# Equipment Maintenance on a Tight Schedule



## cdub260 (Aug 12, 2008)

I recently came across a reply to a post in the What Went Wrong? section that absolutely infuriated me. A tech was commenting that he hadn't cleaned the glass from a shattered lamp out of an instrument because he didn't have the time. Instead the light was retired. I thought about responding, but decided that the Lighting section was a more appropriate forum for this post.

No one has the time for equipment maintenance. It's something for which you have to make the time. I know perfectly well that there are very few venues that can afford to shut down for a month or two just to clean their lights. Well guess what boys and girls, you don't have to.

I have somewhere in the vicinity of 200 lights, and perhaps 30 pieces of effects equipment in my inventory. Every light, and those pieces of effects equipment that will be needed that season get a complete tear down and cleaning every year. Collectively that is a considerable investment of time and effort. However, I don't do it all at once. I spread my maintenance out over the course of a year. When I have a day where I have nothing else to do, or if I need to kill an hour or two, I will work on the tedious and boring job of equipment maintenance.

How am I able to keep track of what has and has not been maintained? Well, this is where meticulous record keeping comes into play. Every piece of equipment in my inventory is tagged with a unique inventory number. By using the inventory number and equipment type to identify each light, I am able to keep a maintenance log, a record of what was done to the light and when. I use a simple Excel spreadsheet as my maintenance log, but a yellow legal pad would work just as well. It would just take longer to enter the information as you can't copy and paste. My major divisions are between lights and effects equipment, but within these categories, my logs include the following information: Equipment Type, Inventory Number, Date of Service, Model Number, Serial Number, Date of Manufacture, Description of Service, and Notes. Granted, not all of this information is applicable t every piece of equipment. For instance, most of my lights have neither a model number nor a serial number. That column just gets N/A for it's entry.

Most of you are probably thinking that having to look up a light in your log to see if you've already maintained it can become a tedious and cumbersome task. Well, you're right! That's why I use various maintenance labels which I initial and date, so now all I have to to is check the yoke of the light where I put my labels to see when it was last serviced. The labels I use are *Maintenance, Inspected, Tested, Repaired* and *Rejected*. I know of three different suppliers I can use to get these labels, Grainger, McMaster-Carr, and Seton. I don't advise using Seton. They'll send you three catalogues a month for the rest of your life. It gets really irritating after a while, although it is kind of amusing that they've spent more on postage for their catalogues than I've spent with them in the last 5 years. I'm sure there are other suppliers out there that I'm not aware of.

This may all seem like a long drawn out process and an awful lot of paper work to clean a few lousy lights, but it adds maybe a minute to the maintenance of each piece of equipment, and allows you to spread your maintenance out over the entire length of your operating season. Additionally, it provides you with a paper trail on your equipment maintenance, so that should there be an incident involving one of your lights, when the powers that be ask "Why wasn't this light properly maintained?", you can look it up in your log and say "I did this, this, and this on this date." After all, we could all use a little CYA insurance.

I guess the main point I'm making here is that there is no excuse for neglecting proper equipment maintenance. "I don't have the time." doesn't hold water with me, and you can bet that when something happens and OSHA comes knocking, it will hold even less water with them.


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## JD (Aug 12, 2008)

Humm.. Back when I had a ton of stuff (before PCs) I used a somewhat simpler system. About once every three months or so, we would do a maintenance day. The fixtures we did would get a spot of paint on the yoke. (Red= spring, blue= summer, yellow = fall, etc.) In addition, we would sharpie the bulb dates on the bases of the lamps. At a glance, you would know which fixtures were done when.


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## Charc (Aug 12, 2008)

I know of a theater (not mine, though it does too) that needs to seriously take a look at maintaing its lights. Sure, everything has all the parts, but in terms of cleaning the lenses and reflectors... It is quite a tedious process though, and unless it's an annual thing, it really does require a fair bit of paperwork.

Just checking to make sure I'm not crazy:

Use Iso on everything, never us Ammonia?


