Lubricant for Followspot

lieperjp

Well-Known Member
What type of Lubricant do you recommend for the internal mechanics of a followspot. We have two Strong Trouperette III follow spots, and the chopper and the iris are squeaking. Badly. And the follow spots are only about three feet from the back row of seats. :rolleyes:

Also, any way to quiet the noise of the fan? Obviously it is not a good Idea to attempt to muffle it or cover it in any way. Like I said, the follow spot is only about three feet from the back row, so it is quite loud.

Edit: None of the three versions of the manual have a suggested lubricant. If I had to guess, we would have the Type 3 Trouperette III
 
One of the very few lubricants i suggest for lights is
A) Krytox, made by Dupont, sold at grainger and other stores online for around 60-70 bucks for a 2oz tube.
You use it to lubricate any focus mechanisms, and gears. It is safe on plastics, and does a great job when it involves metal working on metal, or plastic on metal. Also, a little goes a very long way. I just used some to fix 10 lights, and they have a good sized focus and zoom sled that had to be lubricated, and i cant even tell that i used any by the feel of the tube.
B) Graphite, can be found at any hardware store, usually in the lock section for a few bucks
You use this to lubricate your iris. Do not use any type of a grease based lubricant, because it will make the iris sticky and hard to open and close.

Use alchahol to degrease any surface that needs to be cleaned or degreased.
 
One of the very few lubricants i suggest for lights is
A) Krytox, made by Dupont, sold at grainger and other stores online for around 60-70 bucks for a 2oz tube.
You use it to lubricate any focus mechanisms, and gears. It is safe on plastics, and does a great job when it involves metal working on metal, or plastic on metal. Also, a little goes a very long way. I just used some to fix 10 lights, and they have a good sized focus and zoom sled that had to be lubricated, and i cant even tell that i used any by the feel of the tube.
B) Graphite, can be found at any hardware store, usually in the lock section for a few bucks
You use this to lubricate your iris. Do not use any type of a grease based lubricant, because it will make the iris sticky and hard to open and close.

Use alchahol to degrease any surface that needs to be cleaned or degreased.

Sounds like Graphite will be the best option, as the show opens six days, and 70 bucks is a lot of money... I guess I'll head to the hardware store after work...
 
See this post http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting/7737-end-year-maintenance.html#post91011 regarding the use of graphite.

Trouperette IIIs do seem to have unusually loud fans. (At least they did when I bought two new units in 1984.) IF you feel you are qualified, and with the permission of the "owner", a handy modification is to isolate the lamp power from the fan power. This allows one to put the lamp-only on a dimmer, either run through the lightboard or locally via a Variac. (I used to run a 1500W Altspot from a side perch position with a single ATD on the floor operated by my foot.) Turning the fan off during quiet moments will not cause any harm, other than operator inconvenience (heat) and possibly shortened color life. Ellipsoidals use the same lamps, and have no fans, in a smaller enclosure.
 
See this post http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting/7737-end-year-maintenance.html#post91011 regarding the use of graphite.

Trouperette IIIs do seem to have unusually loud fans. (At least they did when I bought two new units in 1984.) IF you feel you are qualified, and with the permission of the "owner", a handy modification is to isolate the lamp power from the fan power. This allows one to put the lamp-only on a dimmer, either run through the lightboard or locally via a Variac. (I used to run a 1500W Altspot from a side perch position with a single ATD on the floor operated by my foot.) Turning the fan off during quiet moments will not cause any harm, other than operator inconvenience (heat) and possibly shortened color life. Ellipsoidals use the same lamps, and have no fans, in a smaller enclosure.

I was actually thinking about doing that. I'd have to find some sort of dimmer, though. While I'm not sure that I'd be qualified, I know of someone who is.

From what it looks like, it's only the mechanism that opens/closes the chopper and iris that is squeaking (just a metal rod hooked up to the levers.) I don't think I'll use the graphite on the iris unless the squeaking gets really bad.

Sorry if I didn't use the proper terminology for "levers..."
 
Since the T-III does not have a dowser, an alternative to an external dimmer is placing BlackWrap or heavy aluminum foil baking sheet, or Coke can (thoroughly cleaned, and painted side away from lamp) in frame #1. Yes, one loses a color, but it's a much nicer mechanical fade. Use frame #1 rather than frame #6 to protect the colors that may be in the optical path.
 
you can try some other high temp product, i am thinking maybe some high temp wheel bearing grease, you need something that will not begin to ooze down, but say in its shape when exposed to heat. You dont need a lot, just enough to stop the squeek. If you were closer i'd give you a little krytox. What I have had some luck with is white lithium grease. It does not break down under heat, but it will sometimes become baked, lots of white lithium grease will begin to boil around 250 degrees, but there are high temp version availiabe such as this Power Tools & Metalworking > Lubricants > Penetrants-Lubricants > Lithium Grease,15 Oz,350 Temp Range : Grainger Industrial Supply.
 
Liquid graphite is the only way to go for this. You can find it in the lock section of the hardware store for about $3.00. It works great and the liquid dries quickly, leaving the graphite behind. Graphite is VERY heat resistant, don't gum, goo or drip and will solve the problem quickly.

We use it on our two Altman followspots on a regular basis.

Tim.
 
Liquid graphite is the only way to go for this. You can find it in the lock section of the hardware store for about $3.00. It works great and the liquid dries quickly, leaving the graphite behind. Graphite is VERY heat resistant, don't gum, goo or drip and will solve the problem quickly.

We use it on our two Altman followspots on a regular basis.

Tim.

Same with us. We keep a pen of it next to each one ours just in case something starts to happen during performances.
 

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