We managed to kill an Arrimax today. Ok, actually it was not that bad, but we did break the bulb and the safety glass.
One of the most powerful light sources (an 18kW HMI lamp) was used on a commercial today. The terrain was steep and slippery, so it was very hard to get it in position in the first place. But me and other experienced electricians set the light in place and the shoot began. We even secured it with three ropes from all sides, and put 6 sandbags on the stand's base.
Later on, when sun came out, we had to cover it with a 12x12 black cloth hung on a T-bar, right next to the lamp. There were occasional gusts wind that made the whole thing a bit more difficult, but everything seemed fine. Just after an hour or so of lingering around the lamp, we decided to go to our truck on the other side of the building to get a few things. After 10 minutes of leaving the equipment unattended, we suddenly heard a loud crash...
It was the T-bar that got caught in the wind and fell onto the ropes of Arrimax! With all the weight of the sandbags on it, and all the power of the wind caught in the cloth it was strong enough to knock down the big light on a nearly 100kg stand (so called High Walker) with at least 60kg of sand bags on it! The lightbulb was crushed into pieces, and so was the safety glass. First thing we did, was to order another one, that luckily came in less than 20 minutes, and with a 45 minute delay, the shooting could continue.
It's hard to say, what went wrong. Maybe it was the ropes that weren't put on exact angles all around the light? There was no other place to put the t-bar to make a shadow, so it had to be right next to the lamp's ropes. The cloth was tied only loosly to it's rope to let the wind through. Obviosuly not enough. Even if someone was there, I don't think he could have done anything to prevent the disaster once it started falling.
The only thing important is that no one was hurt, which is almost a miracle, since we were standing around the lamp the whole day. If it fell on someone it would have definitely killed him. So we finished the day only with a few thousand euro damage, and a very good lesson.
One of the most powerful light sources (an 18kW HMI lamp) was used on a commercial today. The terrain was steep and slippery, so it was very hard to get it in position in the first place. But me and other experienced electricians set the light in place and the shoot began. We even secured it with three ropes from all sides, and put 6 sandbags on the stand's base.
Later on, when sun came out, we had to cover it with a 12x12 black cloth hung on a T-bar, right next to the lamp. There were occasional gusts wind that made the whole thing a bit more difficult, but everything seemed fine. Just after an hour or so of lingering around the lamp, we decided to go to our truck on the other side of the building to get a few things. After 10 minutes of leaving the equipment unattended, we suddenly heard a loud crash...
It was the T-bar that got caught in the wind and fell onto the ropes of Arrimax! With all the weight of the sandbags on it, and all the power of the wind caught in the cloth it was strong enough to knock down the big light on a nearly 100kg stand (so called High Walker) with at least 60kg of sand bags on it! The lightbulb was crushed into pieces, and so was the safety glass. First thing we did, was to order another one, that luckily came in less than 20 minutes, and with a 45 minute delay, the shooting could continue.
It's hard to say, what went wrong. Maybe it was the ropes that weren't put on exact angles all around the light? There was no other place to put the t-bar to make a shadow, so it had to be right next to the lamp's ropes. The cloth was tied only loosly to it's rope to let the wind through. Obviosuly not enough. Even if someone was there, I don't think he could have done anything to prevent the disaster once it started falling.
The only thing important is that no one was hurt, which is almost a miracle, since we were standing around the lamp the whole day. If it fell on someone it would have definitely killed him. So we finished the day only with a few thousand euro damage, and a very good lesson.