Less junk to carry, less junk to drop

When you climb up over people's heads you have to keep the tools you carry to a minimum, otherwise you'l be doubling your work-out and you may be getting your "thangs all tied in a knot."  The guys at StageJunk aim to make your life easier and safer.  They introduced the Racheting Ultimate Focusing Tool at LDI 2009, and they had it out in full force at USITT 2010 in Kansas City, too.  It continues to delight and amaze those that use it.

This tool is machined from billet aluminum, so it's really strong, lightweight, and dang near bullet-proof.  It'll lighten you wallet by a c-note, but it's worth every penny.  They put a lot of thought into this little bugger:  It fits most focus knobs known to mankind, breaks screw pin shackles loose, fits a wide variety of C-clamp and other cheeseborough securements, and has a built-in continuity tester with an LED indicator for checking lamps and power plugs (not receptacles).  It has a machine-cut knurled traction surface on most faces, too, so it won't slip out of your sweaty hand.  The corners are all rounded so it won't poke you either.

Put this on a lanyard and you'll be carrying a whole lot less up the ladder with you.  Less stuff up - less stuff to fall back down.

Find-out more at: www.stagejunk.com

Breaking strength of copper wire vs. steel cable - Gee, which one would you choose?

This scenery flat was found attached to a utility batten with a loop of 12 gauge stranded copper electrical wire. Copper is a soft metal that has little strength when loaded structurally. The director usually doesn't want the performers to wear hardhats during the performance, so eliminating the possibility of scenery falling on them really can work-out well for the wardrobe department.

The use of proper scenery attachment clamps, and securing flats at the bottom as well as the top can improve the safety. By attaching suspension cables both places, the flat framing is loaded in compression, rather than in tension, greatly reducing the likelihood that the flat could be pulled apart at the seams / joints should it snag on something when it is going up (flown-out).

Thread the suspension cable through this at the top of the flat.
Terminate the suspension cable at the bottom with a bracket like this.

Components shown found on Doughty Engineering web site (www.doughty-engineering.co.uk)

Nuts!

The nut above may be tight, but it does not fully engage the threads on the bolt. Good practice is to always leave at least 1/2 to 1 full bolt diameter protruding from the nut. Like this:

Washers need attention, too! A washer is a device to distribute the load from the nut evenly across the bolted surface. If the surface is flat and the backing hole is just barely larger than the bolt coming through it, then a non-hardened washer may do, but if it is subject to bending or is suspending a load overhead, then the washer should be graded the same as the bolt and nut (i.e. SAE Grade 5, or 8, or ASTM 305, as determined by the engineer certifying the system).