Conventional Fixtures SourceFour PAR Lens Storage Methods

We have a rack on the wall that holds all five types (ACL, VNSP, NSP, MFL, and WFL. Yes, we got some of the early ones with the ACL's). The rack is 3/4 ply back board, and there are six 6" dividers that come off of that, with a bottom board. There are also two inch (or so) wide strips of 3/4 ply or 1x2 that ensure that the lenses won't come out. Hard to describe. If I was back at college, I could get a picture of it, because it's a great system. And, we always put the thin foam sheets between the lenses.
 
How do you store Source Four Par lenses? This goes for in house usage as well as touring/taking on road.

Well, how many are we talking about here? And why do you need to tour with many?

We have ~100 of each type of lens. We store them in plastic bins with flapper lids. We have a random collection of either paper towels or the foam from the original packaging to use between lenses. Doesn't always happen though.

The lenses cost $4-6 (except the XWFL's), so for us the time you'd spend trying to be extra careful with them isn't warranted. We've probably killed 10-12 lenses in about seven years (and half of those were in one incident).

--Sean
 
Different spaces call for different lenses. Quite often, you don't know what you need until you get in the venue. If you are going to 30 different venues in three months, you really can't preplan each.
 
How do you store Source Four Par lenses? This goes for in house usage as well as touring/taking on road.

Most will have road cases with slots--and venues will often use road boxes or shelfs with the soft packing foam around them.. FWIW I did see one show use the Packing Boxes you buy at the Moving Supplies Stores that are designed with foam padded slots to hold Dinner Plates & China, used for S4 Par lenses.. Not sure how they fared on the road, but it was an interesting off the shelf idea and seemed pretty sturdy for general in-house use idea....

-w
 
The plastic Tupperware boxes are a good idea. Another not so smart way that I have seen lenses stored up as are in card board boxes about the size of the lenses. The lenses are just stacked on top of the next and that makes for a risky situation, if any sharp material is stuck in between 2 lenses, it will scratch them up both.
 
The plastic Tupperware boxes are a good idea. Another not so smart way that I have seen lenses stored up as are in card board boxes about the size of the lenses. The lenses are just stacked on top of the next and that makes for a risky situation, if any sharp material is stuck in between 2 lenses, it will scratch them up both.

Hmmm... Though remember that the lenses are MUCH more forgiving than say Leko lenses. These are floodlight lenses, not precision ground projection lenses. These are also probably the boxes in which the lenses were shipped.

Incidently, if you want to make cleaning them easy: Run them through the dishwasher. Works great. Don't, of course, do that with your leko lenses!!

--Sean
 
I figured that someone made raodcases for these, but I have never seen one, nor have I found one in my search. Anyone know of one?
 
I know a bunch of case manufacturers, but was not looking to reinvent the wheel. If there is such a thing, I would like to see it. If not, no problem. I am ordering a workstation style roadcase now, with 2 sets of drawers and could come up with a drawer for one.
 
Built a big 4' square 4' high cart for the lenses, they stack in divided bins as it were in using the 1/4" foam between each lens.

Individual lens kits have their original boxes or some supplemental ones - often all seriously reinforced by tape. So as to replace lens kits (still using the foam between lenses), Tupperwear and other plastic bin companies were looked into, nothing could be found to replace what at times turns to mush when wet in a correct size. Did have a promising version of a tin-plated pie/cake/cookie tin such as the McMaster Carr #5690T32 but I had to add butterfly latches to them in order to ensure they stayed locked. That got labor intensive. Finally ended up with the #6589A14 for a tour to house the spare lenses to the HPL lamped 12-Lite PAR 64 Mole Light audience blinder fixtures. Unique fixture, don’t think ETC has ever since given licence for someone else to use their lamp design in a fixture - this less a PAR 64 Audience blinder. In addition to Altman CDM outdoor par lenses, and literally hundreds of S-4 PAR lenses we now have this other size of lens to send out. Had to find a solution. The McMaster Carr case works for the audience blinders and could well for S-4 PAR’s but you would have to foam in the case for the size to go down some. Extra foam is not a bad thing however.

Optimum and dreamed of for the shop - as opposed to the 4' square very heavy rolling cart for shop as opposed to touring lens kits will have been a spring loaded restraunt bowl storage cart. The cart that vertically stores a stack of plates or bowls. Take one and another pops up. That would be cool if one could be found in the right size. Easily portable and to store. This was theorized to be the optimum solution. McMaster Carr don’t seem to sell it and never got beyond that.
 

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Just as I side note.... I saw on their website that Bardwell and McAlister has a 6 or 12 light fays using the HPL's. Infact, they just started making a space light using HPL lamps as well. Interesting.

On their website they also say that the Police tour is using their 12-light HPL fays.
 
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Just as I side note.... I saw on their website that Bardwell and McAlister has a 6 or 12 light fays using the HPL's. Infact, they just started making a space light using HPL lamps as well. Interesting.
On their website they also say that the Police tour is using their 12-light HPL fays.

Gee, that brand sounds familiar... and I'm darned glad I didn't have to build the fixtures as that was also considered. Could be done, was not cost effective given the amount of time I will have had between the origional concept, hemming and hawing and the final can you get it done in time at the last minute norm. This as with just buying the Mole Richardson 12-lite PAR 64 fixtures and or certain important parts for them which will also have been difficult to get in time.

Still the extra lenses for... some tour were that McMaster Carr part number.
 
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Here's the link for B&M.

http://www.bmlighting.com/

Just as Mole paints their lights mole red, B&M has their own shade of green.
 
Excuse me. Is it ARRI Blue as well?
 
of course, are they blue? So many years since I had to prep them... this much less service them which is a good thing. So we now have old school Strand texture and altman black or was that olive drab. :) yep, quite the industry.
 
I've seen both Altman hammertone brown and altman olive drab.

Oh can't forget Century Gray.

Even better was the metallic blue on my highschool's old trouperette followspot.
 
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Darn, you good, forget the brown in a rare find and me being color blind. I'll raise you with the concept of domestic classic PC fixtures, the aluminum castings on the front and rear, Who painted them black and who left them natural?

Century is also at times hammertone black. (By the way, Strand, Altman, Century, hammertone colors are normally the ones that have surface rust that develop under the paint - this except one above brand which one?) What color was Berkley short of me getting a ladder out and looking at the box of misc. antique Fresnels in storage until service call.

(Note for all those that have not seen this much in for instance the three colors to Altman I do believe in some way a memory has been sparked, that there by way of paint is a way to date antique lighting fixtures.)
 
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I wish I could keep my 6x9's the hammertone brown they already are (looks so classic), but the paint job is pretty beat up, and I don't think the powder coater could reproduce it. :-(
 

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