The current tour has a very large set piece; a full size replica of an old steam locomotive, too heavy for (two) 2-ton chain hoists. During installation, a delta plate is rigged, and then two hoists are used side by side on each end of the set piece. The load cells allowed Koehler to monitor the load while building and hoisting the set piece onto the stage and alert the rigging team of any overload.
The production also uses a large video screen which is hung underneath a large truss measuring twenty meters in length (65').
The screen moves up, down, left and right on a motorized track hung from the bottom of the truss. The truss is hung from nine 2-ton chain hoists. The load cells were necessary to level the truss before adding the weight of the 5,000 kg LED video wall. The wall is constructed in two separate pieces on each end of the truss. When completed, both pieces track toward each other to form one large LED video wall. The cells allowed Koehler to monitor the weight as it tracks along each of the nine two ton hoists, which are rigged from the arena or stadium roof.
Koehler comments: "I have been using the Ron StageMaster 6000- wireless system for over a year. They have aided in the safe rigging of my production while saving valuable time not running cables. The ease in which the cells can be moved from one hoist to another is amazing. No more cables and confusion about which cell belongs to what cable. The software is easy to run and cells seem to be very accurate. Faced with ever-increasing safety regulations, I believe that every production will eventually need to be able to pin point the entire load of a show's production at any given time. The Ron StageMaster systems can provide that very valuable information."
(Claire Beeson)
