# Tensioned wire grids



## BillConnerFASTC (Oct 20, 2014)

To youtubes here. One is a time lapse of the installation of a tensioned wire grid at a BCA project at Ohio State University, and the second a purely promotional video but I have a role. About nine minutes and three minutes.


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## josh88 (Oct 20, 2014)

*ahem* THE Ohio State University. As an ohioan I had to make the correction, I think we're contractually obligated to, even if I find people who do it pretentious. Very cool to see some of the stuff they are doing. That campus hasn't stopped expanding for something like a decade, I suppose at some point they have to "finish" it all.


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## microstar (Oct 20, 2014)

Interesting! So how long did the actual installation take?


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## BillConnerFASTC (Oct 20, 2014)

I was going to say OSU but then Oregonians and Oklahomans might get confused...

Not OSU, but I'm also a buckeye by birthplace.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Oct 20, 2014)

The corrected the spelling of my name in the second one.



I'll find out time from arrival on site to completion but as I recall, nearly two weeks.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Oct 20, 2014)

I was way off. 5 Days.

Day 1 - load in

Day 2 - finish load in and prep hardware and begin to hang hangers

Day 3 - Finish hanger installation and install first panel

Day 4 - panel installation

Day 5 - panel installation


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## StradivariusBone (Oct 20, 2014)

That is very cool, Bill! Thanks for sharing. Watching this made me wonder- has a tension grid ever been retrofitted to a fly tower without a grid? Like an underhung roof with I-beams? You'd lose some travel to be sure, but it'd be nice to gain access to the loft blocks. Would it even be possible with the lift lines in the way? Like I said, just a thought exercise, nothing more.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Oct 20, 2014)

Ask Interamerica - they are not too far from you. I'd sooner and for much less I think add cross stage catwalks - like a 2' wide one every 8' - so only some sets are restricted travel. I lay them out with usually orchestra shell ceilings under the narrow catwalks, sometimes an electric, so loss of travel is not a big deal. I'm surprised that even for a big guy, that a lift line coming through a 22" OSHA minimum width catwalk is not hard to walk past and nice to be able to reach every block with your hand.


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## StradivariusBone (Oct 21, 2014)

Oh yeah, this is waaaay hypothetical. After about 6 months of pushing, we finally are getting an inspection and our 1st electric repaired- hopefully by next summer. 


BillConnerASTC said:


> ...nice to be able to reach every block with your hand.



But one can dream...


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## danhr (Oct 21, 2014)

Wow. That would be so great for our space and easy to do. But, alas it would eat up at least two years our of annual budget.....


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## AlexDonkle (Oct 21, 2014)

BillConnerASTC said:


> Ask Interamerica - they are not too far from you. I'd sooner and for much less I think add cross stage catwalks - like a 2' wide one every 8' - so only some sets are restricted travel. I lay them out with usually orchestra shell ceilings under the narrow catwalks, sometimes an electric, so loss of travel is not a big deal. I'm surprised that even for a big guy, that a lift line coming through a 22" OSHA minimum width catwalk is not hard to walk past and nice to be able to reach every block with your hand.



Maybe I'm misunderstanding the design, but OSHA doesn't have any issue with a lift line traveling through the middle of a minimum width, walking path?


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## alyx92 (Oct 21, 2014)

We just had a tension grid installed in our space in central florida. I think sky deck did it but I'm not entirely sure. In any case I absolutely love it! It makes everything SO much easier. You can hang an entire show in an afternoon.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Oct 22, 2014)

AlexDonkle said:


> Maybe I'm misunderstanding the design, but OSHA doesn't have any issue with a lift line traveling through the middle of a minimum width, walking path?


Its an equipment platform. I suppose if an employee was injured or complained enough, OSHA might look at it, but I don't see how it could be a contributory factor to an injury or how its different than a fully rigged stage with underhung loft blocks where there is no gap. (In that case, the loft block wells are a much more serious hazard.). Consider it is a 22" wide catwalk and the line is not centered - so maybe 10 and 12. A row of seats is only required to have 12" clear. I have never heard of a complaint or citation for there not being a 22" wide means of egress for the cleaner or usher or seat repairer.

Maybe it is a violation of the letter of the regulations but I've seen some really wide people get by the drops pretty easily and am not concerned or at least nowhere near as much as by balcony rails, stage edges, pits and traps, gridirons, or a bunch of other accepted hazards built into auditoriums and stages.


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## bdkdesigns (Oct 22, 2014)

alyx92 said:


> We just had a tension grid installed in our space in central florida. I think sky deck did it but I'm not entirely sure. In any case I absolutely love it! It makes everything SO much easier. You can hang an entire show in an afternoon.




