Technical Design Solutions for Theatre

Andrew Lanzarotta

A Tensioning Sheave for a Deck Winch System

While working in the machine and automation shop at Hudson Scenic Studios I was charged with the task of building a tensioning sheave for a winch-driven wagon system. The main concerns in a deck winch system are transmitting the movement of the drum to the wagon and reducing noise created by the cable slapping in the knife track. A tensioning sheave addresses these concerns by preventing cable slippage and keeping the cable properly reeved through the system components, i.e.. the winch drum or other sheaves.

This tensioning sheave is easily built and installed, and its design affords the user simple maintenance of the system. Though the details and material choices described here ...