Extrusions & Stand-offs

I have recently found two additional companies that have been pretty useful.
For a desk I am building, I a mirror / glass trim has been specified as a trim made by Extrude-A-Trim. They have several unique shapes, and no minimum quantities. However they are located in Canada, so their shipping charges may be more expensive.

I also use a variety of stand-offs, which I usually purchase through Outwater. However, Metomic has a few cheaper alternatives. Of course if you need to go high end, Gyford is the way to go.

I think that one of the interesting things about these types of hardware is that I would have used them more in theatre if I had known they exsisted. Both in design and in technical direction, there is a pull between using "safe" hardware - its known, available, and economical & that "perfect" piece of hardware that may be commerically available, or may need to be custom built, or it may be available but expensive.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is Google's answer to acedemia. It is quick and easy to search, will search your university's resources, and find you the full text, related articles, and even help you document the source. You can even find patent information (though google has a specific section for that as well). While we aren't always writing research papers, sometimes it is nice to find some schollarly information.

The Spectatorium

I have been reading about Steele Mackaye’s Spectatorium. It was built for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 to tell the story of Columbus.
Here are a few fun facts:
-The dome was 270’ tall
-Covers about 360,000 SF
-There are 25 stages, moving on 6 miles of railroad track, and weighing approximately 1,200 tons!
-The proscenium opening is 150’ x 70’, the stage is 180’ deep
-The furthest person to the stage will be viewing scenery from 400’ away.
-Uses about 1,600 horsepower to move scenery
-Cyclone Machinery alone uses 400 horse power, and is about the same for creating waves and current on the onstage water. The water was held in an 8’ deep tank, holding 750,000 cubic feet of water
-Had seating for 8,000 (some places estimate up to 12,000)
40 Patents were developed for the theatre

It was not built – due to cost overruns, time overruns, and lack of funding. A smaller building names the Scenitorium opened February 5, 1894.

Severeal patents are available online from Google Patent as well.

Sources:
Objects of the Spectatorium, New York Times, March 20, 1893
The Spectatorium, New York Times, April 2, 1893
http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=17264
http://www.wayneturney.20m.com/mackayesteele.htm
http://www.chilit.org/Papers%20by%20author/Dryer%20--%20Spectacular.htm
Steele MacKaye: Producer and Director by Wade Curry Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 18, No. 3, Special American Theatre Issue (Oct., 1966), pp. 210-215
Appliance for Theatres Patent
Wave Maker Patent

Balls, Hollow Balls, and Hemispheres

I think that Wagner is becoming a frequently referenced company here.

Today, I cam calling them out because they sell hollow balls from 1 1/2" all the way up to 12" in steel, aluminium, stainless, brass and bronze, along with a smaller variety of solid balls, and hemispheres. I have sourced large metal balls for several projects - and of course the 1/2 steel balls are great for decorative finishes like rivets and add-on's.

If money was no object

I would have one of these. I can think of tons of fun things to do with one of these - and could definately see it's use around the shop, especially for props. Take a look at the PlasmaCam and see what you think.

50/50 estimate

I was taking a look at a new blog, Project Junction, and came across a bit that says that microsoft project assumes that when you estimate time that you estimate that it is a 50/50 chance that it will be correct. The blog goes on to say:

Very few people give you a 50/50 estimate when you ask for a task duration. Unless you train the estimators each person will give you their personal estimate based on his/her risk tolerance. It might be a 90% estimate from Ms. Risk Averse and a 30% estimate from Mr. Everything’s Easy.

I know that you can give the same set of drawings and infromation to multiple people and you will get different answers from everyone, but I am not sure that I think estimating to a 50% chance of meeting a deadline really works in our world where the deadline is less than flexible. This creates the challenge in estimating hours - it is easy to estimate a safe number of hours that will allow you to get the job done. And if you are held to the hours that are estimated, the hours will naturally lean towards less risk. It is hard to estimate tightly - where there is enough hours to complete, but the hours must be efficient and effective.

Thoughts?

Decorative Metal

Looking through the latest issue of The Fabricator I saw an add for TwistedBars.com. As the name implies, they do sell twisted rod, but they also sell a variety of other products as well; such as embossed, hammered, birdcages (baskets, spheres and oblongs), finals (ends, cut silhouettes, and wood grained metal. They can do steel, aluminium, copper, and brass. The wood grained piece caught my eye because there have certainly been times in the past where the designer wanted the look of wood, but the scenery needed the structural support of steel. While paint can do wonders, wood faking steel and vise versa never quite work. But, it the steel had a wood grained texture - perhaps this would be a suitable alternative in those situations.

Transformers Filming

Transformers has been filming here in Chicago the past several weeks, and it has brought out lots of crowds. Last week we went down to check out the installation of some of our rental deck (not installed by us). Nothing like working on top of a 25 story building. Of course, you could ignore the view and count the number of OSHA violations....


On the other hand, it was cool seeing some of the scenery they brought in. They had scenery sitting in lots across the city, on trailers, staged for future use. With the cranes, a casual glance most of it looked like no more than building ruble... the lack of hardhats, coupled with sharpie inventory marks made it a little more obvious.


Looking at the scenery brought up an interesting topic: How much of this was built for the show, and how much was pulled from stock? The ruble, the cars, and even the damaged bus shelters were generic - they could be used repeatedly, just like many theatre props. On the other hand, these pieces are large - and would cost alot to store, and with travel and set up could require additional touch up. At what point then does the cost of storage out weight the cost of building new? Thoughts?

AV Technology Course

Info Comm is offering an online course in AV Technology. There is one thing that is certain - and its that AV technology isn't fading any time soon. Its an affordable and green way to give a variety of looks, content, and feel to a very basic set for a variety of uses. Especially for coporate work - meetings, trade shows and such, AV is an option that is increasingly popular, and it is often incorporated into more and more traditional theatre.

Better yet, the quick start class online is free! You can take a look at that course here.

The course is online and an introduction leading to further certification. The test costs $200 to non-members.

If you want to take the pre-test to test your knowledge go here

This is a PDF that discusses the requirements for full certification.

Info Comm also has an article about project management and budgeting for live events.

Regardless if you choose to take the class or not, sheck out the site - there is a variety of worthwhile info to check out!

"Green" Paint

Bommerang Paint offers paint that is recovered from old, unused paint. While it does come in a limited color pallette, it only uses about 1% new paint, and has excellant paint qualities. While the palette certainly limits its theatrical use, it is a good product to keep in mind when going green is a priority.