Colortran 8" fresnel latch

I have a new Colortran 8" fresnel fixture, but the latch that holds the lens door shut is broken, so the door/lens swings freely.

Not such a good idea.

I could take the latch mechanism apart and have someone weld it up and grind it down, but it seems easier to find another part. Apparently Colortran makes you buy the entire door / fresnel lens as an assembly, which isn't good from a customer service point of view.

Also, I have some of the clips that hold the lens in place if anyone needs them.

So I could fix the issue, and use the fixture, or just sell it to someone as is.

Photo?

I believe these are/were also sold under the Leviton and perhaps Lee brand.

I just sold the last of the ones I had under the "Lee Colortran" Name. That clip is just cast aluminum. Should be easy to reverse engineer and weld up a new one from mild steel.









PS: Typing stinks. Corrected typos.

Colortran as name still in business? Thought they went away a few many years ago. Warranty if new? Supplier you bought it from at least for the part? A question of part number for lens assembly verses specific part broken in no you don't have to buy the entire assembly.

Welding cast aluminum is never a good idea, and welding aluminum is more like glueing it - so if you grind it down, you just removed the glue short of edge grinding for concave recess seam to weld with limited strength. For such a small part - difficult and as above easier to have fabricated out of steel or aluminum from scratch if not direct replacement part available.

How/why did it break?

ship said:

Colortran as name still in business? Thought they went away a few many years ago.

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From https://www.controlbooth.com/wiki/?title=Category:Memory-Lighting-Control-Systems-History :

1996: NSI buys the assets of Colortran, forming NSI/Colortran
...
1999: Leviton buys NSI/Colortran

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ship said:

How/why did it break?

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It broke because of poor design. Cast aluminum too thin to take even a hint of abuse. Strand/Century had the same problem with the body latches uses on their die-cast Lekolites.

Latches often break in general, poor design wasn't the point - how as a program to prevent this happening more part of the problem solving. What or why was the cause of the break I would ask in figuring out how to prevent it in the future. Possibly just crappy design, but possibly how say a fixture was set down or banged around which is easy enough to protect against in the future.

Looks like you could fabricate one out of bar stock of your choice. (Brass, alum, steel)

ship said:

Latches often break in general, poor design wasn't the point - how as a program to prevent this happening more part of the problem solving. What or why was the cause of the break I would ask in figuring out how to prevent it in the future. Possibly just crappy design, but possibly how say a fixture was set down or banged around which is easy enough to protect against in the future.

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I'd say poor design contributed to its failure. I posted because I don't know where to get a replacement. I didn't own it when it broke so don't know how that happened.