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This week, wrapping up this (longer than I expected) series on the moon platform for Arabian Nights, we’ll walk through the construction of the moon platform we’ve been looking at, including details about the framing, the pneumatics, and the backup hand-brakes. More importantly, as promised, I’ll include some photos and some drawings.

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The last two weeks we’ve looked at the physics involved in moving, stopping, and holding in place a fairly large scenic platform. Last week, I mentioned in the comments that a good friend of mine, Rod, who works as a civilian engineer for the army, had some things to say about last week’s post (you can see his comment here). He raises important considerations that I thought were worth examining,…

(My apologies for the lateness of this post: blame it on snow, ice, a preview, and a long drive!)

Last week, we looked at the physics of moving and stopping a large rolling platform. This week, as promised, I thought we’d take a look at keeping that platform in place when actors are doing the sort of unexpected, dynamic motion you might expect of them on top of it.

To recap: We have a wagon that weighs approximately 900# (last week’s post indicated the wagon…

For an upcoming production of Mary Zimmerman’s Arabian Nights at Purdue, the designer and director have envisioned a large, open stage, veiled with sheer fabrics, through which a 12’ diameter round, raked platform representing the moon sails and glides. As I understand the concept, the majority of the stage action will take place on or around this moon, which will become a dais for a king, or a barge, or various other locations required by the play. In terms of technological…