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Working with Wahlberg Motion Design, Rose Brand Inc. looks to cut the cost and time involved with automating the movement of lightweight scenic pieces. The new products are designed to operate using the light board for control enabling a more practical workflow.
DMX Winches
The small, compact DMX Winch Series range in load capacities from 1Kg (2.2lbs), 5Kg, 10kg, 25Kg and 50Kg (110 lbs). Each winch is aptly named, Winch 1, Winch 5, Winch 10, Winch 50, etc. For Rose Brand applications, the obvious fit is to use them for rigging draperies. Mark O'Brien, director of technical services explains, “We get asked to motorize Austrian curtains all of the time. Most often, the client wants a contour curtain where you can control each line of the Austrian individually, in order to create different stage pictures and entrances. This used to be a huge expense in machinery and installation labor, but the Wahlberg DMX Winches mount quickly and easily, directly above each pick-line. No head blocks, mules, clews or miles of aircraft cable. So much easier and about one quarter the cost.”
The magic of the new winch line is their use of DMX as the control interface. Most professional automation technicians will cringe when they read this since DMX is the last protocol anyone should choose for Stage Automation (capital “S”, capital “A”), according to a new product announcement from Rose Brand. But since these devices are targeted at lightweight applications – decor, drapes, props, practicals, etc. – the statement says the risks usually associated with automation are drastically reduced, while the convenience, speed and versatility of using DMX offers huge benefits. When Rose Brand Inc. built the contour curtain described above, the entire series of looks the client wanted were programmed in less than 30 minutes using a typical light board.
The smaller winches, Winch 1, 5, and 10, are powered by 120VAC and have a convenient Powercon connector. One annoyance is the lack of a Powercon pass-thru for easy daisy-chaining, but this is due to the lack of space on such small devices. They use five-pin XLR for DMX input and pass-thru. Each of these winches uses seven channels of DMX, though only three are used in writing cues. Positioning can be set with eight or 16-bit precision, and speed of travel is controlled by a third channel. The remaining four channels are used in setup for homing and setting travel limits. The larger winches, Winch 25 and Winch 50 need 230VAC, but otherwise operate similarly.
In addition, two special-purpose winches complete the range. The Winch 10 LX, where LX refers to electrics, uses a special Kevlar cable that contains two electrical circuits running down its center. This allows a single wire to be the lift line and to provide electricity to the object attached to the winch – a much needed solution for chandeliers and practicals, moon boxes and the “Star” in church holiday pageants.
The Winch 25 X2 has two drums on the same shaft, keeping the lift lines in parallel to eliminate spinning or rotating during operation. This is a simple solution for flying in curtain rods, picture frames, and all manner of light weight décor items.
DMX Scenery Rotator
Using the same components that power the winch, Rose Brand Inc. offers several other new and unique pieces of equipment. The DMX Scenery Rotator at first look resembles a mirror ball motor, but is designed to be much more durable. Similar to all of the Wahlberg gear, it uses DMX as its control interface. In this case, the DMX offers speed control and rotational positioning which allows you to stop the rotation anywhere you need, with 16-bit precision. The DMX Scenery Rotator requires 120VAC and has a ¾-inch shaft for mounting scenic elements up to 50Kg (110lbs). It provides 10Nm of torque and can easily be used for rotating flats and signs, glassless mirror panels (think A Chorus Line) and more. But it can also be used mounted upside down as the pivot point for a door or gate, or even horizontally for clock-hand effects. One technician who saw the unit for the first time considered using it to drive a conveyer belt where the hardest part of building the stage effect was finding an affordable DMX-controlled motor solution.
DMX Track Runner
The new DMX Track Runner is a motorized scenery carrier for Triple E Unibeam track. The motor drives a pinion gear, which meets a rack mounted on the underside of the Unibeam. Electrical buss bars mounted to the track, mate with brushes on the Track Runner to provide power to the motor. A wireless DMX box completes the set up. The result is a fully independent, wireless drive carrier on the Unibeam, capable of pulling up to 100Kg. Each carrier draws a maximum of 200 watts so the track can power up to five track runners on a single length. Having independent control of five drive points on the track gives you a huge variety of options for choreographing scenic elements with interesting entrances or exits.
DMX Roll Drum
Motorized roll drums are certainly not new stage solutions, but the new DMX Roll Drum offers a few key innovations. Most notably, the motor is fully located within the roll tube itself. This means no external, no bulky motor boxes, no drive chains, no limit boxes or timing belts. Because of this unique construction, the Roll Drum can be made up to 24 feet from a single tube, or up to 39 feet with a single splice. Any custom length within that range is available. The DMX Roll Drum maintains a sleek, clean profile and is fast and easy to install. Lift the assembly and clamp the brackets to your grid or truss, then connect power and DMX cables. All the programming and limits are soft set at the panel or DMX console.
Rose Brand Production Hardware had initially identified the DMX Winches as a unique and affordable solution to a common rigging challenge. However, the full range of their new DMX-controlled, lightweight scenery automation equipment is designed to offer virtually limitless options for lifting, spinning, traveling, or winding lightweight scenic pieces quickly and easily, without breaking the budget.
