This training should provide skills in all areas of studio and external event rigging and operation. Trainees should be competant in the procedures followed and have a working understanding of the electrical theory (needed only for 'Portable dimmer, 63/3 and 32/3 power supplies').

Once all three of the areas are signed off the trainee can supervise rigging in the studio and outside the theatre.

This training covers:

The studios operate very much like any other temporary space. The training given should apply to other temporary venues, such as libraries and bars. One thing to note however these spaces will not usually have grids so trainees should already know how to erect T-bar stands etc.

• Intro to both rooms, fire exits, lighting rigs, power, XLR panels

• 32/3 supply
  • Why it's more dangerous.
  • Turning on and off, no touching of rig.
  • Don't leave panel screwed in when live.
• 63/3 supply in main space (visit at some point)
  • Show 3ph adaptors to use dimmer in both
  • Explain supply ampage differences
    • P=IV (not really true for AC)
    • Power can't easily be calculated, we use a 'powe factor' of 0.8 as a good margin
    • Therefore we should plan not to exceed 17.6kVA on the 32/3 and 34.8kVA on the 63/3. This is not a hard limit, if we wan't to go over this we can, but bear in mind things may trip out!
  • Work through a calculation for how much power a rig will need (~40A total)
    • 3 FoFFs, 2 PAR64s, 3 Eggs, 2 Source 4, 2 650W Fresnel. Gives 8950kVA.
  • Explain three phase load splitting so this is OK! (depending on how you plug it in!)
  • Quickly show a rig that is too big for the 32/3 but ok for the 63/3.
    • Needed: 8 Ramas, 5 FoFF, 8 PAR64 and 3 Source 4s. Gives 23.75kVA.
  • If there's only one light per channel then we're fine, no need to do calcs. (Pairing the houselights is ok)
• 13A and RCD
  • We can only run 2 PARcans of 13A, hence why we use big supplies
  • We don't need RCDs in the building as installed in distro boards and tested,but do in other spaces.
• Dimmer
  • Each channel has a 10A breaker on it, about 2.3kVA. 0.8 factor gives 1840VA although you can quite happily run two PARcans on one so pfff.
  • Connections, power in and soca out, DMX
  • Switches
  • Mention test function, other features. Standard trainee shouldn't need to know how to operate the digital controls. Possibly demo how to do a hard reset as this will 'fix' any issues from a bad configuration.
  • Show the channel level bars
• Electrical hazards
  • Visually check things before plugging in

• Running of cabling around the room
  • Be safe
  • Trip hazards
• Cabling on the rig
  • Socapex (soca)
    • Is heavy, get help if needed.
    • Ensure all joins (soca to soca, soca to breakout, soca to dimmer) are tight. They're a bit fiddly to do but there is a danger of arcing if not tightened fully. This is dangerous (electrical and fire), stuff melts.
    • You'll probably want more regular tapeing.
    • Get this up first, again it's a pain so best to get done before lots of other stuff is in the way.
  • Label all extensions
  • Run cable along top of bars tape every ~1m
  • Don't bother tapeing until you have all the cables up (minus soca) that go in a certain direction. This makes for a neater job and less moving ladders.
  • Use silver tape for taping to rig, black for looming cables. Colour matches what you're going onto, looks less ugly.
  • Neatness is key, looks nicer and will be safter, prevents things being caught in cables.
  • Run all cables along bars, do not bridge gaps.
  • No coiling around bars. If all the tape was to be removed the cables should all drop off without needing to be fed over the top of bars. The only exception to this is 'hooking' cables over the sticky-outy bars on the outside of the rig as cable comes off these easily. When running past a pipe junction the cables should loop below it and back up again in a U fashion. Do this nice and tightly to be neat.

• Running cable from the rig
  • Final job, before this drop cables off the edge but don't neaten them till the end.
  • Tape at ~1m intervals up loom
  • Cable tie to pipe
  • Unclip and clip the curtain around the 'bridge'
  • Lots of tape to rig