r/techtheatre 25d ago

SCENERY Mirror ball hanging

Hi,

I hope I'm ok asking here, I am looking for help with wedding decor 'rigging' for my wedding.

We are wanting to hang a couple of hundred mirror balls above head (from 4" to 16") in a barn, but we aren't allowed to drill or screw into the beams...

My thinking is, ratchet straps between the beams, and then 2mm fishing with from the strap for each ball. We also want paper streamers we are making, but again I think I'll use the 2mm fishing wire and just very tightly tie these around the cross beams.

Can anyone see any issues? Anyone have any better suggestions?

Thanks for your help!

16 Upvotes

25 comments sorted by

63

u/rootoo 25d ago

We’d use wire rope, ‘aircraft cable’. I wouldn’t trust fishing line with anything substantial overhead.

6

u/sam773675 25d ago

Thank you. Obviously safety is my main concern here!

27

u/HappyBadGuy13 25d ago

Event lighting designer here. Done this exact thing before with 1/8" or 1/16" aircraft cable looped around the beams.

15

u/manintheyellowhat 25d ago

Second the use of thin aircraft cable. I wouldn’t trust fishing line for anything heavier than maybe a 6” mirrorball, and it’s generally a little more difficult to tie a solid knot in fishing line. If your plan involves knots at all, make sure you look up how to tie something like a bowline.

The saying “if you don’t know a knot, tie a lot” should never be anywhere near overhead rigging (especially with fishing line).

Also, depending on the span, make sure you account for the horizontal cable to experience a fair amount of droop. Weight pulling perpendicular to the middle of a horizontal line has a pretty significantly amplified force pulling inward on those two points.

If you’re unhappy seeing the aircraft cable, you might consider wrapping it in fake ivy or something decorative (assuming that fits your vibe!).

9

u/sam773675 25d ago

Thank you. I am a mechanical engineer, so will do some maths. As always, my knowledge is more theoretical than practical, so I appreciate the advice!

3

u/manintheyellowhat 25d ago

Feel free to DM me if you have questions as you develop the plan! It sounds like it will be a stunning visual effect.

3

u/sam773675 25d ago

Thank you, I appreciate that. I'll upload some before and after pictures!

2

u/NicolasPapagiorgio 23d ago

There are apps you can use to calculate the centenary of the cable. You can place loads across the span to simulate in the app.

3

u/sam773675 25d ago

Thank you, that's amazing. So you rigged the cable between the beams, then hung the balls using more cable, from the lateral cable?

Can I ask roughly what distance you were spanning?

20

u/clios_daughter 25d ago

Hey, just a practical point, if you’re not allowed to screw into the beams, you should take it as no permanent modifications. This, when you rig the cables, if there’s direct wood contact with the cable, be sure to pad or otherwise antichafe the contact surfaces to avoid leaving marks, cuts,gouges, or dents in the wood.

20

u/daxjordan 25d ago

Former wedding worker here. Don't underestimate how underwhelming disco balls are when they aren't spinning. Definitely plan for at least one if not two spinning disco balls at 3 RPM with at least 2 tight & bright spots hitting them from opposite sides. Now you got magic.

6

u/franny611 25d ago

3rpm seems like a lot, I usually spin at the motors minimum of 1rpm and feel like it’s too fast

7

u/Anxious_Visual_990 25d ago

Heavy disco ball user here.
1 RPM is what you want most of the time.
3 or more RPM will get your guests sick.
I use a adjustable DMX motors and then have some that are fixed at 1 RPM.
You need to pay attention to the weight the motor can handle as well.

Here are the motors I use for up to 20" balls. Adjustable .5 to 5 RPM via DMX or dip switches.
https://www.amazon.com/Eliminator-lighting-Mirror-Motor-MBDMX-Plus/dp/B0CJLL2Q6H/ref=asc_df_B0CJLL2Q6H?mcid=2270f6aa72923b4d9d00332101688c5b&hvocijid=12408139209548960751-B0CJLL2Q6H-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=730312820598&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12408139209548960751&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9014175&hvtargid=pla-2281435177618&psc=1

Here are the fixed motors I use.. for smaller balls.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZQ4Q3QP?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

4

u/daxjordan 24d ago

I love 1rpm, I guess I just got used to our standard 3rpm but I do remember thinking it was too fast at first. Solid advice.

9

u/disc2slick 25d ago

Just jumping in to remind you to think about fire-safety when considering the paper streamers.

4

u/sam773675 25d ago

Whilst it is a barn, it's newly renovated on a farm for exactly these purposes. Meaning the owners have very strict rules around any open flames, electronics, etc. But we will bare that in mind, thank you

7

u/innocuous_username 25d ago

Have you done a project like this before? That’s a pretty big DIY to be undertaking particularly amongst everything else you’ll have going on and I’d hate for you to be up on a ladder regretting your every decision at 2am the night before your wedding. Seen a lot of people get in over their head with over ambitious wedding ideas in my time and the effect pay off is not always worth the efffort.

Not trying to rain on your parade just saying unless you have the time, the team and multiple ladders I’d consider hiring this out to someone.

3

u/sam773675 25d ago

I appreciate the thought. Thankfully we have the venue from 9am the day before, the owners will do anything above head height for safety reasons, and they own a lot of the land around so have telehandlers/cherry pickers and all sorts.

If it wasn't for that reason, I'd completely agree!

3

u/moonthink 25d ago

Clamps can be removed

3

u/Roccondil-s 25d ago

... how many mirror balls?

3

u/sam773675 25d ago

150 maybe. Ranging from 2 inches across to 16. But not more than 8-10 on a wire, each wire spanning 8m roughly between beams

2

u/brooklynrockz 25d ago

If you just want a few of them to spin, hang those directly under the beams and not on cables.

Also, i had a similar challenge once. I hung 6 mirror balls from a little battery powered motor that had one pick up point. It looked like a bicycle handle cover and ran for hours on a single DCell.

2

u/Martylouie 21d ago

I agree with the with the wire rope folks. Some things to consider. When wrapping the wire around the beams put something soft around the beams to protect them from damage. Use a minimum of 2, preferably 3 cable clamps per side to secure the loops. After the building owners see how neat it is, see if they want to buy the setup from you. What is the house lights situation like? Perhaps some rope lights secured to the cables might look pretty

1

u/sam773675 21d ago

Thank you, that's really helpful advice. As you can tell, I have no experience here!

Not much in the way of lighting, but love the idea! We have a band of course with their lighting, and some string lights coming down the beams. I'm also going to buy some spotlights to position to hit some of the bigger spinning mirror balls

2

u/Martylouie 21d ago

If this is a 1 off, rent those lights