HS theater maintenance advice sought

[OddThomas]

First, a little background...

I've been helping my son "fix" the auditorium at his high school (sound issues as well as lighting). I am more familiar with the sound aspect of things, but the lighting stuff is kinda new for me. We've gone through all the lighting instruments to identify what works, what doesn't, what can be fixed, and how much it will cost. They have a mixture of Altman 1KAF-MPF 6" fresnels, Strand SL Coolbeam ERS, and a few 8x13 Strand-Century Lekos that were donated by a local theater.

As I've been going through this process, I learned that the ERS instruments need to be bench focused. I understand how to do it, and on the Lekos everything stays in place when you are done. On the SLs, however, the lamp cap has quite a bit of play in it - you can move it in/out about 1/4" and about the same up/down. Also the screw in the back to center the bulb in the reflector doesn't seem to hold the bulb in place either.

Am I missing something, or is this normal for these instruments?

 

[Les]

Unfortunately that's pretty normal for those instruments. That lamp cap was an interesting design, but the tooling wasn't very good and things would often either be too loose or end up jamming up solid. My opinion is to get what you can out of them. Some may adjust well, some not at all, and some may refuse to unlock from their fixtures entirely.

 

[OddThomas]

Thanks. That was what I thought, but wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something simple. Sure is fun replacing the sockets in those too .

 

[zmb]

Thanks. That was what I thought, but wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something simple. Sure is fun replacing the sockets in those too .

Oh yes. Hard to make sure that the lamp is fully inserted since it won't rotate in and click like many fresnel lamps and also is difficult to press down on with feeling like it's going to explode in your hand because there's no generous ceramic or metal piece like HPL lamps. Making sure that the lamp is fully in will cut down on arccing and help extend the life of the sockets.

Make sure to keep extension cords and pigtails away from the heat sink on the back. That thing gets hot enough to melt the jacket and fuse around the metal fins.

 

[Les]

Oh my, I'm glad I never had to attempt that. I was in high school when they first came out and we received a large batch as part of a complete fine arts renovation. A good percentage of them had issues* right out of the box or shortly thereafter. All remained operational, just a pain to work with (and still are, I'm sure). They're probably due for socket replacements by now as well.

Good luck, and welcome to the booth! Let us know if you have any other questions. Doesn't matter how simple or complex!

*-Lamp caps not seating/getting jammed
-Failure to bench focus
-Fixture rotation knob not locking (friction discs in the yoke cradle breaking/falling out)
-Tiny washers/springs from the focus knob getting lost when swapping lens tubes
-Reflectors cracking after a few years of service

 

[OddThomas]

First, I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this in, let me know if I should move it. This is mostly about lighting maintenance, so I figured it belongs here.
Second, my apologies for the long post - I tried to make it as short as I could.

I am helping my son “fix” the theater at his high school and am looking for some advice for fixing the underlying issues that got it to the state it is now. The school was built in 2005, yet I don’t think any of the lighting instruments have been maintained. As far as I have been able to discern through conversations with folks in the school, there is no person who has the responsibility of maintaining the lighting instruments. Over the past 4 ½ years I have heard anecdotes from my son, other students, and some teachers about how bad the state of the equipment is. My son and I with the help of the choir director have been going through the lighting and sound systems in the auditorium.

It appears that what has happened over the years is that a student will find an instrument that they determine “doesn’t work”, and they put it with all the other “these don’t work” instruments because that’s what they’ve been told by other students who were likely told to “put it over there” when they brought it to someone’s attention. So you wind up with a pile of “these don’t work”. The problem is, nobody knew what was really bad, what needed repairs, and how much those would cost so the stuff keeps piling up. I'm guessing this is not uncommon - especially in the HS arena.

I am not pointing fingers at anyone. I understand there are budget/monetary issues involved.

We took an inventory and cursory inspection of the lighting instruments ant what we found was not pretty:

• 18 of 30 fresnels (Altman 1KAF-MPF) need their socket replaced for sure and the bulbs are somewhat loose in most of the others. It appears the spring on the center pin in the sockets have worn out (side note – should this have happened after only 8 years?).
• At least 6 of 30 ERS instruments (Strand SL Coolbeam) need their sockets replaced. These problems seem to stem from improper bulb insertion. When we were checking these instruments, we found quite a few where the lamp was not inserted all the way.
• There are also 9 8x13 Strand Century Lekos that came from a local theater. Only 2 of these need new sockets, but are in desperate need of cleaning. There was stuff (bugs) baked on the back side of the lens in one I took home to clean and took quite a bit of elbow grease to clean it.

None of the fixtures have ever been cleaned (or at least it appears that way). I’ve taken a couple home to repair and clean and the amount of dust on the lenses was insane.

I’d like to help the school implement a maintenance plan and I am looking for advice either from those who’ve been in similar situations or from high school theater managers.

A couple of areas where I’d like some advice on:

Educating the tech crew students about instrument maintenance (lamp replacement/cleaning/inspection/repair).