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## MNicolai (Aug 12, 2008)

At one theatre I work at, we shut down for a week every 6 months to do inventory, equipment maintenance, facility work, an entire sweep of the building to replace dead bulbs, lamps, and ballasts, touch-up paint on the walls, repaint the stage floor, etc, etc.

That's easy to do when you have 5-8 people working 10a-7p each day, but at a nearby school, I did not get so lucky. I've been in charge of single-handedly moving all of the equipment out of the old auditorium, preparing it for the new arts center, and taking care of the years of neglect the equipment has seen. Between moving an maintenance, I've been busy at work on average 8a-3p, 4-5 days a week, since early June. The worst part is motivating yourself as the more monotonous tasks are the only ones left, and I've found that if I crank some music, and establish a goal each day, that works really well to keep me moving. Hardly a tight schedule, but it passes the time while I'm in the building anyways meeting with electricians, dealers, interior designers, and administrators to keep the renovation of one of our spaces moving along.

If you clean your reflectors, bake your cables, and vacuum your dimmer racks regularily, it will make your life much easier.


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## cdub260 (Aug 12, 2008)

charcoaldabs said:


> I know of a theater (not mine, though it does too) that needs to seriously take a look at maintaing its lights. Sure, everything has all the parts, but in terms of cleaning the lenses and reflectors... It is quite a tedious process though, and unless it's an annual thing, it really does require a fair bit of paperwork.
> 
> Just checking to make sure I'm not crazy:
> 
> Use Iso on everything, never us Ammonia?



I do use Iso to clean my lenses and reflectors. I also use lint free rags. It makes my life a bit easier.


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## cdub260 (Aug 12, 2008)

MNicolai said:


> At one theatre I work at, we shut down for a week every 6 months to do inventory, equipment maintenance, facility work, an entire sweep of the building to replace dead bulbs, lamps, and ballasts, touch-up paint on the walls, repaint the stage floor, etc, etc.
> 
> That's easy to do when you have 5-8 people working 10a-7p each day, but at a nearby school, I did not get so lucky. I've been in charge of single-handedly moving all of the equipment out of the old auditorium, preparing it for the new arts center, and taking care of the years of neglect the equipment has seen. Between moving an maintenance, I've been busy at work on average 8a-3p, 4-5 days a week, since early June. The worst part is motivating yourself as the more monotonous tasks are the only ones left, and I've found that if I crank some music, and establish a goal each day, that works really well to keep me moving. Hardly a tight schedule, but it passes the time while I'm in the building anyways meeting with electricians, dealers, interior designers, and administrators to keep the renovation of one of our spaces moving along.
> 
> If you clean your reflectors, bake your cables, and vacuum your dimmer racks regularily, it will make your life much easier.



As a matter of fact my crew consists of 3 people: Me, Myself, and I.

Usually, if I need a hand with something I can grab someone from our shop staff, but as their knowledge of lighting and electrical is somewhat lacking, I end up doing most of the work myself.


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## Sayen (Aug 12, 2008)

MNicolai said:


> That's easy to do when you have 5-8 people working 10a-7p each day, but at a nearby school, I did not get so lucky.
> 
> 
> If you clean your reflectors, bake your cables, and vacuum your dimmer racks regularily, it will make your life much easier.


Working at a school, with a volunteer staff, I've been trying to get in the habit of not letting equipment sit when it does need repair, but rather addressing it right away. I lose the occasional lunch, but it keeps a backlog from building up.

Bake your cables? I'm not familiar with that one.


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## MNicolai (Aug 12, 2008)

See http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/sound/8286-relaxing-cables.html]here

Helps keep the cables neat and untangled. Doesn't do much for cables that have been terribly abused already though.


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## ship (Aug 12, 2008)

Here here on your ideas much less Seton in catalogs - constantly irritating with them and others. For the paper and postage perhaps they wouldn’t need to change prices on at most only a few items more frequently - much less cost as many trees/gas etc.

You have a similar concept in program to what I track moving light lamps with in a return of like at least $20K if not $60K a year in lamp returns for. All by way of tracking the stuff and people that change lamps just filling out five lines of info about this lamp change. In addition to this, even yesterday in seeing two lamps in a row that seemed like inner globe micro crack failure yet associated with the same fixture within the same one-off production I was instead able to associate the failed lamps with a bad lighting fixture in some way. Given this I was able to call that fixture for service call and it even having passed inspection will be re-pulled and further analized.

