Mechanical Design for the Stage

by Hendrickson; Alan

• ISBN13: 9780240806310
• ISBN10: 024080631X
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2007-09-18
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Scenic effects involving rotating turntables, tracking stage wagons, and the vertical movement of curtains and painted drops have become common in both Broadway and Regional theatre productions. The machines that drive these effects range from small pneumatic cylinders pushing loads of a few pounds an inch or two, to 40 horsepower winches running multi-ton scenery at speeds 6 feet per second or more. Usually this machinery is designed by theatre technicians specifically for a particular show's effect. Compared to general industry, this design process is short, often only a few days long, it is done by one person, design teams are rare, and it is done in the absence of reference material specifically addressing the issues involved. The main goal of this book is to remedy this last situation. Mechanical Design for the Stage will be a reference for you that will: * provide the basic engineering formulas needed to predict the forces, torques, speeds, and power required by a given move * give a technician a design process to follow which will direct their work from general concepts to specific detail as a design evolves, and * show many examples of traditional stage machinery designs. The book's emphasis will be on following standard engineering design and construction practices, and developing machines that are functional, efficient to build, easily maintained, and safe to use. * provides the basic engineering formulas needed to predict the forces torques, speeds, and power required by a given move * describes the most common power transmission components used in stage machines: roller chain, cable drums, bearings, gear reducers, etc. * gives a technician a design process to follow which will direct their work from general concepts to specific detail as a design evolves * shows many examples of traditional stage machinery designs

Table of Contents

Basic Concepts: Displacement, velocity acceleration

The force to accelerate mass

The force to overcome friction

The lifting force

Emax analysis- E-stop

Power example

Basic Concepts: Angular Displacement, angular speed, angular acceleration

The torque to accelerate mass

The torque of overcome friction

The lifting torque

Tmax analysisE-stop

Rotational Power Example

Combining Linear and Rotary Motion

Safety

Power Sources

Electric Motors

Fluid Power Actuators

Speed Reduction

General Concepts

Gear Reducers

Chain Reduction

Belts

Shafting

Bearings and Wheels

Wire Rope & Sheaves

Cable Drums

Screw Mechanisms

Brakes

Control, from a mechanical design point of view

Frames and Framing

Freedom and Constraint

The Mechanical Design Process

Specification

Concept Design and Concept Evaluation

Detail Design

Manufacture

Cable Drum Winches

Turntable Drives

Guides, Tracks, Dogs and Knives

Lifts

Traps

Miscellaneous mechanisms: bellcranks, linkages, escapements, etc

Appendixes

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.