NEW YORK – Pook Diemont & Ohl, Inc. (PDO) integrated truss, hoist and control system manufacturers and engineers to enhance staging and lighting elements at Radio City Music Hall’s storied stage over a six-day period in September. PDO’s project partners were James Thomas Engineering, Stagemaker, Niscon Controls and Geiger Engineering, who worked closely with the Radio City staff to provide the best options to meet production needs.
More details from Pook Diemont & Ohl, Inc. (http://www.pdoinc.com):
NEW YORK – Pook Diemont & Ohl, Inc. (PDO) integrated truss, hoist and control system manufacturers and engineers to enhance staging and lighting elements at Radio City Music Hall’s storied stage over a six-day period in September.
Four custom 105 ft, 100 percent recyclable aluminum lighting trusses were added to the 80-year-old theater’s fly loft. PDO’s project partners were James Thomas Engineering, Stagemaker, Niscon Controls and Geiger Engineering, who worked closely with the Radio City staff to provide the best options to meet production needs.
Each James Thomas Engineering (JTE) truss runs weighs 3000 lbs. unloaded and can hold a total weight of 16,000 lbs. The JTE truss for Radio City is made in the US.
Stagemaker provided 32 x 1-ton hoists, customized to meet the needs of Radio City, including double brakes, integrated encoders, 100 feet of lift, and dual speed motors to provide speeds of 8 fpm and 32 fpm.
Niscon provided their Raynok Motion Control System as the solution for the hoisting equipment. Each chain motor is monitored by a load cell capable of sending real time loading information back to the control system. When the trusses are raised or lowered the Raynok System maintains position tolerances to prevent the truss from being stressed or twisted and from any individual point being overloaded. Operators can quickly recall positions from a list of targets that can be named in any manner of their choosing.
PDO partner Ted Ohl commented,“This was one of those rare projects where the client, manufacturers, sales group and contractor quickly forged a collaborative team to execute a very ambitious project. I think everyone enjoyed the process! (It was) technical theater at its best.”
Bronx-based PDO celebrates 30 years in business this October. Clients include a variety of high profile theatre, broadcast, museum, retail and architectural projects in the US and internationally. Most recently they have completed building and installing the truss structure for illusionist David Blaine’s endurance event on NYC’s Pier 54 called “Electrified.”