Well done, well on the way to a PATT test as I understand it and all ways of managing your equipment. Most should take note of what you have and are able to do - it’s their job also to properly manage the gear they are charged with.
.
Really good solution for a static install installation. For us, each fixture is inspected before each show and bench focused. Anything that needs work following the inspection gets rejected and another fixture replaces it. Following that, where there is time any fixtures rejected get all care they need. Very different situation on amount of gear and or care given to them - this also granted many fixtures can be out months or even over a year with only lamp changes done to them thus every time it gets prepped for a show all care and cleaning is done no matter if only last time on a few hours or out say at this point for one show almost a year now.


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## Sayen (Aug 13, 2008)

MNicolai said:


> See http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/sound/8286-relaxing-cables.html]here
> 
> Helps keep the cables neat and untangled. Doesn't do much for cables that have been terribly abused already though.


Thanks, just hadn't heard that term. Saving cables falls under preventative maintenance, of beating it into your crew the proper way to coil and handle cables.


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## LightStud (Aug 13, 2008)

If its broken or dirty, throw it away and buy new ones. That's the American way. But seriously, how much is the labor costing? At some point you reach a point of dimminishing returns, where it's not cost effective to repair old equipment.


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## MNicolai (Aug 13, 2008)

Then it becomes a matter of convincing the people that hold the checkbooks that there's a problem. We've been unable to convince our accountant that it's not cost effective to keep messing with our broken collection of ~120 Strand SL's, so we're keeping track of how much it costs to keep fixing them, and then we'll present that figure to him, next to a figure that shows how much it would cost to replace our inventory with S4's


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## cdub260 (Aug 13, 2008)

LightStud said:


> If its broken or dirty, throw it away and buy new ones. That's the American way. But seriously, how much is the labor costing? At some point you reach a point of dimminishing returns, where it's not cost effective to repair old equipment.



True enough, however I have found that properly maintaining the equipment from day one can extend its useful life quite a bit.

When I first started as M.E. at the Pageant of the Masters, most of the equipment I inherited from my predecessor was in very poor repair, having rarely, if ever, been maintained. Most of that equipment was less than 10 years old. Of the 100 or so lights that were in use when I started there 9 years ago, I've had to throw out about 40 of them because they were in such bad shape that it was more cost effective to by new lights than to try to resurrect what was left of my original inventory. All but 4 of the remaining 60 or so lights have become the lighting inventory of our smaller 236 seat theatre, replacing the truly ancient lights that had been in use there for 30 years. So while no longer acceptable for use in the 2600 seat ampetheatre, these broken down old lights are still used. I just wish I hadn't had to strip so many for parts.

If this equipment had been properly maintained from the get go, the company I work for would not have had to invest tens of thousands of dollars replacing old, worn out lighting instruments over the last 9 years. That money could have been used to make other improvements to our facilities and systems.

One thing is for certain though. Whoever takes this job when I finally decide I'm done will not inherit the same type of mess that I did.


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## Serendipity (Aug 14, 2008)

My school's inventory is far less expansive, so we can maintenance lights without too much hassle. The first couple weeks of school, the Advanced Lighting class starts moves from space, to space, to storage, and cleans and maintenances all of our inventory. Each light is given a color-coded sticker, with the date of inspection. If it passes, then it gets the color for the year, and gets to go sit on the shelf with it's fellow fixtures. If it fails, and is not within the capabilities we have for repair, it gets tagged with an explanation of the issue, and is put on aptly titled the "NFG-- Shelf Should Be Empty!" shelf.
A lot of people whine about the boring classes (hey, it's only for half the time, the other half you're not being slave labor!), but I'm honestly glad we take good enough care of our fixtures, because we're not going to be getting new ones any time soon. Plus, it's a great time to get to know new people in the class. Nothing like bonding over S4 par lenses?  
We do test our cable as well, but not anywhere near as organized.



