latest news headlines
Fineline Sets Scene for Strictly Come Dancing Live
Fineline’s fabrication department has had a busy start to the year. One of many projects has been building and illuminating specialist elements of the spectacular ‘Strictly Come Dancing Live’ set designed by Patrick Doherty for main set builders Total Solutions.
Total’s Mervyn Thomas asked Fineline to supply 500 Luxeon LEDs, which are mounted in custom-machined wooden strips and fitted to the stair noses of the set’s lower staircase between the dancefloor and the stage – adding a flourish of glamour and a sense of occasion!
The Bristol-based company also supplied 50 two-metre-long low level hollow barriers fabricated from aluminium composite di-bond material for the tour. These are matt black on the audience side and silver-mirrored on the dance floor side, positioned around the edge of the dance floor. In addition to this, Fineline also supplied and fitted RGB LEDs along the front of the judges’ desk.
The Luxeon stair-nose strips were designed to be robust enough to tour and require minimal attention during rigging and get-ins. They were made in sections that are permanently fixed to the rise of each of the main steps. The white LED’s are wired on three channels, so the LEDs can be chased. With all the steps being different lengths, each strip is numbered and wired with different first and last channels, and the whole construction has to slot together in giant jigsaw fashion.
The LED’s are mounted onto 3mm di-bond strips, which are engraved for easy placement of the LEDs and to ensure equidistance between them all. The main body of the strip was made from 12mm thick fire retardant MDF, with 25mm holes for the light to exit. The rear of the strips was rebated on Fineline’s 3-axis router, and the LED/di-bond assembly then fitted into and flush with the main body, so the final unit is a neat 12mm thick self-contained strip. Eighteen three-channel constant current DMX power supplies were also supplied, which are simply fixed to the underside of the steps.
The judges’ desk LEDs are also Luxeon. They needed to be colour mixing, so 36 RGB boards were supplied, together with three power supplies. The LEDs are permanently installed into the desk, and the power supplies concealed underneath.
The barriers are constructed from di-bond, a two layered composite of aluminium with acrylic. The beauty of this material is that with the aid of the flatbed router and the correct cutter, fold lines can be engraved in the material which can then easily be formed into solid shapes like boxes or - in this case – barriers with flat sides and a triangulated top. The barriers were made in two halves as the specification was for black on one side and mirrored on the other, both of which are standard di-bond finishes. Once completed, the two sets of halves were folded into shape and riveted together.
The barriers are hollow inside, with cable-ways cut in the sides allowing cables from the Clay Paky StageColor 300 fixtures encircling the dance floor to be concealed and fed all around the perimeter of the dancefloor and back to their PD units.
The barriers were supplied as 50 2-metre and two 1-metre sections, plus four corner pieces – offering a flexible configuration to deal with slight size variations in the dance floors at different venues.
11th February 2008
HEADLINES
news archive
search stories
FOOTNOTE: Select the news type you require in the red band above; this will enable you to see the current news stories from that section
© 1999 - 2012 Entertainment Technology Press Limited News Stories
