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Starrpower Inner circle 4070 Posts |
I did a search but could find nothing in building a portable stage.
I was thinking 3'X6' sections of 3/4" ply, supported by a plywood box. I think the stage floor could simply rest on top of the box with cleats to hold the stage floor in place and keep it from sliding or shifting. If the base "box" is held together with hinges, two of the four and be removable and the whole thing could pack flat. Seems to be enough for one man to easily handle, yet several together could make a stage of almost any size. Plus, at 3'X6' it could even fit in a minivan. What other ideas do you have? I am open to suggestions. |
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Ray Pierce Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 2607 Posts |
You can build parallel risers like many theaters use. They've been used for around 300 years or so and are very practical to troupe with. They have frames usually made from 1x4's that fold flat for storage. The 3/4" deck has cleats on the bottom that keeps it from sliding and holds the frames open.
Here's a great article on fabricating them. http://www.hstech.org/index.php?option=c......Itemid=1 The other option I use are Steeldeck platforms which are a lot more expensive but very durable. They come in 4' x 8' sizes as well as many other combinations to fit any situation. They have different size legs that slot in place to change the height so they are very flexible that way as well. You can look them up here. http://www.steeldeck.com/ The 4' x 8' units are around $500 a piece but they are built to last. There are a lot more options but that should get you started.
Ray Pierce
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PCoreyB Regular user 139 Posts |
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Ray Pierce Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 2607 Posts |
The Leg-o-matics are GREAT for lower stages but need some reinforcement for anything over about 24" or so. 12" or 18" elevations are great though.
Ray Pierce
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SpellbinderEntertainment Inner circle West Coast 3519 Posts |
OK, don’t freak on me here….
but we built a portable stage 6’ x 8’ and 10” high, and under the plywood sections, we used…. White Plastic Paint Buckets. Yep, they are very stable and durable, and we drilled holes in the bottom to stack them, then tie them off with a loop of rope. Very light-weight, very portable. Crazy, huh? Walt |
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Ray Pierce Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 2607 Posts |
Not crazy at all! The round crosssection of the bucket is very rigid along that axis. In fact if you had enough of them you could have used paper buckets or even cups. You just have to divide the needed loading by the number of supports. That being said, it's different if it's one person performing on stage vs. driving a forklift on the same area with 1200 lb. point loading on 4 small areas.
Build for what you need.
Ray Pierce
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Leland Stone Inner circle 1204 Posts |
(Lurker popping in to offer a "thumbs up!") Good stuff here, Magi!
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Starrpower Inner circle 4070 Posts |
Funny you should mention it ... buckets WERE another thing I had considered. But I am a little concerned about their stability on uneven surfaces.
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Ray Pierce Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 2607 Posts |
Lol... Oh! You never mentioned uneven surfaces! Setting up on uneven surfaces is a challenge even with the best equipment. I actually built a stage for a show in LA where due to the uneven flooring, every leg of 6 platforms was a different size. Steel Deck does have legs with screw adjusters like scaffolding jacks that make uneven surfaces a lot easier to accommodate.
There are many other adjustable legs based on a sleeve with holes every inch or so and a screw foot for the fine tuning.
Ray Pierce
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donrodrigo Special user U.S.A. and Europe 635 Posts |
Spellbinder,
I apologize to all I just cant recal wich but I seem to recal an 82 issue eather Genii (Osborne) or Tops which has a real cool one to build. |
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owln_1 Loyal user dallas /now live by tulsa 222 Posts |
You could also use plastic pop cases.
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Dreadnought Special user Athens, Georgia 836 Posts |
Building your own stage...God bless you.
Peace
"Ave Maria gratia plena Dominus tecum..." Scott Would you do anything for the person you love? |
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Dennis Michael Inner circle Southern, NJ 5821 Posts |
Love the Stage Design Articles Ray!
Dennis Michael
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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Granted safety is a major issue here, but, honestly, it's way too easy to get carried away building stage decks and such. Most of the standard theatrical "methods and tricks" (like the parallels Ray mentioned) came out of the need to transport touring shows, get them to the theater on horse-drawn wagons, set them up quickly, change sets between acts, and then pack it all up again. Nowadays we tend to forget that. And, even in college training programs, some of these things are viewed as just short of sacred. They become ends in themselves, instead of being a means to an end.
My suggestion? Figure out what it is you're trying to do, and then keep it as simple as you can.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
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adzimme New user 56 Posts |
Thank you for the link to rose brand. I see some great products I'll be using to make my stage next year. I was going to build one for my halloween show this year but it won't happen this year.
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rsylvester Loyal user Trying to learn to BP a duck in 269 Posts |
I searched this up and it was very useful in giving me ideas for my front yard Halloween show, which went very well. I decided I would add a comment and pop this back up for people who are thinking about building their own stages.
Being into recyling/upcycling, I made my stage from shipping pallets. I don't have to travel with them. They remain at my house. I covered them with plywood subflooring type of material, which I got on sale for around $5 a 4x8 sheet at Home Depot. Worked great. I'm raising it next year by adding Walt's idea for the plastic buckets, which I can get from my local recycling center. |
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sb Special user 567 Posts |
We have access to a very low tech portable stage, the deck was 4'x8', the sides all had a coffin latch on them to align everything http://www.productionadvantageonline.com......-02.aspx
The stage is elevated with 2 pieces of wood in each corner. Each peice of wood in the corner, has a slot cut into it, so the 2 pieces can interlock forming a + sign (when looked at from above). I thought this seemed unsafe, but my tech told me he got the idea from touring show that came into his theater years ago. very low tech, but very low cost as well. |
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abrell Loyal user Remscheid, Germany 284 Posts |
Dear Starrpower,
why do you want to build your own stage? There are manufacturers for this. And they know the legal standards and laws their products must fulfill. Stage floors must be solid - they must not collapse. An empty bucket will not give you any calculation of static integrity. In Germany stage floors - this includes mobile stage elements - must have a safe working load of 750 kg/m². And they must withstand all dynamic forces in horizontal line. So the corners for the legs must be solid and must be calculated for possible heights. When going higher you will need braces. In Europe there are similar standards and they have been useful. Simply calculate the shock loads of some 100 kg people who are jumping...http://www.buetec.com/produkte/podeste/steckbein-podeste/standard.html In former times woooden stage risers like these were used: http://www.rstdistribution.de/produkte/b......dex3.htm And if you only want a small riser for yourself there is a product from Spider Stage http://www.spider-evoflex.com/product_in......-cm-p-43 That riser has a safe working load of 250 kg/m² which means you are responsible for avoiding higher loads (even shock loads = no jumping!) Maybe a well written Technical Rider would serve you better than doing everything yourself. Let the customer know what they should supply for your show... And if you really want your own custom made stage riser, ask a theatre for help. Bigger theatres have experienced carpenters. It needs perfect joints to make a stage riser solid. And there is some special hardware for this - suitcase hardware is nor solid enough - here is some stuff from Germany: http://www.rstdistribution.de/produkte/b......dex3.htm There are surely theatrical suppliers all over the world - just ask for help at the next theatre. |
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Grandillusionsmagic Loyal user 270 Posts |
I was looking at building a stage when I found this. for storage size, set-up, and price these are great!
http://www.roadreadycases.com/intellistage.php |
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abrell Loyal user Remscheid, Germany 284 Posts |
Grandillusionsmagic,that is a great find. It looks very solid and is surely a professional system.
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