Also, I've seen theatrical lights used in permanent installation locations, and was wondering how they get taken care of... if at all? I know there's even Architectural versions of S4s, but whose job is it to stop spiders from seeking refuge in there?


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## derekleffew (Aug 14, 2008)

Serendipity said:


> Also, I've seen theatrical lights used in permanent installation locations, and was wondering how they get taken care of... if at all? I know there's even Architectural versions of S4s, but whose job is it to stop spiders from seeking refuge in there?


 They generally don't ever get taken care of. I know a place that has had SourceFours in the mall ceiling since 1993. They get dusted once a year as a fire precaution, and maybe the color is changed and the exterior of the front lens is wiped with a dirty damp rag. So 24/7/265 for almost 15 years, (but never above 90% level).

Members of the Building's Facilities Dept., maintenance, and sometimes custodians/janitors. The ones who install the longest-life lamp possible, use ChannelLocks to tighten C-clamps, and wouldn't know a bench focus if it bit them in the ... . "You mean that white cellophane on the front is supposed to be blue?" 

Spiders don't enjoy places with temperatures reaching up to 800°F. Outdoors, moths are an issue, and can create a fire hazard, but it's outside the building.


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## quarterfront (Aug 14, 2008)

> Then it becomes a matter of convincing the people that hold the checkbooks that there's a problem. We've been unable to convince our accountant that it's not cost effective to keep messing with our broken collection of ~120 Strand SL's, so we're keeping track of how much it costs to keep fixing them, and then we'll present that figure to him, next to a figure that shows how much it would cost to replace our inventory with S4's


Devil's advocate here...

Your accountant is probably right. Maintainance manhours are cheaper than instrument replacement. Consider this: replace all of your front lenses and reflectors at, say, $50/lens,$40/reflector, pull the shutters and hammer them flat (replace the really bad one, probably 1 in 10 overall, which would average out to about a buck a unit overal), put it all back together, bench it.... 15 minute job for 2 people at a generous $20/hr, you're up to $111 total. A new unit is on it's way to $300. Just saved $189 and your instruments are pretty much as good as new.

When you do your figures, if you're honest, you'll probably find out that replacing with S4's is actually the financial looser. Keep in mind that it won't be long before the new instruments will be needing maintainance.

Granted, I'm not familiar with Strand SL's, I live in C'tran land. Still, I have 78 C'trans @21 yrs. old that are my workhorses and still are going strong. Used to be 80. We run 8 shows a week, 42 weeks a year, plus about 6 weeks a year of tech time and in 21 years we've only had to part out two units.

What you do instead is get in the mode of buying a new unit every show or two. Just build into the budget to buy a S4 every so often so that instead of asking for an outlay of thousands of dollars all at once to replace your whole inventory you budget about $300 every couple months. This method appeals to accountants because it's responsible, prudent and effective. You keep your equipment, get every last dollar of value out of it, keep it running forever, but also have better, newer units to use where you really need them. As you go along you can retire the real dogs, but you'll find that your old inventory isn't as bad as you thought and also you'll end up with a bigger inventory (as opposed to one that's prettier, brighter and not as heavy but still is only the same number of fixtures). Most appealing for your accountant, you avoid a situation where he has to go to the theatre's sugar daddies hat in hand begging for $45,000.


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## cdub260 (Aug 14, 2008)

Serendipity said:


> ...We do test our cable as well, but not anywhere near as organized.
> 
> 
> 
> Also, I've seen theatrical lights used in permanent installation locations, and was wondering how they get taken care of... if at all? I know there's even Architectural versions of S4s, but whose job is it to stop spiders from seeking refuge in there?



When it comes to inspecting and testing cable, I'm not quite as meticulous with my record keeping, as my cables do not have inventory tags. However, they do get *Inspected* and *Tested* stickers on the connecters when they pass. If I reject a cable, its because it has a problem that cannot be repaired such as cracked and brittle insulation.

