[SML] Electrical Wire thru Pulleys

[Dale Farmer]

On 9/15/2014 12:19 PM, mburris via Stagecraft wrote:
> Oh wise and powerful list:
>
> An upcoming production of Our Town needs a few electrified replica oil lanterns to fly in from the grid of a spot rigged house.  I have been asked repeatedly about the possibility of running the electrical wire thru a pulley while the same wire suspends the lantern gag.
>
> Am I overreacting by remaining staunchly opposed to this approach?  Is there a cable suitable to the task?  The lanterns will be 12 volt pulling maybe up to ten watts.
>
> Loving the new server.
>
> Michael Jon Burris
>
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There are electrical cables that have separate strength components 
inside the cable for carrying the weight, for chandeliers and suchlike. 
   I'm not so sure about running it through a pulley, as they are 
designed only for straight line loading.   There are cables meant for 
this sort of thing, but they are for elevators, and I suspect they are 
stupidly expensive.
  If you have enough fly space above, you could hang the lamp from the 
visible cable, with the strength cord.  Then above the sightline, break 
out your combined power and load cable to your regular rigging line, and 
then have the separate power cord run from there up into the fly space 
such that it is out of sight from the audience.

--Dale