Help create CB pocket reference Swag for LDI!

[gafftaper]

DvsDave and I are working on a plan for some swag to distribute at LDI. We want to create a plastic credit card covered front and back with really useful information that you always want to have with you. Those of you who know the world famous Secoa Mousepads, imagine a pocket sized version. It's a credit card in your wallet full of information technicians use all the time.

We need your help, what information should be on this card? What do you most often stop to look up online? What formula do you find yourself needing on the job? When you dig out your Back Stage Hand Book what information are you most likely to be looking for? We will be cramming as much as we can from a variety of disciplines onto a two sided professionally printed plastic credit card with the CB logo on it. Best of all, if you submit ideas and we use them we will send you a card when they are done!

So here are a few ideas I have to get you started thinking:
1/4" scale markings running down one edge of the card.
The ETC tech support hotline
The Apollo tech support hotline
A couple of knots
Pinout's for DMX and XLR

 

[Kelite]

Recommended extension cord wire gauge

Amperage rating on top

Length
in
feet
listed
down
the
side

 

[derekleffew]

Ohm's Law, in various permutations.
Multiplication factor to determine field angle diameter of 5,10,14,19,26,36,50,70,90° ERSs.
2011 NEC, Section 520.
Other formulae from Mathematical Formulas for Lighting - ControlBooth .

 

[jonslilbro]

AC Voltage Drop formula with wire guages

 

[misterm]

righty tighty, lefty loosy

 

[porkchop]

Things I would totally use: Common conversions (feet to meters, kilos to pounds), the size of common clamp hardware.
NEC color coding for wiring (green, yellow green = ground, white silver or nickle to neutral, and all the normal colors for hot) might also be useful. It might not be worth it for the limited size, but real life sizes of common materials might be nice. Like a 2x4 is actually 1 1⁄2 in × 3 1⁄2 in (doesn't sound right but that's what the first Wikipedia article says), ply wood comes in 4 x 8 sheets, Masonite comes in .... (I've never ordered it), fabric usually comes in rolls of ..... length (again never ordered it). And perhaps weights of common things like lighting fixtures and building materials.

ALSO: If the conversions seem like a good idea, Celsius to Fahrenheit is a conversion that fewer of us have memorized, less useful than lengths and weights, but still I run into it from time to time.

 

[soundlight]

I'd use a 4-pin pinout section, for different pinouts including that random Wybron one that makes half of their old power supplies useless and the CK CB12/City Theatrical PDS pinout.

Also, outer diameters of various sch. 40 iron pipe - 1", 1-1/4", 1-1/2". Useful for determining what kinds of couplers will work on them.

Lastly, a ruler on the side opposite the 1/4" scale would be useful for bolt/screw/nut/other hardware sizing. In fact, that'd probably be the most useful feature when I don't have a tape measure on me (don't normally need one in the automated lighting shop).

 

[starksk]

LOTO reminder with generalized checklist (i.e.: Is power off, Breaker locked/marked? etc...)

real size comparison of Bolt/Screw size for most common hardware

Gobo sizes in inches and metric for most common sizes

I agree with the DMX pinout, perhaps include A and B Cat5e color code? (For making crossover cables)

List of most commonly used acronyms

I like the color code for wiring, be sure to include international colors

Schedule 40/80 OD and WLL/ft.

That's all I have off the top of my head...

Edit: Simulpost with soundlight

 

[danhr]

Commonly used NEMA plug/socket pinouts- (Stage pin, edison, etc.)

 

[ruinexplorer]

Common wiring (Edison, Stage Pin, twist lock, DMX, XLR, Ethernet and X-over). Formulas.

I disagree with hotline phone numbers. You could leave blank space for people to Sharpie in their own.

Don't forget to leave room for a punch-out in case people want to hang this on a lanyard.

 

[dvsDave]

Love the ideas, keep them coming. Please remember we are trying to cram this onto a credit card sized piece of plastic, so we have to select the most compact way to display the data as possible.

 

[chausman]

I disagree with hotline phone numbers. You could leave blank space for people to Sharpie in their own.

I agree with your disagree.

I also agree with pinouts for DMX/XLR and RJ-45/Ethernet.

 

[jhochb]

Good Morning All
With all these wonderful ideas may I sugest a multilayer card. You know, the type with a rivet in one corner so you can fan it out.

 

[zmb]

Reminder of what drapes are where in a tradtional procesnium house. I can never remember those myself. Maybe layout it around the edge of one side with other info inside of it.

And to answer the phone number one, maybe make a different, just phone card. Could include ETC, Strand, Apollo, National Supply Houses, plus blank spots for local businesses.

I just came here the other day to look up the number of cuts per sheet for 19 degree+ and PAR Source4s, so that data could be included for more common instruments.

 

[dvsDave]

Recommended extension cord wire gauge

Amperage rating on top

Length
in
feet
listed
down
the
side

I like it, can you point me towards a table of common values to include?

 

[DuckJordan]

Color to name layout for cam lock connectors such as,
Green = ground
White = Neutral
Blue = phase 1
Red = phase 2?
Black = phase 3?

 

[soundman]

After LDI will a PDF be made available to members so we can print off our own copy if we are unable to attend?

One thing that I constantly have to look up is the max length of signal cable. I can't remember how much distance I get by jumping from cat 5 to fiber.

 

[erosing]

A pair of color wheels, one for light and one for pigment.
Common color temperatures (Kelvin): candle, sunlight at dawn/dusk, incandescent, tungsten, sunrise, noon sun, FAY lamp, carbon arc, overcast, tv.
1.732
Lamp diameter: for [Letter]-N, N/8=Diameter
Ladder, Ramp, and stair angles.
Size chart for preventing rotation of shackles in thimbles.
1 Cubit = 18 inches.
...---...
Picture of Grade 1, 5, 7, and 8 hardware head markings.
Stagepin style connector Pin screws - Phillips panhead brass 8-32 x 1/4"

 

[mstaylor]

Maybe pictures of screw types, phillips, torx and others. I am constantly amazed by guys that can't ask by name the various types. Or a chart to equate bolt sizes to wrench sizes. 3/8 bolt to 9/16 wrench.

 

[porkchop]

Going off zmb's post, common fixtures gel cut and gobo sizes. Another thing to that probably won't make the cut for the size, but I feel like saying anyway is the resistor color code.