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Grayson · 10-23-2003, 07:17 PM

Hi Guys:

These are not strictly on topic but I think you will get a laugh out of them. Between 1965 and 1980 I worked as a stagehand both on Broadway and on the road, I also worked in the various shops building the shows so I got to witness and or hear about many funny “disasters”.

While moving a show from The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC to Toronto, miscommunication among the Carpenter on the deck, the Flyman on the Flyfloor and the Loading Bridge resulted in the wrong arbor being unloaded. When the load was removed from the pipe that was supposed to have had its counter weights removed, the pipe sped to the grid at the top of the stage house and snapped of some fire sprinkler heads. We had a two hour rain storm until someone could find the shut off valve.

While setting up a show in Los Angeles an error by a contractor who was installing a tennis court on the roof of the stage house (he pushed the gravel into mounds that blocked the rain drains) caused a lake to form on the roof. When the water rose high enough, it came cascading down through the emergency smoke vents and rolled into the orchestra pit. It was a mad scramble to remove the musical instruments, the microphones and the wiring before they were submerged.

The mixing console for the musical “The Wiz” was placed in a spot out of audience traffic flow but directly under a fire sprinkler head. The sprinkler gave way and filled the chassis of the console with rusty water. Back at the shop (after swapping in a replacement console) we revived the console by washing the chassis and all the boards in distilled water, drying it slowly and spraying it lightly with WD40 to drive out the last of the moisture.

One series of consoles exhibited an intermittent low level noise on random outputs. The shop, the manufacture and the various operators using these consoles were stumped until an examination under magnification revealed small growths of fungus on the boards. That was when we made the connection between the humidity in the venues where the board was used or transported and the noise problem. The solution was to wash all the PCBs in a trisodium phosphate solution and the rinse in distilled water and long slow drying.

I hope these have brought some smiles to your faces

Grayson

10-23-2003, 07:17 PM	#53
Grayson Cooling Neophyte Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Honolulu, Hawai'i Posts: 25	Hi Guys: These are not strictly on topic but I think you will get a laugh out of them. Between 1965 and 1980 I worked as a stagehand both on Broadway and on the road, I also worked in the various shops building the shows so I got to witness and or hear about many funny “disasters”. While moving a show from The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC to Toronto, miscommunication among the Carpenter on the deck, the Flyman on the Flyfloor and the Loading Bridge resulted in the wrong arbor being unloaded. When the load was removed from the pipe that was supposed to have had its counter weights removed, the pipe sped to the grid at the top of the stage house and snapped of some fire sprinkler heads. We had a two hour rain storm until someone could find the shut off valve. While setting up a show in Los Angeles an error by a contractor who was installing a tennis court on the roof of the stage house (he pushed the gravel into mounds that blocked the rain drains) caused a lake to form on the roof. When the water rose high enough, it came cascading down through the emergency smoke vents and rolled into the orchestra pit. It was a mad scramble to remove the musical instruments, the microphones and the wiring before they were submerged. The mixing console for the musical “The Wiz” was placed in a spot out of audience traffic flow but directly under a fire sprinkler head. The sprinkler gave way and filled the chassis of the console with rusty water. Back at the shop (after swapping in a replacement console) we revived the console by washing the chassis and all the boards in distilled water, drying it slowly and spraying it lightly with WD40 to drive out the last of the moisture. One series of consoles exhibited an intermittent low level noise on random outputs. The shop, the manufacture and the various operators using these consoles were stumped until an examination under magnification revealed small growths of fungus on the boards. That was when we made the connection between the humidity in the venues where the board was used or transported and the noise problem. The solution was to wash all the PCBs in a trisodium phosphate solution and the rinse in distilled water and long slow drying. I hope these have brought some smiles to your faces Grayson