Welcome to BigScreenBiz.com

We have a great old historic stage and screen in one theatre and we never installed the curtain motor though we do have the 2 beautiful curtains. one curtain is brand new. We have the motor. We have the curtain. The wiring was installed and is in place from when we renovated. Is this a tough job or do you need a rigger/ front of the house type to come on in?

---

Mike
My own experience with main drapes and closers is limited to our own system at the Mar. Ours is not terribly complicated. The control wiring for ours is low voltage and the control circuit is impulse. In other words you close the circuit long enough to activate the relay in the closing motor to start the sequence, either opening or closing.Our automation will handle this.We had to set our automation prompt to pulse versus maintain.The issue of timing the drape movement was a little more involved. Our motor had levers attatched to a central shaft , as they revolved they came in contact with a micro switch, which stopped the motor. To adjust the amount of travel , you had to rotate these levers on the shaft to a diferent position. We had aproblem with the levers moving after adjustment, so I took the saft out after we had it completely adjusted, drilled a hole through each adjustment lever and pinned it. The other issue we had to deal with was rope tension. If the closing rope does not have enough tension on it the timing can get off also. The drape does not stay in relation to the revolutions of the motor.All in all it wasn't that bad to do, just time consuming.
Shouldn't be anything you can't handle.

Mike. I need a little more information. I have hung curtains, curtain tracks and installed and adjusted curtain motors more times then I care to think about. I'm not sure from reading your post as to what you're asking. Are you referring to hanging the curtain on the track, installing the track itself or what? Does your stage have a full fly loft with pullies and headblocks up above the gridiron or a ceiling just above the top of the screen. If no flyloft, are there pullies hanging from the ceiling? Once I know what your situation is I can tell you what you will need to do and if you should be able to do it yourself.

We have a slight fly but no huge space. Both of our curtains are hung on pully tracks. An original huge and heavy print curtain on the inside edge of the
pro??cenium and one new purple velvet and new track 1' off the screen. What do you think? Which would you auto? Thanks/ Mike

---

That's a tough call to make not having ever seen the theatre. It depends on the overall decor of the theatre and the color scheme. If is an older theatre still retaining it's rich ornate interior the heavy print curtain may go best. If it has been mondernized and repainted in a more contemporary style, then the purple might be better. Also, how is the curtain lit? Footlights, overhead border lights, balcony floods? Depending on the curtains location and how well it can be lighted will come to play in deciding which one to use. You want it to be bright and an attention getter if the curtain is beautiful and in good condition. If it's looking worn or dirty you my want to downplay the lighting to reds and blues, but no amber or white. And of course, the futher away one is from the curtain, the less they will see any defects. All things to consider before making the decision.

[This message has been edited by RoxyVaudeville (edited June 28, 2002).]

Thanks all.I feel sometimes that the curtain got lost in the construct of the new theatre inside our first. What we had done was inherited a twin with the original stage abandoned and we decided to tunnel under our existing theatre from the front to the rear. Throw in a balcony, etc. and you begin to see. Anyway the curtain wa sa last thing added on and we then found a motor which has sat there ever since.
The room is in be-u-tiful condition. There are original 1920's footlights which we light and dim on the auto. It's time to rig and try it.

---

Thanks all.I feel sometimes that the curtain got lost in the construct of the new theatre inside our first. What we had done was inherited a twin with the original stage abandoned and we decided to tunnel under our existing theatre from the front to the rear. Throw in a balcony, etc. and you begin to see. Anyway the curtain wa sa last thing added on and we then found a motor which has sat there ever since.
The room is in be-u-tiful condition. There are original 1920's footlights which we light and dim on the auto. It's time to rig and try it.

---