As for theatrical lights in permanent installations, I have 4 of those, two of which are only accessible with a boom lift. Given that lift rentals are expensive, I can't justify renting a boom lift just so I can service two Source 4 Jr.'s. Fortunately, at least once per year, the Pageant rents a boom lift for other projects around our facility. At that time I pull the lights down for regular maintenance, but with one step added. I replace the lamp, whether it needs it or not. As a preventative measure, I clean the new lamp with Isopropyl Alcohol, just in case it came out of the factory with finger prints on it. The absolute last thing I want, is to have a fixture that I can't get to blow a lamp because I was too lazy clean the lamp.

As for the spiders, they're more than welcome to make a home in my lights. Its the birds that are the real problem.


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## cdub260 (Aug 14, 2008)

Something I may have forgotten to mention is that the Pageant of the Masters takes place in the Irvine Bowl, a 2600 seat amphitheatre, 1/4 of a mile from the Pacific Ocean. Exposure to the elements and highly corrosive salt air make it even more critical that I keep up with my equipment maintenance.


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## MNicolai (Aug 14, 2008)

quarterfront said:


> Devil's advocate here...
> 
> Your accountant is probably right. Maintainance manhours are cheaper than instrument replacement. Consider this: replace all of your front lenses and reflectors at, say, $50/lens,$40/reflector, pull the shutters and hammer them flat (replace the really bad one, probably 1 in 10 overall, which would average out to about a buck a unit overal), put it all back together, bench it.... 15 minute job for 2 people at a generous $20/hr, you're up to $111 total. A new unit is on it's way to $300. Just saved $189 and your instruments are pretty much as good as new.
> 
> ...



I agree and disagree. The SL's fall apart just when someone looks at them. Many of ours have broken/cracked reflectors, missing focus knobs, missing rotation knobs, missing springs and other small pieces associated with those stupid knobs, broken rotation rings, the list goes on.

The cost of materials and labor for repairs just wouldn't be worth it, and the building has only been open 6 years. S4's are far more rugged, will survive the needs of a roadhouse, and if you purchase them all at once, it's a large price tag, but because it's in bulk, you get a much better deal per-fixture. Then if we were to sell off the SL's, or work out a trade-in deal with a dealer, the price tag comes down even more. The SL is just poorly built, and with too many small, plastic pieces that can go missing. We like our Strand Fresnelites, just not the SL's.


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## Serendipity (Aug 14, 2008)

cdub260 said:


> As for theatrical lights in permanent installations, I have 4 of those, two of which are only accessible with a boom lift. Given that lift rentals are expensive, I can't justify renting a boom lift just so I can service two Source 4 Jr.'s. Fortunately, at least once per year, the Pageant rents a boom lift for other projects around our facility. At that time I pull the lights down for regular maintenance, but with one step added. I replace the lamp, whether it needs it or not. As a preventative measure, I clean the new lamp with Isopropyl Alcohol, just in case it came out of the factory with finger prints on it. The absolute last thing I want, is to have a fixture that I can't get to blow a lamp because I was too lazy clean the lamp.



Sounds completely reasonable. Yay preventative magic!
I was wondering more for places where they don't have people running organized maintenance especially and don't tend to have knowledge of theatrical lights. For example, there's ERSs in local shopping malls. I'd assume they'd send someone up to re-lamp once in a while, but I doubt they properly maintain the fixture (unless it's too gross to do the intended job, in which case they just dust it off?  )...



cdub260 said:


> As for the spiders, they're more than welcome to make a home in my lights.



Obviously, you have a vast family of them making homes house left focused for the turn table.


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## cdub260 (Aug 14, 2008)

Serendipity said:


> Obviously, you have a vast family of them making homes house left focused for the turn table.



Would this be at the Garden Turntable pipe, the one on the Orchestra Pit Wall, or the House Left Truss? You really need to be more specific. Oh! let me know if you see any bird's nests in my lights. And tell the raccoons I said hello.


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## Serendipity (Aug 14, 2008)

cdub260 said:


> Would this be at the Garden Turntable pipe, the one on the Orchestra Pit Wall, or the House Left Truss? You really need to be more specific. Oh! let me know if you see any bird's nests in my lights. And tell the raccoons I said hello.



