# DMX controlled winch source?



## BC Theatre Guy (Aug 18, 2017)

Can anyone share sources they have found? Kinetic lights.com has some nifty looking ones I would love to get my hands on but I get no response from the website and their products don't appear anywhere outside the website which seems designed for large purchases only. As in: We want you to buy at least 25 winches with 25 of something hanging from them or you can get lost. I'm looking for light duty winches - Mirror balls, chandeliers, that sort of thing


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## JohnD (Aug 18, 2017)

Prepare for sticker shock, but have you seen the Wahlberg ones:
http://wahlberg.dk/
Available in the US from Rose Brand.
http://www.rosebrand.com/subcategory761/dmx-winches.aspx


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## BC Theatre Guy (Aug 18, 2017)

JohnD said:


> Prepare for sticker shock, but have you seen the Wahlberg ones:
> http://wahlberg.dk/
> Available in the US from Rose Brand.
> http://www.rosebrand.com/subcategory761/dmx-winches.aspx


Oh I guess I did see them and after the trauma of seeing the prices I blocked it out. If you look at the components involved I would say their prices are about three times more then reasonable. What is $1500 should fairly be priced $500. The one that lifts just over 2 lbs is over $1200! That's $600 a pound. For that price I could buy and train a monkey to do it AND have a cool pet monkey after the show!


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## danTt (Aug 18, 2017)

I've yet to see a circumstance in which a dmx controlled winch would make me feel safe. Using a protocol with no error checking and no positive confirmation to control objects moving over peoples heads, regardless of how heavy, is not an acceptable idea in my book. By the time you add in an EStop, and limits, and a deadman switch, you would be better off looking at a separate controller than you would trying to run a winch over DMX+all of the other bits. 

That being said, Connors has recently come out with some lighter duty winches (see spotline practical) that would do this, and they rent their equipment as well as sell. Probably more money than you would like to spend, but rigging safely isn't going to be cheap, and rigging cheaply isn't going to be safe.


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## BillConnerFASTC (Aug 18, 2017)

Like Dantt said - you are risking a lot controlling overhead lifting with dmx.


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## icewolf08 (Aug 18, 2017)

Well, here is a shameless plug for a product that is near and dear to my heart, Nanowinch by TAIT. Capable of moving a 10lb payload at 10 feet/second. They are designed to carry an RGBW LED payload. While it is not directly DMX controllable (a feature I pushed for and still hope will make it into a future revision), we do control them from lighting desks. The idea being that we feed DMX/ArtNet/sACN into Navigator and then let navigator use those values to control the machine. There are currently over 1100 of them on the RHCP tour acting as a moving low-res video display, and they are also on a few other shows in smaller quantities.

Of course if you think that the sticker shock of the Wahlberg units is tough to swallow, Nanowinch isn't going to help, but it is cooler!

You can see them in action and hear from show designers on RHCP in this video by LiveDesign:


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## GreyWyvern (Aug 18, 2017)

JohnD said:


> Prepare for sticker shock, but have you seen the Wahlberg ones:
> http://wahlberg.dk/
> Available in the US from Rose Brand.
> http://www.rosebrand.com/subcategory761/dmx-winches.aspx


@dvsDave, @gafftaper, and I saw these in the Rose Brand booth at LDI last year. I don't remember who the employee standing there was, but I so wish you guys could have seen the color drain from his face and the look on his face when Gaff *jokingly* suggested that the Winch 50, 110lb capacity, could be used to fly a small kid. It was great!


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## icewolf08 (Aug 18, 2017)

GreyWyvern said:


> @dvsDave, @gafftaper, and I saw these in the Rose Brand booth at LDI last year. I don't remember who the employee standing there was, but I so wish you guys could have seen the color drain from his face and the look on his face when Gaff *jokingly* suggested that the Winch 50, 110lb capacity, could be used to fly a small kid. It was great!


