Truss Roof

Stoldal

Active Member
In the gym i help out at, we have a steel truss roof. What is the easier/best way to hang lights on the steel beams.

When we started doing produtions in this gym, we only had a few(1-3) light that needed to be hung on the beams, but now for this production there is alot more lights that need to be hung up there.

Also should i be hanging lights in the beams?

Thanks
 
In the gym i help out at, we have a steel truss roof. What is the easier/best way to hang lights on the steel beams.
When we started doing produtions in this gym, we only had a few(1-3) light that needed to be hung on the beams, but now for this production there is alot more lights that need to be hung up there.
Also should i be hanging lights in the beams?
Thanks
This borders on a rigging question, which is not something that a lot of people on CB will touch. In order to know the best way to hang equipment in your space would really require you to have a qualified person look at your space. This may be a structural engineer or a rigger, as long as it is someone who can tell you what the beams can hold and what the proper equipment you need to mount things to the beams are.
 
You need to get a qualified rigging professional to come in and assess the situation. They may be able to install beam clamps and dead-hang a pipe for your production.
 
Thanks, I will talk to my director, so that we can get one of the Admin call on of those people. The only thing that i am afraid of is the admin will not want to do any thing because we will have the theatre finished next year. And the theatre is properly rigged.
 
Well cost wise, how much is it going to take for a rigger to come out and look, and then how much to rig the truss roof up. I am just think is it going to be more cost effect to rent more stands and redo the light design so there is no lighting on the beams and just work with what i have for one two more productions.
 
Having someone put on some beam clamps and dead-hang some schedule 40 pipe might not be too much. Have someone check it out. But make sure that they know what they're doing. Some places will do free estimates if you pay 'em for a job.
 
Well first i have to say thanks for the very the fast replies. ok well i will talk to my director. The production is in 5 months so we have some time, but really now that much.

But if my director/admin says no, what would a good alt way to hang the lights?

Thanks again for the help
 
It is unclear to me from reading this wether he is talking about truss, I-beams, or some sort of structural support beams sorta shaped like truss.

If this were an established lighting position, or something designed to hold lights, that's a different story. If these are load bearing beams, as they sound to be, then you can't afford to make any assumptions. (Roof falls in during Act I, eh?)

Get it checked out (from the sounds of your situation, probably not likely to happen), or get some more booms.
 
These beams now that i think about it most likely load bearing. the Shape of the beam is like a half of an I beam cut in half(kinda like "JL"). They where not built for lighting. When the gym was built the school did not think about the theatre dept.
 
Those should take a beam clamp. Now that you need is someone who is certified to actually make this decision, and then have them install two sets of beam clamps, hang two schedule 40 pipes from them, then you have two electrics! See if your maintenance folks have any spare Sch. 40 laying around - it might be rusted on the outside, but nothing that a wire wheel and some simplegreen won't fix!
 
Interestingly enough i just did something like this with a certified rigger today. We used beam clamps and attached each fixture to its own separate beam clamp then double safetied each of the lights. It wasn't all that bad and it was way safer that hanging a new electric from my perspective.
 
Interestingly enough i just did something like this with a certified rigger today. We used beam clamps and attached each fixture to its own separate beam clamp then double safetied each of the lights. It wasn't all that bad and it was way safer that hanging a new electric from my perspective.


Hmm that intresting, but i was looking the beam clamps that i saw where $70, is that normal. I am still going to have some one take a look to see what the best thing to do.
 
Well, there are the large beam clamps that have jaws that grab around both sides of the beam and are designed to take the weight of loaded trusses via chainmotors, and then there are those designed to hold a much smaller load on and only grip one side of the beam on the top and bottom.
Some of the big ones (this is what a professional might use for hanging the pipes)
http://www.superclamp.com/default.asp?ID=4
 
You could probably just rent monkeys with flashlights on their backs to climb up there.
 

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