Portable screens are being ordered in bigger and bigger sizes these days. And we love building those big screens. Seeing a 100 foot wide StageScreen set up in the factory or at a job site is very cool. 
Big sizes could mean big headaches so any pointers we can offer to offset the headache of assembling and flying a big StageScreen would likely be good to know. So I thought I’d share a couple of StageScreen assembly tips with you.
The StageScreen 8” truss style product is made to be very strong in one direction—vertically—but due to its I-Beam construction, will be less so in the other direction. So when it is being lifted off the ground from fly points, the frame will arch until it is vertical.
There are a couple of ways to minimize the arching when raising a flown screen from the ground. First, add doubled up stiffener bars across the top to help add support to the joints, and to give an added safety factor when the screen is in position. This is especially necessary when your fly points are spaced 12’-18’ apart. We don’t recommend fly points be further than 18’ apart on the StageScreen. Another added helper Draper offers to assist in lifting the frames vertical is a push bar we call the StageHand (Part #382125). It is a telescoping pole that extends out to 10’ long, so while the lift points are pulling the screen upright you can have others supporting and lifting with the StageHand in between the fly points. Click here to check it out.
Frame pieces should be wrench tightened if possible, but stiffener bars should only be hand tightened. You will find once the screen is vertical some frame pieces may bow forward or backward. You can push on the joint in the opposite direction of the bow and hand tighten the stiffener bars at the same time to take out the bow.
Finally, consider building the frame in the vertical position. If your lift points drop all the way to the floor, you can attach the upper horizontal frame at shoulder height, and attach the fabric along the top of the frame. Then you raise the screen a bit at a time, building the sides and hooking the fabric as you lift it into the air. The trick here is to keep your fabric protected from being stepped on and getting dirty but if you can control that, it assembles faster and will eliminate the arch in lifting. It’s a real knee-saver, too!
For more tips or technical questions about Draper’s StageScreen, contact your Draper representative.
For more information on the StageScreen, click here.