I always thought it would be fun to put cats in harnesses and fly them on Nanowinch.... Just don't stand under them! ;-)


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## GreyWyvern (Aug 18, 2017)

icewolf08 said:


> I always thought it would be fun to put cats in harnesses and fly them on Nanowinch.... Just don't stand under them! ;-)


That does sound fun!


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## JohnD (Aug 18, 2017)

How about diaper wearing monkeys (with NO bananas).


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## Skervald (Aug 18, 2017)

Not to hijack this thread but, @icewolf08, there was a video of New Year's Eve Phish concert posted here a while back. A section of it featured "floating" umbrellas lit by LEDs. (the umbrellas come in at about the 10:40 mark) Any idea if those used Nanowinch? Fascinating product. Thanks for posting that RHCP video as well. Amazing what can be done with some cash and ingenuity.


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## soundman (Aug 18, 2017)

Skervald said:


> Not to hijack this thread but, @icewolf08, there was a video of New Year's Eve Phish concert posted here a while back. A section of it featured "floating" umbrellas lit by LEDs. (the umbrellas come in at about the 10:40 mark) Any idea if those used Nanowinch? Fascinating product. Thanks for posting that RHCP video as well. Amazing what can be done with some cash and ingenuity.




Yup those were nanos, more details here. http://www.taittowers.com/2017/03/09/tait-take-over-phish-new-years-eve-2017/


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## icewolf08 (Aug 18, 2017)

Skervald said:


> Not to hijack this thread but, @icewolf08, there was a video of New Year's Eve Phish concert posted here a while back. A section of it featured "floating" umbrellas lit by LEDs. (the umbrellas come in at about the 10:40 mark) Any idea if those used Nanowinch? Fascinating product. Thanks for posting that RHCP video as well. Amazing what can be done with some cash and ingenuity.




soundman said:


> Yup those were nanos, more details here. http://www.taittowers.com/2017/03/09/tait-take-over-phish-new-years-eve-2017/



Yes, as @soundman pointed out, the Phish umbrellas were Nanos. They can also be seen on the current Celine Dion show and on Stevie Nicks. Both of those shows use them in more of a "scenic look" mentality versus a dynamic effect.


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## gafftaper (Aug 18, 2017)

GreyWyvern said:


> @dvsDave, @gafftaper, and I saw these in the Rose Brand booth at LDI last year. I don't remember who the employee standing there was, but I so wish you guys could have seen the color drain from his face and the look on his face when Gaff *jokingly* suggested that the Winch 50, 110lb capacity, could be used to fly a small kid. It was great!


Yeah I think it was the guy from Rosebrand... he was NOT amused!


icewolf08 said:


> I always thought it would be fun to put cats in harnesses and fly them on Nanowinch.... Just don't stand under them! ;-)


Awesome idea! Sounds like it's time for bring your pet to work day at Tait!


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## soundman (Aug 18, 2017)

gafftaper said:


> Awesome idea! Sounds like it's time for bring your pet to work day at Tait!



Once upon a time they put a tennis ball on the 3D trianing fly rig and brought in some peoples dogs to chase after it. The dogs had a blast chasing a tennis ball moving at 10 FPS in any direction.


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## porkchop (Aug 18, 2017)

BC Theatre Guy said:


> Oh I guess I did see them and after the trauma of seeing the prices I blocked it out. If you look at the components involved I would say their prices are about three times more then reasonable. What is $1500 should fairly be priced $500. The one that lifts just over 2 lbs is over $1200! That's $600 a pound. For that price I could buy and train a monkey to do it AND have a cool pet monkey after the show!



Then build one yourself and sell it for $1000. Insurance and R&D eat up budget fast and at least from my hands on time with them they actually seemed to have used pretty quality components. It may be more than you want to pay, that doesn't mean it's more than it's worth.


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## Van (Aug 18, 2017)

I built my own "nano" winches for a buddies wedding. Wireless control and everything. They were only lifting 2 pounds of a 'cloud' and little battery op lanterns though. It was quite a cute effect.


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## JohnD (Aug 19, 2017)

How interesting the Creative Conners ad now features the spotline practical that @danTt mentioned.


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