I was going to suggest the
floor flange as well. Although, if it needs to move out of the way for scenic changes, I would suggest either a pipe cheeseboroughed down with a 45* pipe to brace it.
Unfortunately due to the server upgrade my good post in this thread was deleted, but I am going to try and recreate it a little as it is important.
First of all, creating booms often falls under the
category of rigging. Hanging tail downs or ladders off of flown pipes or
dead hung from the
grid IS rigging. If you do not know what you are doing then you should
call a professional. Rigging any of the above applications incorrectly can cause serious injury or death!
That being said, unless things have change in the past few years, I was taught that chesboroughs are not rated for hanging pipes in a vertical orientation off of a horizontal pipe. Much like C-clamps (most of which are not rated) we tend to use chesboroughs improperly. There are other devices like the Rota-Locks and Gridlock clamps that do carry a
rating, and many of the newer style cast aluminum pipe couplers carry a
rating.
This is yet one more reason that you should consult a professional if you don't know what you are doing.
A 50lb
base, making sure to wrench the units down well at focus, then
spike four points on the
base and floor so you can spin the
boom out of the way and back into place. However, I would highly suggest a
safety line up top to prevent the
boom from falling completely over while moving.
There are so many things wrong with this that I am going to say again:
If you don't know what you are doing you should call a professional.
Lets start with "wrench the units down well..." Your units should always be tight, however over-tightening things like c-clamps can be very dangerous. Tightening c-clamps more than about a half turn past finger tight can put too much stress on the clamp and cause the clamps to
bend or break. This is not to mention the fact that over-tightening can damage the
c-clamp bolt as well as the pipe that you are hanging on.
Now lets think about moving booms. First of all, a 50#
base plus pipe and fixtures weighs a lot. Moving a
boom that is hung with lights is very difficult and dangerous even when picked off to the
grid. This is besides the fact that a pick to the
grid makes it very difficult to move the
boom anywhere. Putting anything other than a very short
boom on a mobile
base can be dangerous as you have fewer points of contact with the floor, and unless you make the
base pretty big, you increase the potential to tip over the
boom.
Also consider that a 50#
base cannot support a tall
boom by itself. Especially if you happen to hang all the lights on one side of the
boom. Most of the time this means that the
boom has to be fixed to the
deck or weighted down in addition to being picked off to the
grid, thus making it difficult to move
So, if this post has muddied the waters or makes readers rethink what they may be attempting you should consult a professional. The most important thing is your
safety and the
safety of those who share the space with you, so, once more,
if you have any doubts about what your are doing consult a professional!