The Turntable

We have had the turntable at Fellowship Church for a couple of years now, but I wanted to share on the how and why. We wanted to find a quick and tidy way to organize and manage the clutter of instruments and cabling used during the music portion of our services. And tearing down the band gear and setting up a new set during the transition between the music and the message would be impossible.

So we came up with the concept of a rotating stage. However, traditional rotating stages are designed and built into the facility at the time the building is constructed, and are very expensive. We approached a long-time ministry partner Xtreme Structures, located in nearby Sulphur Springs, Texas.

“It is based on an aluminum beam substructure that rolls on casters that are mounted to the floor,” describes Matt Panther, vice president responsible for production at Xtreme Structures. “The aluminum beams are covered with deck panels, making up the floor of the turntable on which the set pieces and band equipment are placed. It is 30 feet in diameter, and 20 inches tall. We used two friction drive motors which allow for variable rotation speeds, ranging from hardly moving to about two RPM. The system can handle a load of 12,000 pounds. Cabling for the band and other equipment are run through the center of the platform, so a limit switch is installed to prevent the stage from rotating more than 180 degrees.”

Installation at the church by Xtreme Structures took just one day. And if we ever needed to, we could remove it in as little as three to four hours, and re-install it ourselves.

Now we have the band set up on the turntable with a two-sided backdrop across the back side of the turntable. Right before the message, we spin the turntable to present a clean platform for our pastor. This presents the reverse side of the backdrop to the audience, hiding the instruments.

The turn takes about 40 seconds to rotate a 180 degrees. We don’t want to crank it up to much and have things fall off the stage.