Support for lights

[Murdochcat]

I do voluntary work for a charity. They have some nissan huts dating back to WW2 and we want to improve the lighting in one of them.

We have the following constraints:

approx 7.5 meters long
Fixing to the roof not advised or permitted
Add four or five 5' LED lights in two rows from end to end (each weighs about 0.3 kg)
Very strong door frames (about 3.5 m high) at each end which can be used to fix to
Adding a "frame" mounted to the approx 1 m high walls possible to provide additional strength at the mid point possible


I'm thinking about having some form of "beam" - concerned that wood would be too heavy and this weight might itself allow the beam to curve, but would some form of steel rectangular box section do the job?

Based on using 60 mm x 30 mm x 3 mm x 7.5 m long (mounted portrait). Obviously other sizes are available.

Short of engaging a SE are there any online "tools" or knowledge in the collective that could assist me?

Many thanks

 

[denso13]

I'm thinking about having some form of "beam" - concerned that wood would be too heavy and this weight might itself allow the beam to curve, but would some form of steel rectangular box section do the job?

What about catenary wire? Timber or steel will ned to be fairly chunky for the length required.

 

[Murdochcat]

What about catenary wire? Timber or steel will ned to be fairly chunky for the length required.

Thought we’ about that but came to conclusion that it probably would not work well as it wouldn’t be feasible to fix the lights in a consistent manner

 

[pete01]

Stage lighting bar?

 

[stevie888]

So you want to span 7,5m with lights hung off this new structure you're adding. You'll need a beam unless you can resist the lateral pull that a catenary wire would generate.

I would suggest a lightweight truss arrangement wou.d suffice or better yet a simple bowstring structure. Take a pair of light box sections set a foot or so apart and braced together add a wire below framed down a foot or so and the latter will carry the tensile force generated while the box provides the compression resistance, some lateral stability and a suitable basis for mounting your lights.

Minimal interference with the original structure would be a bonus

 

[JohnD]

Fixing to the roof not advised or permitted

Says who?