Hey everyone, I'm wanting to relabel my multi drops in my
venue to make it easier for myself and crew to look at on the
plot instead of just a string of numbers. Also, so I can say "Grab "(Label)" and run it SL" instead of "Grab "531-536 and run it SL"
I was thinking just using letters, but I have more than 26 drops. Would you all recommend "AA, BB, CC" or "A1, B1, C1"?
Also, if there is another idea I'm open.
Thanks everyone
@aaron S. Hello Aaron; first a few queries.
- Are all of your drops identical
? All 6
circuit Socapex, all 12
circuit Pyle National, all actual junction boxes with multiple
tails emanating from each
??
- How much physical space / area is conveniently available for labeling per
drop???
One local
venue had approximately 31 drops. The drops terminated in a variety of 4" deep junction boxes ranging in size from 6" x 6" to 12" x 12" with 2, 4, 8 and 12 20 amp grounded
stage pin females emanating from the various boxes c/w mesh Kellem's box connectors in and out. Given the area of both the rear and covers of the boxes LARGE yellow and black Brady markers enumerated the boxes from 1 to 31; initially only on the blank
cover side and eventually on both sides as no one could predict which side would be most visible to the flyman while the boxes were hanging from their spot lines prior to being clamped to a
system pipe.
There's another point to mention: Users who've never installed clamps on junction boxes often make the error of adding fender washers to the attachment
bolt of a standard lighting
C clamp and bolting it through a convenient 1/2"
conduit knock-out / 7/8" diameter hole. In practice this is NEVER a good idea; the clamps' mounting bolts keep working loose and you're forever having to open boxes and re-tighten the clamps.
in this case, the method that worked was to
bolt an appropriate length of 1/8 th x 3" inch steel
flat bar to one side of the 4" deep boxes with a couple of inches of
flat bar extending from the width of the box on both sides. 1/2" diameter (plus clearance) holes were bored through the
flat bar and standard C clamps bolted to the brackets. This allowed C clamps to be conveniently tightened from outside the closed boxes by anyone with an appropriate wrench and WITHOUT any need to open a potentially live
junction box. If there was space to burn on a given
system pipe the boxes could be hung beneath the pipe. If lateral space was at a premium, boxes could be inverted and yoked up above a
system pipe leaving the entire length of pipe available to hang instruments below the pipe and still leave a lot of room for any instruments that would benefit from being yoked above the pipe (as so often happens when anal designers want two or four instruments hung at the same lateral location.) Boxes yoked above a
system pipe had a tendency to
roll the pipe. Hanging instruments below the pipe (and / or adding stiffeners) counter-acted any tendency for
system pipes to
roll with anywhere from one to four boxes yoked above a pipe. In this
venue,
system pipes were of two lengths; 70' and 90' with the longer pipes provided to
enable legs to be hung further off
stage if / when desired per the the
venue's original architects, consultants and contractors.
Back to labeling your drops.
If you're labeling
Socapex or
Pyle National (12
circuit) drops, you might consider suitable size yellow and black Brady markers with
clear heat-shrink tubing applied over the Brady labels to protect them from flexing, handling, general abuse and keep their edges tightly sealed
in situ. Electronic parts suppliers can usually source Alpha ( and other brands ) of
clear heat-shrink tubing in sizes intended to shrink to 1/2, 1/3 rd and even 1/4 of their initial size. From memory; Alpha marketed their heat-shrinkable tubings in several series as 221, 321 and 421 (indicating shrink ratios of two to one, three to one and four to one.) Again from memory, I think I'm recalling another manufacturer marketing a shrinkable tubing with a six to one ratio; large enough to pass over a fairly large multi-contact
connector AFTER it's already installed on your
multi-cable.
With apologies for my novella. Optimistically I've at least partially answered your original post. ( If I haven't put you to sleep hours ago.)
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
