Lowering Mic from upper deck

[Sasquatch]

I have a Shure 55S (old boxing ring style) mic that I have on a pull down wheel mic cable I made . Using the housing for a retractable extension cord I removed the cord and replaced it with mic cable and mounted above the ceiling. I plugged the mic in and it hangs above the stage in the off position. When I want to use for certain visual effects I have to reach up with a hook and pull it within reach then pull it down by hand. Pretty cool effect. Then when I am done I simply release it toward the ceiling and the retractable cable pulls it back up. My question is. I would like to do this with a motor of some kind and a foot switch. Click the switch mic lowers. Click switch lowering stops. Use mic. click switch mic raises back up to desired height then click switch to stop motor. Repeat when needed. Any ideas? I'm looking at different electrical motors. Just thought I would post here in case someone has come across such a setup. I'm thinking like you would see at Madison Square Garden during a boxing match. I believe those are hand lowered not sure. Trying to achieve that effect. Thanks for any help.

 

[Bobby]

Cool Idea. I think I would still have the cable roll up into gather in the retraceable extension cord thing, but instead would you be able to fix a motor at the bottom of it? It could pull the cord out and then feed it back in. There is one problem I could see and that is an auto lock on the retraceable cord.

Hope this gets you some ideas, Im just thinking out load.

 

[Footer]

I have done this in a theatre before but we just attached the mic to a lineset and flew it in.

Motorised cable reals do exist. Something like this. It would be possible to wire up and mount a small motor with a traction/wheel drive to the reel you have now. You would have to disable the auto stop, but it would work.

 

[Sasquatch]

I was thinking of still using the wheel I have and attaching a small forward/reverse motor to it. You can detatch the locking mechanism on the wheel. Just have to come up with a design. I looked at the motorized cable. That would be great if I could find one used or even for free. Limited budget and don't want to spend $285.00 for it. Thanks for the tip though. I'll start asking around maybe someone has an old one in their shop somewhere.

 

[FatherMurphy]

You could also rig the mic to lower using some curtain track - attach a pulley to the master carrier, and a fixed pulley center stage, with the cable running from the jack, around the moving pulley, and back to the fixed pulley. Pull the carrier offstage, the mic goes up, move the carrier onstage, the mic goes down (assuming it's heavy enough). The bonus is that you don't have to deal with wipers and rings to pass the audio signal, like with a winch or reel setup.