# Help! They're going to build a Roll/Olio Drop!



## lieperjp (Nov 14, 2009)

So, I found out today that two ambitious students are going to try to build an olio drop in our auditorium. I do not believe they should be doing this, however, no matter what I say, they seem to believe they are alright in doing this.

They plan on using 3" sch. 40 PVC pipe on 1.5" casters bolted to the beams across our ceiling to hang a 25'x20' muslin backdrop. I am trying to convince them not to do this, but I am trying to find out how they are going to make it work. I believe what they plan on doing is running a piece of angled aluminum - think the corner of industrial aluminum adjustable shelving - and using the casters to create a "cradle" for the pipe to sit in. 

Help me convince them NOT to do this. Apparently they have the approval of the drama adviser. I have used the argument that they do not know what they are doing, and that they do not know how to include safety catches on the drop in case of a fall, but they are still confident that it will work.


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## Footer (Nov 15, 2009)

Thats not exactly an olio drop. With an olio the pipe travels, from what it looks like your pipe will not travel. 

Its not going to work because the pipe is going to flex to much. I would also be interested in what they entend on doing for control. I have built systems like this using shafts and blocks. It can be done, but its not cheap to do. 

In order to do this so you don't destroy the drop you can only support the pipe from the ends. If they plan on supporting it in in other places, its going to destroy the drop. 

With the proper gear... it can be done. If they are doing it with crap they buy from home depot... thats another story. 

Ask them how much weight their piece of pipe can support over a span of 20' with a center point load. If they can not answer that perfectly, they should not be doing this project. In order for this to work right, that pipe can not bend at all. I don't think a 3" PVC pipe will do that. Its hard to find a piece of aluminum pipe to build a roll drop out of...


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## lieperjp (Nov 15, 2009)

Yes. I need to investigate how exactly they plan on hanging this. My guess is that they are trying something that was in our high school, where the pipe that the curtain rolls around was set on top of the rollers (one of those large vinyl sheets used to divide gymnasiums.) 

I just saw the stuff they bought - three 10-ft sections of pipe and a bunch of casters. It makes me very nervous. It also makes me kick myself, because I was the one who "enlightened" them to what an olio drop is. They took their own spin on it, I guess.)


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## Footer (Nov 15, 2009)

If the guys aren't complete it idiots I don't think it will fall to the deck, however I don't think it is going to do what they think it is. I don't think the thing will work properly and probably won't be up for more then a day or two. It will fail in one way or another. I would stay away from the stage until they give up and take the thing down. The worst that can happen is the pipe bounces out and falls to the deck. If they build it right that won't happen. "Right" being a relative term here.... However, the thing is not going to function as they want it to. I have built many olios and this ain't the way to do it.


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## lieperjp (Nov 15, 2009)

Yes. One of the biggest concerns I have with it failing is that there is no pipe in the pipe pocket... So there won't be enough downward pull to make it go down.


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## mrb (Nov 17, 2009)

remeber: when PVC pipe breaks (for example if it fell and broke) it breaks into very sharp shards which can cause eye and other injuries. ABS pipe does not do this.


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## Van (Nov 17, 2009)

Using PVC is a very rough road for this kind of application. The female ends of the pipes make getting a consistent smooth roll impossible. I an visualize what they are trying to achieve, if they were to "capture" the pipe inside a matrix of four casters and the drop were to come off the bottom of the pipe, it could be done without too much damage to either the drop or the pipe but you'd have to have a 4 caster ummmm "box" every 4 feet or so to keep flex out of the pipe. Even these engineering fixes don't over-over come the handling dangers If they were to run this drop from a floor line, like a traveler, then what is to provide resistance when it's flying in ? Sandbags? the wieghting of that system would be very difficult as the load on the line is going to increase and decrease depending on how much of the drop is off the roll. 
I don't think this is a Panic-Mode Holy Crap the Sky is falling type thing, but I also don't think it's going to work as intended. $.02


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## lieperjp (Nov 17, 2009)

Van was right when he said the pipe would sit in a matrix type thing of casters. The intended resistance for the downward pull is placing pipes in the pipe pocket (right now the drop is sans pipe.) I still have my doubts about safety since there is no real clear cut way to attach the drop to the ceiling (no exposed beams) as well as the fact that the people hanging this have no rigging experience at all. I think it would work if they get bigger, pneumatic casters and forgo the smaller hard rubber casters. I have my doubts that it will work as well as intended, but I'm not in panic mode... yet.


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## Studio (Nov 17, 2009)

You seem like you know the stage why don't you give them some advice and show them what happens when you jerry rig things in theater.


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## SHARYNF (Nov 17, 2009)

High School is a learning experience, instead of trying to convince them NOT to do it why not help them to do it correctly. A 20x25 Muslim Backdrop is not that heavy and not that large for a "amateur" olio drop

IMO the big problem they will probably have is with the PVC pipe, Aluminum would work much better

How to make an Oleo, Olio or Roll Drop Scrim.

Sharyn


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