I build sets for a childrens theater group. We'll have as many as 80 children in our productions. We have a large stage so many set pieces are needed. Most pieces are 4 feet deep by 8 feet wide and as tall as 5 feet. The wagon brakes work OK until the kids start dancing on the sets. In many shows the sets are rolled out with the children already on them, so lifting them and using blocks is not an option. We can't drill holes in the floor for pins and anchors. Any ideas would be appreciated, this has been an ongoing problem for years. Thanks.

Normally we just use foot operated door stops that are availble from the local hardware store.

  http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=2&p=64133&cat=53&ap=1 - http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=2&p=64133&cat=53&ap=1

You can use the fixed castors with brakes incorporated, as foot operated step on to brake & release. These could be operated by leaving the upstage side of the rostra truck open framed allowing foot acess. 

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-PRO-MSI-302F-Quick-Release-Toggle-Clamps/dp/B0000224BL - http://www.amazon.com/MSI-PRO-MSI-302F-Quick-Release-Toggle-Clamps/dp/B0000224BL

 

There are some tricks though.

 

This device is really designed to hold a something on a workbench and are not super heavy duty. They come with a bolt and a rubber foot that are really weak. The little rubber foot is much too small to hold a wagon in place. If you forget to release it, the rubber foot will rub off onto your floor and provide little resistance. If you allow more than 1/4" of the bolt to be exposed, the bolt will bend and become useless, or the bracket will bend. It can be straitened on a work bench, but it isn't trivial.

 

My trick is to mount a 2"x3" oak block to the bolt with very little of the bolt showing (countersink the bolt). I then put a ribbed rubber pad on the bottom of the block.  Then mount the brake on the side of the wagon with the block on the floor, and the handle sticking straight out. That way it only lifts the wagon by enough to slightly take the load off of the wheels. I usually put both brakes on the same side of the wagon. If you do it this way the wagon is really hard to move without releasing the breaks.

 

If you use them this way they work very well.

   David's idea of using wooden blocks at the bottom of the piston peg is outstanding.  I plan to try this some day.  Cool!  This is a good improvement, because I have bent or broken many of those foot pegs due to stress and wiggle.  Plus the rubber bumpers on the bottom of the pegs always get worn off when people, (directors!), push wagons off stage themselves without thinking to open the locks!  So thanks for the great ideas David!

 

 One more note for everybody:  I always call these devices "wagon locks", not "wagon brakes".   You may think it's a minor point of semantics, but I feel it is an important distinction.  You don't want your crew to think they are "brakes", because this implies that they are sturdy enough to stop a wagon in motion!  Like brakes in a car. 

 

These devices are actually "locks" because they merely lock the wagon into place during the scene, so it doesn't wiggle under the actors' weight.   I recommend that everyone out there in dramaland get in the habit of calling them "wagon locks".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brake a leg!    -Dana

 

For the most part when we have trucked sets on it has been a straight on/off movement. Using a flat brased 'T' frame, painted black. The cross bar is attached by hindges to the trucks plynth, so the cross bar of the T frame jams against the castors, when the T frame is lowered to flat on the deck. In that position the truck won't move especialy if a stage hand is standing on it off stage, only allowing movement when the T frame is lifted to a push pull height.

I remember it well doing much the same as Mr Scroggins, jumping off the fly rail for the curtain call bounce with the house rag. Then riding the rope back up to reverse the rag.

This was before the advent of fly rail locks, sp I never thought of them as brakes. In fact if we needed to lock off ropes in an over, under or out of weight situation. We used the good old 'snot knot' as a line lock which could be aplied quickly & most Flymen would have a snotting strop hanging around thier kneck, that was quick to grab & lock off the counterweight hand lines. Also there was a variety of coloured strips of cloth near the rail, to mark off the top & bottom deads. Using a 'Fid', 'pusher' or 'wand'.

 

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on terminology.

My first experience with set construction was 15 years ago, for our groups production of The Music Man. I showed up as a volunteer and had no experience with theater of any kind. I was asked to dismantle some of the "wagons"  from the last production, Bye Bye Birdie. The only wagon I saw had Wells Fargo written on the side. Oops! Before anyone knew it I had the thing in pieces. The "set designer" blew his stack, packed up his stuff and we never saw him again. Fortunately a few of the volunteers were contractors, and we were able to complete everything ourselves. I've been doing this ever since.

 

By the way, since then, any set that rolls on wheels we call a truck instead of a wagon. My idea.   Thanks again.

 

 

 

 

Changing the name of a wagon brake to a wagon lock will work as well as trying to teach people not to call a paper tissue a Klenex.

 

Sorry Dana