Installation

Machine Mounting

The Spotline Practical mounts to any standard 1-½” schedule 40 or 80 pipe with 2 cheeseboros; 1 attached to each of the top pipes of the machine. The cheeseboroughs require a minimum safe working load (SWL) of 1100 pounds, Creative Conners Inc recommends the use of The Light Source’s Mega Coupler. In order to keep the Practical balanced, attach the machine to your rigging pipe or batten with the cheeseboroughs finger tight. Then shift the machine parallel to the pipes until the machine is level, and tightening both cheeseboroughs fully.

The machine must also have a secondary safety cable made of at least ⅛” diameter wire rope. Wrap the machine’s top pipes and the supporting structure with your safety cable, and take additional wraps as needed to limit slack that could cause excessive shock loading of the safety or ensnaring the safety on moving parts of the machine.

The Spotline Practical weighs 90 pounds, has a working load limit of 40 pounds and requires a minimum load of 5lbs. If your lighting practical weighs more than 40 pounds you will need to use a Spotline Mini or the full-size Spotline hoist. If your practical weighs less than 5 pounds you will need to add additional weight to allow the slackline detection to respond properly.

The Spotline Practical comes pre-reaved with at least 35’ of flat cable specially designed for lifting with power, data, and a 3/32” wire rope core that has been factory terminated to a thimble. Attach the payload to the provided thimble following best theatrical rigging practices. Ensure that the wire rope is bearing the load not the power or data lines. If your lifting cable is damaged, disconnect the input LX Power and LX Data cables from the Stagehand and do not continue to operate the machine. Give us a call at 401-289-2942 x2 or drop us a line at [e-mail], and we can arrange a repair.

Making the Connections

The Spoline Practical is part of Creative Conners, Inc’s line of smart machines. The Stagehand motion controller is built right in! Below is a list of all the connections required to integrate a Spotline Practical in your Spikemark network.

Input Power

The Spotline Practical requires 120VAC, 10A input power and includes branch circuit protection. The circuit breaker is a great way to know for certain that the machine will not move when servicing, and is also a convenient method to reboot the internal electronics if required.

The power inlet of the Spotline Practical is a Neutrik powerCON TRUE1 Appliance Inlet (NAC3MPX). The mating connection on the included power cord is a NAC3FX-W connector. The powerCON TRUE1 is rated for breaking capacity, meaning it is safe to disconnect under load. It should also be noted that the TRUE1 connectors are not compatible with standard “Blue” powerCON connectors. See below for wiring details inside the TRUE1 connector.

E-Stop

The Showstopper is Creative Conners, Inc’s emergency stop safety controller. Each Stagehand and smart machine requires a direct connection to a Showstopper 3 Base or Showstopper 3 E-Stop Hub. These connections are made with a 5-pin XLR cable. There’s no tech wizardry here, any 5-pin XLR cable will work as long as the polarity is correct. See below for connection details.

Ethernet

Although the Spotline Practical can be manually jogged from the onboard Stagehand controller, the real power is unleashed when connected through the network to Spikemark software. As with all Stagehands or Smart Machines, each controller must be connected to the network with an Ethernet (CAT5/CAT6) cable back to a network switch. The Spotline Practical has an etherCON receptacle which accepts the rugged etherCON connector or a standard RJ45 connector.

LX Power

The Spotline Practical passes 120VAC, 10A power to the outlet at the end of its lifting line. As an added feature there is local branch circuit protection built into the machine. The circuit breaker is a great way to know for certain that the payload is not energized during loading/unloading.

The LX power inlet of the Spotline Practical is a Neutrik powerCON TRUE1 Appliance Inlet (NAC3MPX). The mating connection on the included power cord is a NAC3FX-W connector. The powerCON TRUE1 is rated for breaking capacity meaning it is safe to disconnect under load. The TRUE1 connectors are not compatible with standard “Blue” powerCON connectors. See below for wiring details inside the connector.

LX Data

The Spotline Practical passes data to the EtherCON at the end of its lifting line. At a basic level, it provides 4 twisted pairs of 30AWG conductors at 100ohm impedance (comparable to Cat 5e), from the LX Data etherCON connector to the end of the lifting line.

At assembly, we install an etherCON connector at the end of the lifting cable, however, you can swap to another connector of your choosing, such an XLR. If doing so, follow the manufacturer’s installation specifications for the connector of your choosing, and refer to the wiring details below to ensure proper continuity. Because our composite flat lifting cable is a custom construction, the wire coloring differs from the T-568B pinout that we use at the input etherCON connector.

IP Address

Once the Spotline Practical is physically connected to the network, you will need to set the IP address to communicate with Spikemark. This is accomplished the same way as any other Stagehand controller.

• Click the jog wheel, the SET IP screen will be displayed

• Scroll to the octet to change and click the wheel

• Turn the wheel to increase or decrease the number until you reach your desired value. Click the jog wheel to set the value.

• Repeat the process for all octets that need to be adjusted.

• Once complete use the jog wheel to highlight ‘OK’ and click the wheel

Subnet Mask

In addition to the IP address each Stagehand controller also has the ability to set the subnet mask. The default subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. If you find yourself in a position where you need to adjust the subnet mask, please take a step back and ask yourself if it is really necessary. If the answer is yes, click and hold the scroll wheel to reveal the SET SUBNET screen. Follow the same procedures used to set the IP address to adjust the subnet mask.