Lee gel burn out

[DuckJordan]

So, we recently started seeing a ton of fast burnouts of medium saturated gel in our s4's (after placing the gel in the slot for roughly 4 seconds we see smoke + a small burn hole appearing. Has anyone else encountered this? Its in gel that isn't overly used either, and in multiple units. All are properly bench focused as well...

[gafftapegreenia]

What degree Source 4?

Is this a gel color # that you've used before in said degree of Source 4?

[zmb]

See the bottom of this document for how focus can effect gel life.

I'm leaning towards a defective batch with how soon it burns up however.

[Clarkwg3]

I agree with zmb. My S4-36 start burning through heavy saturation in 6 hours, about 3 shows worth, using 750w lamps @ full.

[Grog12]

A bad bench focus will do this nice and easy.

[DuckJordan]

Good focus benches by two people same results can't remember gel number it was a blue green and 19 degree unit 575w. Wash focus. Is be fine saying it was a bad batch but there is a year difference in age of gel. Same can be said for the red we used. And it started smoking 4 seconds in the slot, with heat sheild.

[Woodj32177]

I have a vague recollection of a s4 doing this when it was in soft focus.
It was a 36 or 26 and when it was "barrel in" soft it would burn gel almost instantly. I believe I was told that it is normal for that lens..
But this was a long time ago, so my memory may be incorrect

[willbb123]

Silly question, but I've done it by mistake. Was the heat shield on the right side of the gel?

[DuckJordan]

Yes I double checked to make sure

[millamber]

How old are the Source fours? Early on, there was a problem with them burning through gel this way; it even sparked the City Theatrical Color Extendersto place the gel farther away from the focal plane. The newer optics fixed this problem though.

[JD]

Put a piece of paper in the frame. Bring the light on at a low level and observe where the hot (bright) spots are. Sometimes you will find it very asymmetrical which is a good indicator that there is a bench focus (lamp/reflector alignment) problem.

And, take the paper out before you bring the light all the way up!

[DuckJordan]

How old are the Source fours? Early on, there was a problem with them burning through gel this way; it even sparked the City Theatrical Color Extendersto place the gel farther away from the focal plane. The newer optics fixed this problem though.

Fixtures range from 2 years old, to 6 months old. I've come to believe its the plastic media they use for holding the color.

Put a piece of paper in the frame. Bring the light on at a low level and observe where the hot (bright) spots are. Sometimes you will find it very asymmetrical which is a good indicator that there is a bench focus (lamp/reflector alignment) problem.

And, take the paper out before you bring the light all the way up!

Again the bench focuses where redone, by both me, our resident House LD/ME, our PA and several other technicians. The result was the same with multiple gel's and multiple fixtures. see the above about the Plastic media.