[SML] Scissors lifts onstage

[Ford Sellers]

Hi Dick,
My two cents...

A scissors will definitely help in the Kip.  As long as scenery is out of the way, your first focus call will go much more quickly.  Especially as it has the extension, and can reach out over walls.
It will hold all of the Gel, and gobos for an entire electric, plus 2 technicians... which will be a boon to some of your crews, and it will help with being able to train a student, at height.
It will also eliminate some of the need for bridges.

Once hard walls and furniture are installed, using a scissor gets a little more difficult.

Because they are not pushed manually, you will have a student or ME bump into a piece of scenery.  We bump into things when students are pushing... now you have someone at height driving.  It's going to happen.  Touch-up paint will be required.

It will be less useful in the FLEX unless you have very little scenery, and I don't see it riding up and down in the elevator... so you won't use it at all in the DT or the BB.

Thanks,
-Ford
-----Original Message-----
From: Stagecraft [mailto:stagecraft-bounces at theatrical.net] On Behalf Of Richard John Archer via Stagecraft
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2015 3:43 PM
To: Stagecraft Mailing List
Cc: Richard John Archer
Subject: [SML] Scissors lifts onstage

We might  have the opportunity to get a Genie  GS-2632  scissor lift at a reduced (but still expensive) cost.   This would be in addition to our two  standard Genie personnel lifts we now own..  ( IWP variety --no outriggers_)

http://www.genielift.com/en/products/scissor-lifts/slab-scissor-lifts/gs2632/index.htm

We have a fairly "standard"   sized Proscenium theatre with usual lighting trims at 25-35' and a several other black box type spaces with floor accessed fixed grids at 19'.   Lighting Plots are usually not done before scenery begins building in the space.   We like our students to have some idea of what's going on in rehearsal before they submit their "final" plot.  

Any of you regularly use a scissors lift over personnel lifts?  

 For the scissors lift, except for dance or other open stage events,  I don't any advantages that outweigh its disadvantages.
I use scissors lifts all the time for events so i am not unfamiliar with their good and bad points.  I just don't see us using it that often on our stages where most of our performance are plays with sets.  

Anyone care to chime in either on or off list?  Soon would be nice.  

Leave aside weight issues i talked about last spring when Maintenance was in here wanting to put an over 5000 lift on our sprung floors.   This would be under 5000lbs.....but not by much, certainly not if i was in it...  : > )


DickA
TD, Cornell U
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