Add a catwalk

[gafftaper]

The one I used here was a wooden platform with steel supports going up to a trolley suspended from a I-beam like track. No wobble or sway at all. The sucker was solid. Unfortunately, there were no sides or system to snap in a harness. So they got the first half right but didn't execute the safety elements well in the end.

 

[JChenault]

I think the basket vs chair needs study, as to which one tilts more. I like the chair because it seems possible to achieve a better relationship, but basket can work. Any device with a double track would be more preferable, and not sway. My "creeper" on rails idea for instance.

I have not had extensive experience in a chair, but I have had in a basket ( which is about 6 1/2 feet tall. ). We got a basket because we have two pipes - one at the ceiling - one four feet below. IE we could not reach both from a chair.

When working on the top pipe, there is some lean but it is not terrible. When working on the bottom pipe, it is an issue - especially when you have to reach out to get to the front of the fixture.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

That's what I would have expected. With chair on hoist, you could access both.

 

[JChenault]

That's what I would have expected. With chair on hoist, you could access both.

Not sure I agree. ( note I found not have experience with a bosun chair track on a hoist so the following may be wildly inaccurate. Anyone with real world experience please chip in )

The issue is what is your reach. If I am standing in a cage, the edge of the cage can be ( say ) 6 inches from the back of the fixture. I can stand at the edge of the basket, and reach about three feet from the edge. So I can easily access the relavant parts of a S4. ( Altman Shakespeare's are a whole nother issue )

But if I am sitting in a bosuns chair, I have to reach over my legs. My comfortable reach beyond my knees is about 18 inches (YMMV). If I am rigging a bosuns chair for a single pipe, I will rig it so the fixture is "in my lap". IE my knees are under the pipe. If I reposition the chair back so my knees can clear the lower pipe, I am afraid it will be too hard to reach the fixture .

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Your single pipe description is what I had in mind an did not work out detail for two pipes, but imagined them offset in plan. Or maybe enough offset vertically and one "knee gap" in lower rail so both are in you lap.

I like the basket but a double rail - aka the sky show at the Rio - sure would make it a lot more stable. Strapped in, the deck could even cantilever under . Still like hoist so lights on both rails are at just right heigth.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Two unrelated things to keep in mind here:

Getting the fixtures up and down from the catwalk has to be thought out -- my house had (originally) a ladder up to the walkway which led to the catwalk. They had to torch it out and install a staircase, cause you couldn't get up to it carring an S4. Much less our followspot.

Secondly: who is your crew? I'm an A1 rather than an L1 because I am not fond of heights; I just barely tolerate our 6 foot wide wood-floored catwalk with good solid fencing on the back. If it were a bosun's chair, I would simply dump the job on someone else (which I can do cause it's community theatre .