Now now, grid crawling on that grid is what obliterated my fear of heights. I think my first time having to change a lamp that was over the audience took me almost an hour. By the end it took just a few minutes to crawl out and over the audience. I'm assuming that because of the install, the overall height of the space dropped? Hopefully it wasn't too much because that was such a great tall blackbox. But yes, InterAmerica Stage did that install. They posted a time lapse of that install on Facebook too.

Here is a story on that install http://www.iastage.com/news/ucf_skydeck


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## alyx92 (Oct 25, 2014)

bdkdesigns said:


> Now now, grid crawling on that grid is what obliterated my fear of heights. I think my first time having to change a lamp that was over the audience took me almost an hour. By the end it took just a few minutes to crawl out and over the audience. I'm assuming that because of the install, the overall height of the space dropped? Hopefully it wasn't too much because that was such a great tall blackbox. But yes, InterAmerica Stage did that install. They posted a time lapse of that install on Facebook too.
> 
> Here is a story on that install http://www.iastage.com/news/ucf_skydeck



True, it is sad this new batch of freshman will never experience the fun of grid crawling. Our trim height stayed virtually the same for lighting, but deck to grid for scenery went from ~23' to 19'4". It is a nice space to be in for sure. Thanks for the article btw I haven't seen it yet


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## llburg (Oct 25, 2014)

I've been following this thread with fascination. These tension wire grids sound very interesting. One thing I've been unable to conclusively figure out is where they are most used. Is it mostly black box spaces? Is it a substitute for a "normal" steel grid in a proscenium house? On one manufacturer's website I found some installs over an apron or thrust or even over the audience. Is this typical?


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## venuetech (Oct 25, 2014)

so what kind of long term maintenance issues pop up with tension grids? if a single wire needs replacement is it easy to do?
what kind of inspection should be done, how often? what sort of warranty comes with this? what should the average casual user be wary of?


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## AlexDonkle (Oct 25, 2014)

llburg said:


> I've been following this thread with fascination. These tension wire grids sound very interesting. One thing I've been unable to conclusively figure out is where they are most used. Is it mostly black box spaces? Is it a substitute for a "normal" steel grid in a proscenium house? On one manufacturer's website I found some installs over an apron or thrust or even over the audience. Is this typical?



I've worked on shows on them in black box theatres (where they are very useful, and much safer than a pipe grid) and seen them used above the audience in a small proscenium theatre with a large apron area (counterweight system used above the stage). At the proscenium theatre, it was used instead of front-of-house catwalks to provide more flexibility. In a larger house, the lighting angle change between adjacent catwalks might be fairly minor on stage, but in the smaller house (where the TWG is closer to the floor) the lighting angles change more quickly as you move lights around so a TWG is very useful.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Oct 25, 2014)

I think of them in flexible spaces like a black box or maybe over a thrust stage. I would not think it would be a suitable replacement for a gridiron - too expensive and nothing to clamp to.

They present a more finished look than catwalks and pe grids, so suitable in a "white box'" space that's used for more than just drama - like meetings and social functions.

I don't usually suggest them for other than school use as I think more experienced groups would miss the ability to more satisfactorily fly a piece out and, I miss the classic pin spot on an actor out of black out being as effective as it can be because with a TWG the audience's eye inevitably is drawn to the light on the grid before the actor.

On life and maintenance, never heard of a failure. I can tell you a few loose strands as neglible effect. I was on the weaving team for work study 40 years ago - a large in situ grid at the Yale Rep. I think its still there, but someone here might correct me.

As I think I mentioned I am using them for orchestra pits to eliminate the fall hazard while not affecting sight or sound.


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## hjhillhouse (Oct 27, 2014)

I have worked in two places with tension wire sections. The first was a thrust space, with a complete grid (in 10'ish squares) over the DS acting area (just a few standard counterweight batons upstage). I loved it once I got used to it, but it had been installed and no maintenance had been done for several (5+?) years when I started. The cables had stretched, and the straight threaded connectors that go through the sides were starting to break because of the flexing as they got stepped on without enough tension to keep them tight. Replacing them was tedious, but not hard. Re-tensioning the whole thing was a bigger issue, because there wasn't a hard and fast torque as each wire is slightly different. We ended up being instructed to use a deflection measurement, and eventually got everything back to happy. I haven't seen any squares quite that big since then, so I suspect design standards changed somewhat after that one was installed. I also have never heard of anyone else having that issue, so it may have been a fluke.

My current position is in a proscenium space built in the 50's and renovated about 5 years ago. They put tension wire catwalks in over the audience, with a traditional front lighting bar on each catwalk, plus a second lighting bar and raceway on the back side. We don't use the back bar much because of the angle and stuff in the way, but it's a nice design to work with.


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