For Problem #3, me and Charles objective was to plan the construction for an upcoming show. For this show, there will be a complete set design involving a vast number of flats that are 12′ long and does require crown based molding. For the molding process, me and Charles decided to do a test piece with MDO to mimic the possibility of attaching it to a flat. This serves the purpose as a piece of crown molding. The problem is trying to figure out how to bend the MDO to create a circular shape like a curved flat. I decided to do some kerf bending. To do this, we decided to make 5/16″ cuts with the table saw and use a cross cutting jig. I also made 1″ increments to make each cut on the MDO. Once the cutting has been finished. I used a round circular like piece to paste it on the MDO. To do this, I mixed in glue and some sawdust and brushed in on the cut lines to fill in the gaps. Once that’s settled, we basically proved that you bend crown molding to use for a curved flat. The next issue with this project is trying to figure out how to prevent the flats from shaking especially the door framed flat. To do this, me and Charles agreed to do some rigging. We took a 6′ schedule 40 pipe and decided to figure out the total load by using a 1/3 yield. Because the flat was about 4′ in length, we decided to make the span around 2′. The point load turned out to be around 600 lbs which is well over the WLL we need to rig the flat. Once figured out the load, we then grabbed the necessary rigging equipment in the scene shop. This includes, 1/4″ galvanized aircraft cable, 1/4″ shackles and thimbles, some jaw to jaw turnbuckles, d-rings. To set up the rigging hardware to the flat, we measured/cut the wire rope to about 8′-6″. We then had to drill the flat to make insertion points for the loop end cable. To do that, we took one end of the GAC cable, a nicopress sleeve and thimble and made a loop by using a swage tool. After doing that, we inserted the wire rope all the way until it reached the bottom of the flat. Then we had to insert a d-ring on the bottom of the flat by putting in some lag screws. We then took the d-ring and tightened it 5/16″ hex nuts and fasteners. Once that’s settled, we made another loop and hooked it on to the d-ring with a shackle. Me and Charles then stood up the flat and drilled it from the floor to stabilize it. Once that’s finished, we put some steel chain, looped it to the pipe, added a shackle and turnbuckle and connected the loop end to it. After finishing that, I levered the chain hoist and raised the pipe until there was complete tension from the wire rope to the flat. Rudy and Jorge helped volunteered to shake both the 4×8 and door frame flat we did later. The first test shows Rudy shaking the 4×8 flat. On the 2nd and 3rd test piece, Jorge shakes the door frame flat. One without jacks and one with them. Turns out, a lot of the shaking was mitigated due to the tension. For the show, we would install a pipe with a chain hoist system in the theatre to create pick points directly on the top of the flats when doing so for the show. The flats itself would also be jacked to prevent the shaking from really happening.
Test #1 with 4×8 Flat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBK4LvQlmlo
Test #2 with Custom Door Frame Flat
Test #3 with Custom Door Frame Flat with Jacks
Construction Drawings – Test Pieces & Set Design
