The 1/2" Striplight Placemat

Here's an image of the 1/2" Striplight Placemat Stencil, the new Reference Manual in Plastic that's cutting down the time required to draft striplights onto a light plot. This delicate little puppy was unveiled at the USITT Convention in Kansas City.

What's that you say? Well, yes, it’s actually not that delicate. It can slam dance in a brief case with the best of them. Hmm? Well, true, it’s not really that small—actual size is just a smidgen smaller than a legal-sized piece of paper. And yes, you have a point; it’s not really a puppy, is it?

I guess you’re right. (*sigh*). It's a pig. But it's a functional pig.

The New 1/2" Striplight Placemat Stencil is divided into all of today’s major strip food groups; LED units, including Seledor, Color Kinetics, and Altman, not to mention tungsten-based units such as ETC Multi-Pars, R40 and Par 38s, MR-16s, T-3s, Par 56s, Iris and Far Cycs. And there’s information listing the actual size, weight, cut color, and circuitry combination for every single strip. The cutouts are all aligned on the patented Pro*Trak 50 system (Showing you the distance required between every strip).

Want to get small? Check out the scan of the New 1/4" Striplight Template. (The same amount of Havoc in Holes, but in half the size, Hector!)

Let’s get up close and personal to this bad boy: The printed portions of striplight on either side of each symbol are pre-measured distances to adjacent striplights from the symbol hole. So drafting two striplights becomes simple: Trace one striplight, slide the template sideways so that the traced symbol lines up under a printed portion, and trace the same symbol again. The two striplights are now accurately pre-spaced apart. Done is beautiful. Cue the trumpets, and squeeze the weasel.

But wait -- There's more. Lots more! More than any other striplight template more!

Across the top is a sectional view of each type of striplight, showing the true vertical distance between each strip to the C-Clamp on the batten.
On the left side of each cutout symbol, the printed numbers list the length and weight of each striplight.
The small triangles above and below each cutout symbol indicates the center of that striplight. And each one comes with a little hole, so you can mark that center point directly on the drafting.
The printing under each cutout symbol indicates the number of lamps, and every circuitry possibility, for that striplight.
On the right of each group is a small folded back Post-it (with a pair of scissors) indicating the cut color size of that type of strip.
The vertical slits on either side of each cutout symbol can be used to trace trunions (indicating that strip as a groundrow unit).
Horizontal and vertical arrows are included in the PAR 56 group. Those can be drawn to indicate the axes of the lamps, or the focus direction of the entire unit.
Three sizes of circuitry symbols are on the right hand side of the template (including horizontal rectangles and diamonds! Yowsah!)
Underneath the top pair of them is a handy set of small circles (to indicate twofering).
Below the third set of circuitry symbols is a scaled scenery bumper.
The 1/2” scale rulers that run along each side of the template are reversed one side to the other. (So you don't have to flip the template like a pancake to measure distances left and right from Centerline).

And this potent appliance of practical purpose is packaged into one precise piece of piggy plastic. Whew.

Yes, it's a pig. It can't do anything about that. But it does more than any other striplight template out there. It's a Reference Manual in Plastic.

Our dealers will be thrilled to provide you with as many of these templates as you can carry (forklift not included). All templates come without masks, capes, or tap shoes. (We considered selling them with plastic sporks, but packaging became a problem.) That said, if you want to feel like a hero, buy two of them, hold them out in each hand, and flap them like little wings!

If you have interest in purchasing templates in quantity, you can leave a note for Steve.