Garden Turntable, below the bougainvillea, horizontal sch40 approx 3' in length with Source Four brand fixtures and many spiders and their webs nestled in between the lens and the end of the barrel. Specific enough for you?
I don't mind them being there, though I doubt it'd be pleasant to have 575, 750, or however many watts you lamp your fixtures at, shining in your eyes if you're a spider. But who knows, moths like it.

Unless the spiders were particularly large, I doubt I would be paying close enough attention to spot them on the truss towards the back of the house, and I never go near enough to the proscenium to pay attention to the other pipes and truss.
Have you had birds' nests in your lights before? And where?

Will tell the Raccoons, I'm still working on training them to carry messages for me.


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## len (Aug 14, 2008)

IMO, maintenance is an every day thing. I prefer to take 30 minutes a day and do something. Constant attention seems to reduce the amount of time and money spent in major repairs.


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## cdub260 (Aug 14, 2008)

Serendipity said:


> Garden Turntable, below the bougainvillea, horizontal sch40 approx 3' in length with Source Four brand fixtures and many spiders and their webs nestled in between the lens and the end of the barrel. Specific enough for you?
> I don't mind them being there, though I doubt it'd be pleasant to have 575, 750, or however many watts you lamp your fixtures at, shining in your eyes if you're a spider. But who knows, moths like it.
> 
> Unless the spiders were particularly large, I doubt I would be paying close enough attention to spot them on the truss towards the back of the house, and I never go near enough to the proscenium to pay attention to the other pipes and truss.
> ...



Yeah, thats specific enough, but just barely. You forgot to mention that the pipe is galvanized. The fixtures are lamped at 550 watts, 77 volts. The joys of Dimmer Doubling.

No I've never had birds build their nests in my lights, but we have had bee hives in our speakers. *Twice!*

Raccoons carrying messages? I'd have thought by now you'd have them trained to fetch coffee and doughnuts. And you call yourself a tech! Can't even train a family of raccoons properly! What is the world coming to?


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## Charc (Aug 15, 2008)

cdub260 said:


> Yeah, thats specific enough, but just barely. You forgot to mention that the pipe is galvanized. The fixtures are lamped at 550 watts, 77 volts. The joys of Dimmer Doubling.
> 
> No I've never had birds build their nests in my lights, but we have had bee hives in our speakers. *Twice!*
> 
> Raccoons carrying messages? I'd have thought by now you'd have them trained to fetch coffee and doughnuts. And you call yourself a tech! Can't even train a family of raccoons properly! What is the world coming to?



I know, right? Why not get a new op? I know of where you can find one...


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## Serendipity (Aug 15, 2008)

cdub260 said:


> Yeah, thats specific enough, but just barely. You forgot to mention that the pipe is galvanized. The fixtures are lamped at 550 watts, 77 volts. The joys of Dimmer Doubling.
> 
> No I've never had birds build their nests in my lights, but we have had bee hives in our speakers. *Twice!*
> 
> Raccoons carrying messages? I'd have thought by now you'd have them trained to fetch coffee and doughnuts. And you call yourself a tech! Can't even train a family of raccoons properly! What is the world coming to?


Terribly sorry I didn't analyze your pipe or take the effort to find out if they were dimmer doubled... I guess I'll have to try harder next time, and check out the burn base to determine the wattage!

Well, fine, I'll train them to carry donuts. But not coffee, I don't particularly like it. Maybe hot chocolate and marshmallows?



charcoaldabs said:


> I know, right? Why not get a new op? I know of where you can find one...


Bad charc, bad! See if I ever talk about white chocolate chip cookies with you ever again.


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## cdub260 (Aug 15, 2008)

Serendipity said:


> Terribly sorry I didn't analyze your pipe or take the effort to find out if they were dimmer doubled... I guess I'll have to try harder next time, and check out the burn base to determine the wattage!
> 
> Well, fine, I'll train them to carry donuts. But not coffee, I don't particularly like it. Maybe hot chocolate and marshmallows?



I'm not that much of a coffee drinker myself, as you well know, so I'll think about it. What kind of marshmallows are we talking about here? Normal, mini, or those crunchy ghost shaped ones in Count Chocula?


