Customizable Gobo

[FrenchGuy]

Hi,

I am a local high school student responsible of Theatre Technologies. It is my final year this year and at my school we have this thing called Promposal where you have to propose a girl to Prom and the most creative/fancy proposal wins their tickets for prom. At my school, we own two Chauvet Q-Spot 360 LED. I am looking at buying custom gobos that would fit in these fixtures and that you say, ''Prom?''. I also don't quite know the size of the gobo I need to purchase, Is there a way to make them ourselves?

As a student, my budget is quite limited, so I am looking at the cheaper option.

Thanks for helping me out on this,

Frederic Giguere
Gr 12 Student
Technical Head
[email protected]

 

[josh88]

If they are LED you could just print or make a copy on acetate (an overhead transparency, clear plastic) and just cut it out. Shouldn't cost much. Or you could get them custom printed but it would be a longer wait and more money.


Via Tapatalk

 

[len]

I would advise against modifying school property (I assume) with homemade gobos. If you break them, you should pay for the repairs. Most moving lights have gobos that are very small, about the size of a quarter, but they have very tight tolerances, so getting it homemade and perfect to fit in the gobo wheel would be a challenge. Order a professional one should be about $90 for the first, $40 for the second, and all you need to do is send the artwork in and say what fixture you'll install them in. The gobo mfg. will know what size to make.

Why not make a video on your computer? You won't get it to move like a moving light, but it would be more cost effective and less risky.

 

[techieman33]

Here is the gobo sizing: Gobo Size(rotating): 25.8 mm (outside), 20.45 mm (image), 1.35 mm (max. thickness) printing a transparancy should be fine for the short time you'll be using it. Or you could have apollo make a custom print scenic gobo.

 

[GoboMan]

Is it imperative that you use the moving lights? I'm not sure what conventional lights you have at your school but if you have the standard Source Four available and are skilled with an Exacto knife, you can make a gobo with a foil pie or pizza tin that you can get at your local grocery store for no more than $3. Since it was made for the oven, it will easily take the heat of the lamp in the Source Four. This might be a more feasible and cost-effective solution for you, and would save the risk of messing with the Q-Spot.

 

[Les]

Back in my day, we had to use overhead projectors to ask girls to prom.

 

[Kelite]

That particular LED fixture produces enough heat from the light engine that plastic gobos will likely 'brown out' rather quickly. I too would suggest using a profile and either making a gobo using the pie-tin method or shelling out a few bucks for a custom metal gobo.

Great idea though!

 

[WVTheatre]

In our theatre, one of our techs wants to ask his girlfriend to Prom this Friday in a creative way.
She's going to college next year for theatrical lighting so we thought we would get a gobo that said "PROM?", put pink or something on our cyc and shine a spotlight on him.

We are a little short on notice to order a custom gobo as this was a last minute change of plans.
How would we go about cutting out a gobo from sheet metal for a standard 750 watt source four?


Please let us know.

Thank you,
WVTheatre

 

[josh88]

get an aluminum pie tin, someone with steady hands, an exacto knife and carefully cut away

 

[WVTheatre]

I am looking into making something similar, but this would be for a standard 750 watt source four.
I know to project properly, a gobo must be inserted upside down. How would I go about cutting this out of sheetmetal?
Do I need to cut it backwards or anything? I've only ever worked with shape gobos that are symmetrical.

This is for one of our tech's girlfriends who is going to college for theatrical lighting.
We are looking to do this on Friday (Valentine's Day).

Thank you,
WVTheatre

 

[WVTheatre]

get an aluminum pie tin, someone with steady hands, an exacto knife and carefully cut away

Should I cut it so that I can read it? I know for it to display rightside up I need to insert it upside down.

 

[josh88]

a pie tin is cheap and plenty of material to try a few different times. Just make one that fits your gobo holder, you can rotate it in the holder without any issues. If you try the first one and its too big or too small try a different degree barrel in your fixture.

 

[techieman33]

You can cut it out so it reads like normal, then just put in in upside down and backwards. You can then rotate the barrel to get it just right.