# I Need to Fly, Trim, and Roll a Single Scrim



## theILLUMINATEDfrog (Jul 8, 2009)

Bear with me, I'm piecing together this idea w/o the technical jargon to make it as clear as I should...

I'm looking to create a hanging position directly behind the proscenium arch (where the grand drape would be normally) onto which a sharkstooth scrim will be hung, separating the apron and the stage at the plasterline. The scrim will be approx. *42' wide* and weighted at the bottom with a 1.5'' pipe.

I will need to have only mechanical control over the trim, but i would need the *top portion of the scrim to be rolled around the baton* instead of being flown upwards.

This can be a hemp/nylon/chain system-- I'm not that picky really, as long as this scrim can be trimmed and rolled.

If anyone has a diagram that I could look at showing the proper placement of the diff. blocks, etc that would be awesome. Or if someone could just throw a few suggestions/manufacturers at me, that would help too.

I have looked all through "Technical Design Solutions for Theatre" by Sammler & Harvey, but this exact system is not in there. I'm thinking that the mechanics should be relatively easy but just don't know where to start and how to put together the appropriate drawings. Something similar to a chain crank rolling garage door... just 42' wide. The length may mandate two separate cranks on each side, which is fine.


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## gafftaper (Jul 8, 2009)

It sounds what you are looking for is a "Roll Drop", "oleo" or "olio"... three names same thing. It's a pipe rigged to roll a curtain around it when you pull the rope. 

See this post of mine about building an oleo with a diagram. I've built them from scrim. The problem you have is the 42' distance. Roll drops work better at short distances. I recently built a 20' one and it had a pretty bad sag of about 3' in the middle when rolled up. 

This site has a diagram of an inverted form of a roll drop where the rolling drum is at the top. I've never built one this way, but this style might be a lot easier to build to prevent sag in a longer distance.

EDIT after thread was closed: I Wasn't thinking to straight about this one and have to agree with Van that at 42' an oleo wouldn't just have a sag issue like I mentioned above it would be downright dangerous.


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## Van (Jul 8, 2009)

Frog, Normally I'd agree with Gaff about the Oleo thing, however the 42' width makes an oleo or roll drop almost "inconceivable" < said with my best Wally Shawn affectation> . 
The closest I've seen to something on this scale would be a 30' wide movie screen that was rigged like a roll drop, from the bottom. Rolling from the bottom of the top over a 42' width is going to require a pipe of at least 6 - 8" in diameter, to help overcome the sag factor and even at that I don't think it going to be surmountable. 
My other major concern is that this is very close to violating the TOS of CB.
< not to be confused with the Tao Of Pooh> 
Factoring in the weight of a 6-8" pipe along with the wieght of a 42' X 20" scrim, make this much more of a rigging issue, also, the creation of a Rig point without the services of a Qualified / Licensed Rigger is never a good Idea.


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## Footer (Jul 8, 2009)

This is a big rigging question. Building an olio that big is going to weigh a lot. The pipe alone could weigh 200-300#. It can not be rigged like a traditional olio, it will have to be winched somehow. That a lot of weight to stick to the air. Added to that, it seems you want to rig it to some motors or something of that type. Get a rigging company in their to look at it. There are some ways to do this. One I would suggest is to do an accordion style drop. You will see the lift lines, but if you have a bottom truss the lines can be minimized. You might also want to look at tripping if you have the fly space. 

I assume you want the scrim to come and go during a show, so west coasting it off to your batten/truss is not possible.


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