I'm a Proud New Global Truss Owner (Pic & Questions)

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Djcarolina

New DJ
Nov 5, 2006
755
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Yes, it's true, DJ Tripod has finally broken down and purchased Global Truss to clean up the clutter. Just before Christmas I placed the order for 20' of global box truss, cranks and adapters. I got an INSANE deal from CenterStage Sound and Lighting; the entire package shipped for $1308. All of the products came within 3 days except for the stands which came from Global Truss. I will say that I contacted NLFX about this before making a purchase and although they couldn't get the pricing on the truss, they were able to help me pick up 2 new Bubble Kings and some misc. utility items i needed.

I had no idea how much of a pain in the ass the truss was going to be though. The stands are much larger than I had expected and are going to be an interesting challenge for me to work with until I change up and buy another larger trailer. Anyhow here's a picture of the new rig set up in the driveway.

GlobalTruss.jpg

The package also included the T-Bar toppers for the cranks in case i decide not to use the truss and just want to use TBars.

Anyway, I have a couple questions for current owners:

1. Do you guys use the included pins to put your truss together? They seem to be a big pain in the ass to put in requiring a hammer to get them in and a wrench to get them out. That's a bit more than I want to go through at each gig. I'm planning on replacing the pins that will be removed and replaced constantly with these:
008236770025md.jpg

I don't imagine it'd be a problem since there's no weight that rests on these pins at all and even if they were stressed, theyre designed to hold a tailgate to a truck, so I imagine a truss would be less stress anyway.

Second, have any of you purchased the global truss bags for your truss? I'm considering it but don't know the cost or anything like that.

Lastly, any tips/tricks you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I've ordered another 2 sticks for 30' right now and I might consider adding another 10 feet or so for prom season.
 
Why dont you call Centerstage they likely can assist you seeing how you purchased it there. Honesty, Integrity and understanding is priceless. Glad to see you finally stepped up it will allow your show to meet the visual expectations your show deserves.
 
Jon Tuck said:
Why dont you call Centerstage they likely can assist you seeing how you purchased it there. Honesty, Integrity and understanding is priceless. Glad to see you finally stepped up it will allow your show to meet the visual expectations your show deserves.
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Well I mean I suppose I could, but they're more questions relating to other djs using this gear the way I do. I'm just not big on whacking my truss with a hammer everytime I set up for a show ya know.

I'm glad to have made the switch too. I don't know how many shows the global will go to though. Its a bit overkill for middle schools and may be more hassle than it's worth for those shows.
 
I use a small hammer that is in my truss bag and after the first few times of setting it up you won't need the hammer anymore. Also it does depend on the weather and humidity.

The pins are there for your protection. Imagine this, some pre-teen (or drunk, they are about the same thing) thinks it would be funny to jump on your truss and swing. You didn't place the pins in and ...whoops! the truss collapses, the party is injured, sues you and then the attorney looking at the pictures of the accident, snapped by a friendly guest when the accident happened, sees that YOU had not placed the pins in...you just lost pretty much everything you own.

Tips & tricks. If your lighting set-up is basically the same, attach your lights before the show, place each section inside a custom case that you have built, load them up, and when you get to the show attach the pre-wired sections and you are that much ahead of the game.
 
Some things are designed to work together, I would use what came with the truss. Even though the other stuff may work if there'a a failure and injuries happen. You're the one that's going to be responsible for not using what was supplied and you'll end up being liable for everything.
 
Point taken, I'll keep things the way they're supposed to be. I guess i'll just have to get used to using the hammer for a while. Its hard for me to whack the sh*t out of something i paid that much money for tho.

I kno Jon was being sarcastic lol, I expected it when I posted.

As for my light show, it's actually not as stagnant as one might think. I have lights that I never use because i've never had room for them. I actually have 4 of the snow machines, 4 of the ADJ bubble machines, 2 chauvet bubble machines on the way, a pair of Vue 3's, 4 scanners, 2 acrobats, 4 strobes, and 3 colorstrips. I just used one specific setup for schools because it was what fit (safely) on the iBeam truss.

I want to look into 2 moving heads in the near future. For prom season i'm considering renting the heavy duty stands that have outriggers and having the local sound/light company hang my 122i's from the truss for that show.
 
I know nothing about this truss!

But if the pins are tapered it is to pull the two pieces together tightly which would be for integrity of the structure, using a straight pin that fit in rather loosely it seems you would lose some of strength in the system!

If it is just a straight bolt or pin then I see no problem with the latch pins!
 
Thunder said:
I know nothing about this truss!

But if the pins are tapered it is to pull the two pieces together tightly which would be for integrity of the structure, using a straight pin that fit in rather loosely it seems you would lose some of strength in the system!

If it is just a straight bolt or pin then I see no problem with the latch pins!
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Yeah, I hadn't considered that until some others online brought it to my attention. For whatever reason I thought it was just to connect the pieces. I'm still used to the iBeam way of life where the pins are really only to keep the sections from sliding apart.
 
Djcarolina said:
Yeah, I hadn't considered that until some others online brought it to my attention. For whatever reason I thought it was just to connect the pieces. I'm still used to the iBeam way of life where the pins are really only to keep the sections from sliding apart.
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That is dependant upon the bolts or pins being straight or tapered, if it is a straight bolt then it would appear that it's only real purpose is to keep the two sections from sliding apart! If that is the case then your latch pins would have no ill effect!

Is there a tourqe instruction for the bolts?
 
Thunder said:
That is dependant upon the bolts or pins being straight or tapered, if it is a straight bolt then it would appear that it's only real purpose is to keep the two sections from sliding apart! If that is the case then your latch pins would have no ill effect!

Is there a tourqe instruction for the bolts?
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No instructions came with anything, unfortunately.
 
Djcarolina said:
No instructions came with anything, unfortunately.
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That's because these things are typically sold to men and men don't need no instructions or manuals and if it don't work beating the hell out of it with a mallet usually does the trick anyway.....:sqlaugh:
 
Yeah, but the bolts are load bearing in truss. I never use anything except grade 8 bolts in truss. But I am putting a lot more weight on said truss.

Mike
 
Esoteric said:
Yeah, but the bolts are load bearing in truss. I never use anything except grade 8 bolts in truss. But I am putting a lot more weight on said truss.

Mike
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The tensile strength of a grade 8 bolt in 1/4" is around 5,000 pounds for a 5/16 it is around 8,000 pounds for a 7/16 around 15,000 pounds, tear strength for 1/4' T651 aluminum is around 4.800 pounds.

If as most connections that I have seen in trussing they are using collars and inserts then the bolts would bear no load (unless it was a taper used to pull the collars up hard against each other).


As I said I don't know this trussing at all I am looking at it strictly from an engineering stand point!
 
Yeah, we don't use truss that bolts together through the truss, but rather at the ends of the sections (Tomcat plated truss), the light duty has 2" OD x 1/8" aluminum chords. Tomcat recommends grade 8 bolts. Of course load is based on length, distribution, and number of pick points. We do use Global Truss from time to time but only as stage decoration or to hold projector screens in place.

Mike
 
Esoteric said:
Yeah, we don't use truss that bolts together through the truss, but rather at the ends of the sections (Tomcat plated truss), the light duty has 2" OD x 1/8" aluminum chords. Tomcat recommends grade 8 bolts. Of course load is based on length, distribution, and number of pick points. We do use Global Truss from time to time but only as stage decoration or to hold projector screens in place.

Mike
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Totally different animal from what I was looking at!
 
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