Every light you own is a weight hanging over somebody's head — which is why rigging is the one part of production where "she'll be right" is never the answer. The gear that does it properly is more affordable than most people expect. Here is the sensible path from a couple of lights on a stick to a flown rig.
Level one: crank stands
For mobile rigs and rooms with no roof points, wind-up stands are the workhorse. The Chauvet TRUSST 3m crank stand lifts a bar of fixtures to trim height one turn at a time — no ladder-balancing a loaded T-bar — and the 6m version gets a truss span to proper festival height. Two crank stands plus a truss span between them is the classic "goalpost" that covers school balls, band gigs and corporate stages alike.
Level two: box truss
Truss is a building set: straight sticks plus corners equals almost any shape. The Chauvet TRUSST 290mm quad system comes in lengths from 0.25m to 3m with matching corners and base plates, so a pair of vertical towers with a header, a lighting goalpost, or a ground-supported square all bolt together from the same inventory. It is the truss we sell most for schools and venues; when spans get longer and loads get heavier, we step you up to Eurotruss heavy-duty sections.
Level three: motors
When the venue has certified roof points and the rig needs to fly, an electric chain hoist does the lifting. The CM Lodestar — here in its D8+ configuration — has been the entertainment industry's standard motor for decades, available from 500kg to 2000kg capacities. One thing we say to every buyer: hoists, points and the maths between them are professional territory. We will happily supply the motors, and just as happily point you to a qualified rigger to design and sign off what they hang from.
The small hardware that carries everything
Fixtures meet truss through clamps, and every clamp deserves a backup. The Chauvet CLP-10 suits most fixtures on 50mm tube, and a rated safety cable on every single hung fixture is not optional — it is the cheapest insurance in the industry. Buy one per fixture, plus spares, and replace any safety that has ever caught a fall.
Three rules we never bend
Know the rated load of every component in the chain and stay comfortably inside the lowest one. Secondary-secure everything that hangs. And when a rig goes above head height over people — get qualified eyes on it. Tell us what you are trying to put in the air and over whom, and we will spec the hardware honestly, including the moment where the answer is "call a rigger".
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Product imagery courtesy of our partners at MDR Lighting, New Zealand distributor for Chauvet and ChamSys.