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## Serendipity (Aug 15, 2008)

cdub260 said:


> I'm not that much of a coffee drinker myself, as you well know, so I'll think about it. What kind of marshmallows are we talking about here? Normal, mini, or those crunchy ghost shaped ones in Count Chocula?


Mini because they melt quicker! 
I support ghost-shaped ones, but I don't think they'd taste as good. Plus, then I'd have to train the raccoons to sort Count Chocula. :LOL:
_Posted via Mobile Device_

On the actual topic of maint., do people here open the connectors of their cable or do they just test them?


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## cdub260 (Aug 15, 2008)

Serendipity said:


> Mini because they melt quicker!
> I support ghost-shaped ones, but I don't think they'd taste as good. Plus, then I'd have to train the raccoons to sort Count Chocula. :LOL:
> _Posted via Mobile Device_
> 
> On the actual topic of maint., do people here open the connectors of their cable or do they just test them?



The answer to that question is yes. I do a little of both. I give each cable a visual inspection at least once a year. What I'm looking for is bad strain reliefs, damaged connectors, and damaged insulation. If there are any obvious problems, I address them right then and there. The inspection is followed by testing with a cable tester. Again if that shows any problems, I fix them. Generally, I don't think its a good idea for me to take apart my connectors any more often than I have to. I don't want to have to replace a connector because I stripped a screw taking it apart.


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## derekleffew (Aug 15, 2008)

Agreed, cdub, if outward inspection shows no issues, why look inside? OTOH, clear covers for the 2P&G are genius! 

I've known some companies fill their connectors with re-enterable potting compound or silicon. Not 100% sold on that idea, but if one is having problems in an outdoor location, [A theme park perhaps? Forget I said that. Now I must kill you all.] it might be worth a thought.


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## cdub260 (Aug 16, 2008)

derekleffew said:


> Agreed, cdub, if outward inspection shows no issues, why look inside? OTOH, clear covers for the 2P&G are genius!
> 
> I've known some companies fill their connectors with re-enterable potting compound or silicon. Not 100% sold on that idea, but if one is having problems in an outdoor location, [A theme park perhaps? Forget I said that. Now I must kill you all.] it might be worth a thought.




Well I am in an outdoor venue, so it might be worth looking into. However, I'm not convinced that connectors without the silicon are unsafe, and it would certainly make addressing any problems a bit more difficult.


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## cdub260 (Feb 17, 2009)

Well, I'm returning to this thread after a lengthy absence.

A couple of days ago I was working on the annual maintenance for some of my Source 4's when I encountered something rather odd. Three fixtures in a row got the exact same note in my Maintenance Log.

Repaint for next year.

Now, given that my venue is an amphitheatre and much of my equipment is exposed to the elements for a good chunk of the year, it's not at all unusual to have two or three lights that need repainting when they go through their maintenance cycle.

But three in a row?:shock:

That's a new one for me.

As for why I'm putting it off until next year, I will simply be unable to fit this repair into my 2009 production schedule. Yes, I know that I've said that you don't find time for proper maintenance; you make it. But this is a repair that I don't need to make time for as the damage is purely cosmetic and has absolutely no bearing on the proper functioning of the fixture. However, by making a note in my log, I assure that when I begin my maintenance for the 2010 season, I'll know to keep an eye out for these three lights. Then, in the fall, when it's a little easier for me to free up time, I can repaint them.


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## icewolf08 (Feb 17, 2009)

cdub260 said:


> But three in a row?:shock:
> 
> That's a new one for me.



It seems statistically irrelevant. You have a relatively large inventory that was probably lined up at random to be checked out. Given the nature of the venue, it doesn't seem odd to me.


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## church (Feb 18, 2009)

regular maintenance pays dividends, I inspect all of my fixtures annually, cables and whips are checked each time they go out and come back. Whips are always tied up when they go out and are almost never returned the same way so it is good practice to quckly check to ensure there are no splits in the fibreglass and that nothing has pulled out of the strain relief. Cables are always tied when they go out and usually need to be redone when they return, again a quick check for damage.

