Reflector Removal!!!

[ship]

Just hammer it already. Even following ETC’s concept for removal it’s like 50/50 you can get it out at best and only if really careful short of cracking it at best. Can about count on one hand how many successful reflector removals I have been involved in and I am the one that gets called in for all of them. Something always chips or cracks. Even added handles to the clips so as to make into tools for removal verses unwieldy extra parts you just somehow have hanging about.

Like the idea of drill/rivet out but it gets problematic in drilling on center a pound rivet. Short of doing this you now have a rivet hole that’s in drilling softer to drill thru the cast aluminum than the pound rivet material and the pound rivet isn’t solid to the frame so you have a rivet hole that might become loose with time and use. If you can center punch and drill thru that pound rivet or even dremmel away the flair of it properly so as to remove it completely that might work. Might even try that concept of dremmeling away the top or bottom of the pound rivet but much easier to just break the reflector and or attempt to follow the instructions to remove the thing. A part of the concept in drilling might also be drilling thru and nicking the reflector and it than cracking also as a chance.

Hmm, removing a perfectly good reflector from the fixture... my spare retainers have handles and I run at about 50/50 with doing that. Grinding away or drilling out the pound rivets, good concept could work. Perhaps grind away the head of the rivet, than alignment punch out what’s left of the shaft of the pound rivet into the fixture and that could remove those retainers also easier in thus getting out the lens. No faith in being able to drill out a pound rivet with that drill bit staying on the center of the rivet thus not damaging and ovaling out the casting’s hole for the rivet. Hammer, most easy. Good tip on the bag.

[Pie4Weebl]

Originally Posted by ship

Like the idea of drill/rivet out but it gets problematic in drilling on center a pound rivet. Short of doing this you now have a rivet hole that’s in drilling softer to drill thru the cast aluminum than the pound rivet material and the pound rivet isn’t solid to the frame so you have a rivet hole that might become loose with time and use. If you can center punch and drill thru that pound rivet or even dremmel away the flair of it properly so as to remove it completely that might work. Might even try that concept of dremmeling away the top or bottom of the pound rivet but much easier to just break the reflector and or attempt to follow the instructions to remove the thing. A part of the concept in drilling might also be drilling thru and nicking the reflector and it than cracking also as a chance.

If you drill it properly the whole old rivet falls out, so it is easy to cleanly replace. Also dremelling is not an option as two of the rivets are set into the fixture. I replaced about 6 and none of them were damaged when removed with that method. You just need to use a good bit to make it go quickly.

[ship]

Done a number of screw and or rivet drill outs over the years... very difficult to be on cener without touching the side walls of what material surrounds what's drilled out. Kudos to you on that and I have not tried a dremmel/grind of the head than pound thru with pin punch but I was thinking the head of the pound rivet was more of an oval head and that once removed would allow for pounding into the fixture the shaft of the remaining rivet.

[cdub260]

Originally Posted by Pie4Weebl

Also dremelling is not an option as two of the rivets are set into the fixture.

Originally Posted by ship

I have not tried a dremmel/grind of the head than pound thru with pin punch

The rivets could be removed fairly easily using a Dremel Tool with a cutting wheel from the inside of the housing. It does, however, require some very delicate handling of the Dremel. While I've never done this with a Source 4, I've used this trick a number of times with other pieces of equipment I was building or modifying.

[derekleffew]

Here's the solution:
Buy only the Lightronics brand of imported ellipsoidal! It has ROLL PINS affixing the rear housing in place, permanently. Thus conveniently eliminating worries about the barrel rotating, or accessing the reflector for cleaning or replacement.

[Pie4Weebl]

Originally Posted by cdub260

The rivets could be removed fairly easily using a Dremel Tool with a cutting wheel from the inside of the housing. It does, however, require some very delicate handling of the Dremel. While I've never done this with a Source 4, I've used this trick a number of times with other pieces of equipment I was building or modifying.

Ah! I did not think of taking a demel from the inside. I always went outside in due to the screw gun being too big to fit inside.

[gafftaper]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

Here's the solution:
Buy only the Lightronics brand of imported ellipsoidal! It has ROLL PINS affixing the rear housing in place, permanently. Thus conveniently eliminating worries about the barrel rotating, or accessing the reflector for cleaning or replacement.

Hey ST,
Can we "the users" sue Lightronics for doing such a bad job ripping off your product?

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by gafftaper

Hey ST,
Can we, "the users," sue Lightronics for doing such a bad job ripping off your product?

Don't you think you'd have to purchase one in order to show "damages" and thus prove "standing"? Regrettably, it's not a horrible fixture, but fails in most aspects when compared to the original.

[remdim]

Where did you buy replacement reflectors from?

[gafftaper]

You should be able to order a replacement reflector from your local theater dealer or any of the major national dealers.