct to a batten. There are also limit switches to adjust. IMHO Unless you plan on using it as is, just scrap the motor and aluminum tube for cash.

Click to expand...

^^^ Now that I think about it, I don't think you could keep the flag level -- the rope (whether steel or cloth) would wind/unwind differently each time, so -- even if it didn't get tangled -- the flag would always be unl-evel.

Other than as a confidence monitor, I don't think there's any re-purposing worth the effort. But, hey -- prove me wrong! m

After further review, it is enormously heavy - the bar that the screen wraps around seems to be a solid piece of steel three inches wide. It wouldn't be worth the effort to hang it up for just one show,, and I'm not certain exactly how I would hang it anyway given the weight. Well, at least that's one less project to deal with. Maybe now I can think about organizing the scene shop.