I’ve thought about having a “intro to lighting” class which would explain the basics of lighting, the proper terms, etc., how to clean and inspect an instrument, how to replace lamps, and maybe even simple repairs. Has anyone done this? Is the audience receptive? Have you found that HS students are capable of these tasks when taught? If you’ve done something like this, has it worked? My son is a sophomore, so he will be around for a couple more years. Any advice on how to keep it going? On how to recruit more students to help? There are over 2000 students in this school, so it’s not small.​

Approaching the school administration

Unfortunately, much of this repair work has piled up over the years and we’re looking at over $1000 to repair everything and have a few spare lamps and sockets around. I’ve documented the inventory we took and itemized the costs and the choir director has sent it along to the administration and we will meet with them soon to discuss what can and can’t be done and who will pay for it. (I personally don’t feel that it should be just the fine arts department & theater budget as there are outside groups that use the space as well). On top of that, the lighting board/software is flaky – there are times when the entire lighting system shuts off for no apparent reason – so we are looking for them to replace some of that as well. Possibly a new light board and replacing some inoperative dimmer modules on the electrics. Any tips on how best to approch this?

Additionally, I think it would be a good idea to have a procedure to report inoperative instruments so that the pile doesn’t grow until there are no more working lights (the path they are on now). Has anyone put one in place when there is no “theater manager” position at the school?​

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[zmb]

Let us know what make and model the light board is along with additional equipment like dimmer racks and wall panels and someone on here will be able to help you.

 

[DELO72]

We took an inventory and cursory inspection of the lighting instruments ant what we found was not pretty:

• 18 of 30 fresnels (Altman 1KAF-MPF) need their socket replaced for sure and the bulbs are somewhat loose in most of the others. It appears the spring on the center pin in the sockets have worn out (side note – should this have happened after only 8 years?).

Sockets are like tires & belts on a car; they only last so long. They are not supposed to last the life of the instrument and should not be considered equal to parts like the lens, yoke, or reflector. They get a lot of heat and resistance corrosion from the lamp, and should be replaced probably after every 5-7 lamp changes, depending on a variety of items like their condition, how often they are used, how high of a wattage (and resulting heat) of lamp is used in them, etc.

So 8 years is probably 5 years later than they should have been looked at for possible replacement.

Hope this information helps!

 

[OddThomas]

Let us know what make and model the light board is along with additional equipment like dimmer racks and wall panels and someone on here will be able to help you.

I am not asking for specific advice on new equipment to purchase, etc. but how to address fundamental maintenance culture (or lack of one) at a school.

 

[OddThomas]

Sockets are like tires & belts on a car; they only last so long. They are not supposed to last the life of the instrument and should not be considered equal to parts like the lens, yoke, or reflector. They get a lot of heat and resistance corrosion from the lamp, and should be replaced probably after every 5-7 lamp changes, depending on a variety of items like their condition, how often they are used, how high of a wattage (and resulting heat) of lamp is used in them, etc.

So 8 years is probably 5 years later than they should have been looked at for possible replacement.

Hope this information helps!

Thanks for the info. I do realize that, but given the limited usage of these instruments, I was fairly surprised at the failure rate. Especially since the ERS fixtures are only showing issues where the lamps weren't properly seated. Granted they are bi-pin lamps not MPF...

 

[RickR]

The teachers and/or maintenance folks should develop a good relationship with a local dealer. The dealer can send someone over to look at things and have conversations with administrators and such. Naturally they will be expecting to supply whatever is bought. However the long term benefits to the school can be huge so spending a few extra bucks on supplies is a real deal.

Sometimes local professional techs will do a similar job for little to no money. It all depends on just who you are dealing with in either case.

 

[derekleffew]

... I do realize that, but given the limited usage of these instruments, I was fairly surprised at the failure rate. Especially since the ERS fixtures are only showing issues where the lamps weren't properly seated. ...

Far be it from me to defend Strand or the SL Coolbeam, but socket problems arising from improper lamp installation are 100% operator error, and can happen with any medium bi-pin lamp base / TP-22 socket from any manufacturer/model.

 

[OddThomas]

Far be it from me to defend Strand or the SL Coolbeam, but socket problems arising from improper lamp installation are 100% operator error, and can happen with any medium bi-pin lamp base / TP-22 socket from any manufacturer/model.

Maybe I wasn't clear on what I meant. The ERS bi-pin issues are 100% operator error. I will be demonstrating the proper way to replace bulbs in all the instruments to anybody who will be replacing lamps.My surprise at the failure rate was with the MPF sockets. They are about 8 years old and don't see very heavy use, so I was surprised that so many of them are bad and it seems like the spring for the center contact weakens with heat. Seems like a design/materials issue to me. My plan is to replace all the TP22 and TP220 sockets with Osram/Sylvania parts and the P28s bases with Ushio sockets.

