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Rigging light from Rooftop


Markus Harthum

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Hi everyone,

 

I need to rig a light outside a window. The light used will be a 2500W HMI Par. The window is in the last floor of a 5 storey high building, so it's not possible to rig it from the ground. But we have access to the roof and i think it's possible to rig from there.

 

I have attached an image to show the shape of the roof, as it is a bit complicated to explain.

rigsketchqi8.gif

 

The roof has a little fence at the edge, an then the first 2 feet or so are lower then the rest of the roof. But the difference in height is just 1/2 feet and can be leveled out with appleboxes.

 

My idea would be to take a 9feet long alluminium pole and rig the light to it, while putting a LOT of weight on the other end. Additionally securing the pole on the fence. The Pole would exceed the edge for 3 feet and stay on the roof for 6 feet.

 

But somehow i think there may be a better solution. Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

Markus

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servas markus! :rolleyes:

 

 

what's going to be underneath the lamp?

public gehsteig or a hinterhof that can be locked down?

 

Servas alex,

so we see us again:-)

there will be no danger to people or animals. The lamp will hang over a terrace, which we can close off.

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Steel pipe would be better than aluminum. And you could also add a rachet strap the to end of the pipe to a point higher than the pipe like to the top of the railing if it strong enough for added support.

 

Best

 

Tim

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there will be no danger to people or animals. The lamp will hang over a terrace, which we can close off.

 

Morgen Markus,

 

I think you're okay with what you are suggesting. Buit I guess you should safety the bugger with some chain to a post of that roof-top fence. Just to be sure. Would be a shame if that lovely 2,5k drops to an untimely death!

 

Cheers, Dave

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What you're suggesting will work fine. Just make sure it's safetied well to something that absolutely will not budge if the lamp somehow comes loose. It will be a pain to adjust the lamp once it's in place. If it's the kind of thing where you will set the lamp and not touch it the rest of the day, then I wouldn't think twice about your method.

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Hello Markus,

 

Basically your idea with the given circumstances seems to be okay. I would suggest to add some piping going down beside the window and some crosspipes to make it more stable and less vulnerable for wind.

 

See attached image. Using steelpipe or truss would be recommendable. When you could use truss you can use a sleeveblock or trussdolly to get te lamp in its correct position and slide it in for making adjustments, change filters etc.

 

good luck,

 

Onno Perdijk

KeyGrip

Amsterdam Holland

www.solidgripsystems.eu

post-12988-1223586731.jpg

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None of this has yet solved the problem of getting everything hung on the end of the rig before pushing it into position. If there's a way to use something like a menace arm and then swing or roll it out over the window, that's your easiest way. Maybe a lightweight crane (GF-6, Foxy or the like) could work as a base for the whole thing? Put it on track and on boards and you can get where you want to be, plus you can raise and lower the lamp in addition to moving it closer or further away.

 

Not to add more overkill to this, but solve the diffusion problem (and the lamp positioning problem) with a motorized yoke and DMX-controlled gel changer (Mag Max from Licht-Technik comes to mind). L-Ts yoke controls include all lamp functions (pan, tilt, focus) as well as barn door movement

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Whatever you decide Markus take photos of your final rig and the process of building it. I'd be interested to see what you did and how it worked out.

 

Also take photos of the Rig from the Set and Camera Positions. I would like to see how the end product benefits the images and the camera work.

 

 

Hi everyone,

 

I need to rig a light outside a window. The light used will be a 2500W HMI Par. The window is in the last floor of a 5 storey high building, so it's not possible to rig it from the ground. But we have access to the roof and i think it's possible to rig from there.

 

I have attached an image to show the shape of the roof, as it is a bit complicated to explain.

rigsketchqi8.gif

 

The roof has a little fence at the edge, an then the first 2 feet or so are lower then the rest of the roof. But the difference in height is just 1/2 feet and can be leveled out with appleboxes.

 

My idea would be to take a 9feet long alluminium pole and rig the light to it, while putting a LOT of weight on the other end. Additionally securing the pole on the fence. The Pole would exceed the edge for 3 feet and stay on the roof for 6 feet.

 

But somehow i think there may be a better solution. Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

Markus

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  • 1 month later...
How far below is that terrace you mentioned, could you get a stand on there?

 

This is what I'm thinking, but I think the issue would be rigging it securely on the rooftop side. Then again, you would have your stand right in the middle of your light, but hey, say it's a cookie and call it a day, right? :P

 

If you could rig the speedrail with the stand below, you might as well just forget all this and just put the light on the stand. If it needs to be armed out further, you could also use this terrace to put up whatever diffusion/cutters you'd like.

 

Interested to see what you end up with though. I did something like this a while ago but with a much smaller open faced 2k lamp. We used your initial idea and it worked out fine. Our fence was basically bracing our tubing down though, since it was much closer to the ground. Too bad it doesn't look like you have that luxury here.

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