Optics are cleaned annually and shutters are straightened/replaced/graphited at the same time. many fixtures have little thumbscrews, knobs etc which can get lost, normally this is because someone has unscrewed it to far or not tightened it correctly. These things can be replaced I keep a supply of items to hand. Many times an acceptable substitute can be found in the local fastner suppliers.

The accountants are always in an unenviable position when it comes to people wanting new equipment, however unless you are working in your own space that you run from your spare cash in your own pocket and don't charge anyone to use it or come in to see a show and pay sales taxes and property taxes on everything then either you or the organisation you are involed with or work for have to deal with financial and tax rules. So while it seems easy to just buy new fixtures the financial and tax rules around doing this are also very different to buying spare parts. 

When you buy new fixtures they are normally considered a capital purchase which you have to depreciate over a fixed number of years maybe five or ten years - Lamps and spares are considered an operating expense and are expensed in the year you spend the $. If you scrap a fixture after 3 years and it is depreciated over 5 years you have to take the loss or you carry a value for inventory that is greater than your actual inventory value - another problem altogether. Similar problem if you sell a fixture for less than the book value to but new fixtures. Of course you can try to fully expense the purchase in the year yo buy them. So you buy $45k worth of fixtures and expense then you now need to do $45k of extra revenue or reduce your other expenses (salaries, benefits etc.) by $45k to make things stay the same.

these are the things that anyone running a business or a charity etc. has to worry about - not just the accountants.


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## cdub260 (Feb 18, 2009)

church said:


> regular maintenance pays dividends



Absolutely!

With very few exceptions, the bulk of my lighting and effects equipment is in better condition now than it was new. Even a piece of new equipment usually needs some fine tuning to operate at its best.


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## church (Feb 18, 2009)

I agree with you I always check everything out of the box and perform any final adjustments to get the best performance I can. Also you occaisonally find a problem with a new item when you take it out the packing. It is always easier to correct it now - things get dropped in shipping etc.


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## ship (Feb 18, 2009)

Don't know if it's of any help but a fiberglass whip with a cut or abrasion too bad can often be repaired without replacement. I normally use a McMaser Carr offered glue that smells like crap especially if heated (in use of gluing thermoplastic to heat shrink) but works well for fiberglass sleeving also called Plyobond. #7468a22

Works well in repairing especially fibrous cuts to the fiberglass sleeving.


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## Esoteric (Feb 19, 2009)

We used to keep 1/5 of our inventory in reserve undergoing maintenance. This was very thorough. We cleaned everything, replaced anything that needs replacing, bench focus, tighten, etc.

Mike


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## Lightingguy32 (Feb 23, 2009)

We clean about 12 fixtures each year at the end of the year. Since our inventory is only about 60 fixtures, this keeps the fixtures that are needed clean and the extras as spares ready to be deployed. Depending on what show is about to happen, we might actually clean each fixture that is used for a large show to make sure that they are in full working order


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## shiben (Oct 9, 2009)

I actually ran into this today. Currently, I am working on getting all of our cables up to code, seeing as that seems to be the biggest issue right now (at some point, all the strain reliefs were removed so that the black insulation on the cables is cut to about an inch off the plug on the end of the cables. However, while pulling cables I noticed a lot of lights that need some serious care. Started a maintenance schedule today. For those of you working in educational settings, what is the best way to use an inexperienced crew for this task? As the Student ME, I have to maintain the inventory, and it has been neglected for years. I have a crew that is re-assigned on a per-show basis, and currently I have only 1 crew person with any experience. Is it ok to just show everyone basic things, and leave more complex tasks for myself later? Or should I get the TD, who has a lot of experience, to help teach all the crew people how to do things right and then just inspect them myself?


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## shiben (Oct 9, 2009)

Hello wrong forum. If someone wants to move the previous post to the more recent forum, thats where I intended to post it.


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## icewolf08 (Oct 9, 2009)

The post is fine here.

As for labor, it is always worth teaching people how to do any job, even one as basic as cleaning a fixture. You are in an educational setting, people are there to learn! Taking apart most fixtures is pretty simple and so is cleaning them out. It can be time consuming, but it is worth teaching.


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