Conventional Fixtures Cleaning cyc frames

[jporter]

Hi,
So I'm having this problem with gel melting onto my cyc light frames (Altman 750w fixtures, one piece folded frame as opposed to two piece sandwich style). It will melt onto the sides, and then the gel rips or splits along the inside edge, rendering it effectively useless although not actually burned out. The problem compounds itself too, because new gels are far more likely to melt onto the already melted gel on the frames. Suggestions for that are welcome, although I have a few ideas already, but what I first need to know is the best way to clean the gel off. My inclination is just to scrape it off with a razor blade, but I'm a little concerned that there might be some kind of non-stick coating that I'd scrape off with it that would then make my problem even worse. The inside of my frames LOOK untreated, metal colored with spray paint around the edges, but a preliminary scrape test seems to be pulling something off.

Is there a better way to clean them? If I scrape the gel off, can I re-treat the frames with a high temp paint or gloss? Or will it not matter? Thanks!

-Jeff

 

[derekleffew]

... My inclination is just to scrape it off with a razor blade, ...
Is there a better way to clean them? If I scrape the gel off, can I re-treat the frames with a high temp paint or gloss? Or will it not matter?

Yep, that's what I used to do. I've never seen a colorframe with any sort of coating other than paint; I don't know what could be flaking off besides cooked color media. I wouldn't bother repainting/painting for the first time, the insides once I had the remains removed. Doubt it matters.

Here's a wacky thought: what size are these? Might "paper frames"* work? I know they don't provide any real support, but wouldn't get hot enough to cause the tearing.

Out of curiosity, what brand and color#? Have you tried others? I'm not sure which Altman unit to which you're referring, but I know the GroundCyc eats color like there's no tomorrow, especially when fitted with 1k lamps. We learned to not run them at full, and just dealt with changing colors every couple of days (I ended up with tons of 6.25" cuts of R74 that I'll never use). I wanted to try Lee HT gels in them, but never got around to it.

A similar discussion: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/lighting-electrics/30131-its-about-cyc-gels.html .

*City Theatrical doesn't appear to offer any cardboard cyclight frames, Mainframes ; I could have sworn they did.
.

 

[jstandfast]

Past a certain size, the cardboard frames (which I love for certain applications) just don't have the mechanical strength. There's a point where heat, gravity ( and if outdoors )humidity combine and you've got cardboard frames falling on performers; such has been my experience anyway.

 

[malsell]

I have to agree with what has already been stated, but I will add the following:

I know all of our gel frames are either just powder coated (painted) or plain metal. I know when powder coat gets hot, it re-melts and can become plasticy or rubbery at times and looks like something different than the paint that maybe didn't get as hot. If you want to maintain the painted look, my suggestion would be to strip the current paint off of the frame and get some engine block paint from your local automotive parts store. It should be more than hardy enough to handle the heat of any lamp you put to it.

A couple of tricks you might use if the gel is melting due to the heat of the gel frame and not so much the lamp punching right through it:

1: cut a piece of tin/aluminum foil the same as the gel frame, cutting out the hole for the gel of course, crinkle it and put it between the back of the frame and the lamp. it will keep some of the heat off of the gel.
2: Use Fiberlgass/Thermal wrap or tape to cover the back side of the gel frame. same as above but it will be a little more permanant.

Just a thought as I haven't tried this myself.

 

[jporter]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies!

The gel size is 8.75"x13", for the Ground Cyc unit, and I would tend to agree with later statements that a paper frame wouldn't support that size.

I've had it happen with R124, R125, R126, R74, L119, anything really, although to be fair a lot of those have been victims of the already melted gel on the frames. I'm not exactly sure at this point which were the first ones to melt, although I'm gonna assume it was the saturated blues. We're using 750w lamps, which helps us avoid burnouts in general.

The last post makes me wonder, the paint definitely wraps around to the inside edges of the frames, I wonder if that is getting hot and fusing with the gels at the edges, and maybe I should scrape all of the edges down to the metal. Otherwise I'll try covering the back of the frame with some kind of heat dissipating/blocking material. Do you think that black wrap or black tak would be effective?

 

[MarshallPope]

I've never had to deal with this issue, but just a thought - Would a masking tape (or something else, but you get the idea) frame applied to the edges of the gel keep it from melting to the frame? Similarly, maybe you could squeeze some sort of homemade paper frame into the metal frame with the gel.

 

[josh88]

I just flaked off a bunch of masking tape from our cyc frames. It had been on there awhile and was crispy and brittle. Pretty much just broke off without much effort and gel that was around that was still melted, after seeing that I'd bet the tape would just crunch up and not be much help


Via tapatalk

 

[techieman33]

The tape will just make it worse. The tape will get hot and gooey, and the gel will really get stuck to it. It takes a few heat cycles before the tape dries out and starts to get brittle.

 

[TDN]

I've drilled holes in my cyc light frames for brads to hold the gel in place and keep it from crinkleling up as much. If you are having gel melt, that may not help as much for keeping it cool, but they won't melt and get nasty like tape does.