 

[kicknargel]

On the more philosophical point, I find that cultural changes like that are difficult and require leadership. There needs to be one person in charge, implementing systems and enforcing them. I would even go so far as writing an operations manual and posting a lot of signs, etc. You simply can't rely on a big group of people with ever-shifting membership to consistently make good decisions, especially if they only pay off years from now.

So for example, make a station, with a roll of white gaff and sharpie that can't be removed, and signage explaining how to label a fixture with specifics about its symptoms for future repair. In my opinion, any kind of maintenance schedule will always have to have one person in charge of it.

If you get a few kids who really take ownership and get excited about doing things right, then a culture starts to grow that will be passed down through the generations. It needs to be a point of pride--almost a tradition.

 

[OddThomas]

Thanks for the tips. We are working on operations manuals for both sound & lighting. I like the sign ideas, too. I know my son has pride of ownership in this, there are other sophomores as well that seem to care. They just need to be good recruiters and instillers of ownership to the next "generation". I have found that most high schoolers - especially those in the arts - are very receptive to learning about this. Unfortunately they haven't had "complete" instruction on this stuff. For example if no one ever showed them how to make sure a GLA lamp is fully inserted, how would they know?

 

[Les]

For example if no one ever showed them how to make sure a GLA lamp is fully inserted, how would they know?

No one ever showed me either, I just figured it was common sense. But you're right; it sounds like they need some real leadership. Some will take it upon themselves to learn everything they can, while others need to be force-fed information.

 

[jcslighting]

As I deal a lot with local high school theatre programs this is unfortunately what I find all too often. The school board/district builds and equips the theatre and assumes that the drama teacher or art teacher knows everything about the space they have been given OR the trust the custodial/maint. staff to handle it. In good situations you have teachers that reach out to either a professional or the local college to help with things while in bad situations the students are left to fend for themselves.

I recently was hired at a school that was built in the early 1990's and had no maintenance done since the construction other than changing some lamps out. Mostly altman 1kl fixtures that now have the reflectors so melted that they are useless plus a bunch of bad lamp sockets. The students that had taken care of things had no idea about bench focus or how to change a lamp. I had more than one lamp that was so swelled up from being touched by the prior installer that I had to shatter the bulb/envelope to remove it from the fixture.

The really sad commentary I find is that the school leadership has no clue of the requirements to maintain the space - lamps, sockets, cables, etc.
Sometimes it just seems like our tax dollars at waste

 

[gafftaper]

How to get help. I used to be a Drama teacher in a poorly funded urban school. These are two of my most successful tricks to get money.

1) Everyone has a budget which vaporizes at the end of the school year and resets the following year. I would make a shopping list on it have everything from $10 items to $10,000 items and start talking to department heads, the book keeper, and administration to find out if anyone is not going to spend all of their money. Often people will leave a couple hundred dollars here and there unspent. That's a gold mine of small purchases. Sometimes there will be a couple thousand dollars left unspent. Get the book keeper and an administrator on your side and be ready to spend anything from $20 to $2000 at a moment's notice. This end the year money often has to be spent fast, right at the deadline. The book keeper would say, "I've got $400 for you but I need you to spend it by the time I go home today" and I would grab my list and start shopping.

2) Do the following math... For every fixture in your inventory (dead or alive) take the cost of buying a new lamp and divide it by the average life of that lamp. Now total them all up. Round up another buck or two to take into account the cost of gel, wear on lamp sockets and other repairs. Now you have the hidden cost per hour of turning all the lights on. You'll probably find that it's $5-$10 per hour. Every assembly, community user, class that wants to use the theater for a special event is costing this much, PTA meeting, and no one is paying for it. It doesn't sound like much, but over time you end up with a stack of dead fixtures that will cost $1000 to repair. If you want to get really nuts, take the next step and figure out how many hours a year those lights are on and who is using them. Now, take your magic number and educate people about it. Show off the stack of lights you have that all need lamps. Explain that you can't just buy a 99 cent bulb at home depot, your lamps cost $15-$20 each. I was able to get student government to chip in $300 a year from their budget for lamps. I also got a $10 per hour charge added to all rentals as well.

Good luck!

 

[OddThomas]

@gafftaper,

Great tips! I am walking through the auditorium with one of the administrators, along with the choir director and my son, this week to show him what is broken, what doesn't work, etc. I will also be able to explain to him that the maintenance is more involved for such a space. He seems very understanding and is willing to help in whatever way he can. Some of it may not be immediate this year, but I can use your suggestion/tips for aiding in the future. Plus, I just found out a few days ago that student council had a fundraiser that fell short of their goal and they want to donate the money towards the lighting repairs, and it will cover probably 75-80% of what is needed!

 

[gafftaper]

That's the way to go. Little steps. The key is educating people on how dangerous a theater can be if not maintained. While preaching that everyone who uses the theater should help pay for its upkeep, keep it safe and operational. Good luck to you, we are here for you if you need more advice.

By the way, where are you in this great big world? Maybe there's someone here on CB who lives in the same area and is willing to help you out and give you local advice.