Conventional Fixtures - Tell Altman 360Qs apart from barrel assembly

[EWLights]

Hey all,

I have come here a few times to answer questions, but this is my first post. I have been put in charge of a small space at school with a inventory of older Altman 360Qs. People who have no idea about lighting use the space all the time and it seems all the barrels have been swapped between instruments with no regard to what is correct. Is there an easy way to tell 360Q barrels apart.

Thanks

[Les]

If you are talking about the actual barrel, you can easily tell by the length.
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Credit to BillESC:
Here are the minimum lengths of the Altman fixtures with lens completely retracted.
6 X 9 - 16 1/2"
6 X 12 - 20 1/8"
6 X 16 - 21"
6 X 22 - 29"
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However, it is more difficult to tell the difference between lens tubes, which is what I think you're trying to do.

Is that what you're trying to do? (The lens tube is the part that holds the gel frame).

An easy way I've found to do this is to remove every tube from every light. Then grab a 360Q (let's say a 6x9), hang it from a pipe or put it on a base, bring it up to a moderate intensity, and slide each tube in and put aside the ones that give a good focus. You then know that those are 6x9 tubes. Then take a 6x12 instrument and repeat the process. This will be more of a process of elimination, and hopefully nobody has mixed lenses within a single tube.

Another (and more tedious) way to tell them apart is to pull the front lens out and measure it.

A 6x9 lens will be about 1 1/4" thick and a 6x12 lens will be about 7/8" thick. To accurately measure a lens, set it belly-side down on a table. Then just measure from the table to the flat side of the lens.
Unfortunately I don't have any 6x16 or 6x22 lenses to measure, but I believe the 6x22 uses a single lens (should be the same lens as a 6x12) so that should be easy. Any lenses left over *must* be a 6x16 (in a perfect world ).

Some Altman 360Q units I've seen have the designation written on the outside of the tube in permanent marker. If your instruments have this, you're in luck. If not, it wouldn't be a bad idea to do this when you find out what they are.

*This might be a good time to do a lens cleaning party. Those 360Q's aren't the brightest, but they will surprise you when they have good, clean lenses!

[gafftapegreenia]

With our current production of Midsummer underway, and the huge demand it has put on lighting, I have been resurrecting a fair number of 360Q's. Bill is so right, clean those lenses!!! It's amazing how much a simple lens wipe down can do. It isn't necessary to remove them from their tubes.

[Les]

Originally Posted by gafftapegreenia

It isn't necessary to remove them from their tubes.

That's a matter of discretion. Sometimes the inside faces of the lenses will be perfectly clean, but very rarely will that be the case with older instruments. Also, most lenses will look clean when not having light shined through. That's a trick, don't fall for it. Always judge the cleanliness of a lens while there is light passing through (check them from an angle, obviously ).

[waynehoskins]

Also, most of the 360Qs I've looked at have their sizes written on the side of the lens tube where you can read it when it's out of the fixture. Presuming the lenses themselves haven't been removed from the lens tubes and swapped around, that's a quick and easy way to check. "9" for 6x9, and so on.

I can't guarantee there will be a number on every one, but all that I remember seeing did have them, so you may have a decent chance.

[rochem]

Originally Posted by EWLights

Hey all,

I have come here a few times to answer questions, but this is my first post. I have been put in charge of a small space at school with a inventory of older Altman 360Qs. People who have no idea about lighting use the space all the time and it seems all the barrels have been swapped between instruments with no regard to what is correct. Is there an easy way to tell 360Q barrels apart.

Thanks

We had a large dance show in our space last week, and we ran out of Source Fours and ended up having to use about 60 360Qs over the stage that had been in storage for a year or two. It wasn't until the road crew was in the space and halfway through the focus when we found out that we had 6x9 barrels in 6x12 lens tubes, and so on and so forth. As the booms had already been placed and anchored, the only option was to haul 360Qs up to the guy in the genie and mix and match until we found the right fit. Multiply this by 60 units on all 8 electrics and you see why having the correct lens tubes and barrels is absolutely crucial to do now rather than waiting until they're hung and ready to be focused. Good for you for getting that annoying task done now rather than putting it off. Make sure you grab a paint pen and write the beam spread on the lens tube AND the barrel. It will save you lots of headaches later.

[Footer]

Keep in mind also... there is no benefit to swapping out lenses in 360 and 360q's with the exception of the 6x4.5. The lens swap thing usually happens when a large cleaning is done. From what I can tell, Altman does not write the degree on the unit when it leaves the factory.

I can usually tell by weight the few times I have had to do this. Its a feel thing that I have to get used to when we start, but it can be done, or at least get you close.

You will want to bench focus everything if its been in storage anyway, so that is where you can check if you got it right.