DIY Gobos in LED mover

Hello!

The company I am working for recently purchased some iPro Slides with the goal of printing our own gobos. However, we wanted to put these gobos in a moving head LED fixture. We checked the melting points and theoretically, everything should have worked fine.

Unfortunately, despite this, our gobos melted in the unit (luckily no damage was done). I am looking for advice on how to ensure this doesn't happen. After all, they are designed for conventional fixtures, so LED with a cooling fan should have no issue.

I look forward to your responses! Thanks!

---Details---
Fixture: Martin Rush MH1 Profile
Printer: Canon PIXMA MG6821 Wireless Inkjet All-in-One Printer/Copier/Scanner, Black/Silver
 
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Buy pre-made gobos. They'll be glass or steel, made from the proper materials, and will be the right size. If you need custom, bite the bullet and get them made.
 
If you have multiple fixtures you want to put this in they charge a bit extra for the first one then the rest are sometimes cheaper.

Home gobo technology just isn't there yet. Unless you are a precision smith, or have access to a really decent CNCD machine.
 
I haven't worked with the MH1s direclty. However, my work with other LED movers is that there is a surprising amount of heat concentration at the gobo wheel. This is an extreme example, but I had trouble with burning up custom steel gobos in my Mac Quantums. At the MH1 power, you shouldn't have problems with steel, but I would be surprised if anything lower heat rated than that survived in there.
 
LEDs dont produce much heat, however the actual intensity of a 180watt LED is enough to melt a plastic gobo pretty fast.
A 180w LED will produce the same amount of heat as a 180w incandescent bulb - 180 watts, but hopefully the LED fixture will produce more lumens than a hypothetical 180w conventional bulb.

I've performed on stage 3 feet in front of Chauvet Legend SR230 0° beam fixtures, and while the LD was programming, had one pointed at my rear end for a while.. 230 watts of an apparently IR-heavy beam will burn your skin very quickly.
 
A 180w LED will produce the same amount of heat as a 180w incandescent bulb - 180 watts, but hopefully the LED fixture will produce more lumens than a hypothetical 180w conventional bulb.

I've performed on stage 3 feet in front of Chauvet Legend SR230 0° beam fixtures, and while the LD was programming, had one pointed at my rear end for a while.. 230 watts of an apparently IR-heavy beam will burn your skin very quickly.
Thats what I was trying to get at.
 
I don't have much to contribute here but I would imagine if the gobo you printed has a lot of black ink in it, it would absorb more heat and melt prematurely in the unit. Is there any way the pattern can be altered to use less ink if it does in fact use a lot of ink?
 
How Detailed are the gobos you want to make? Are they black and white or colored? I have had some luck with making custom gobos with glass cut from a local shop and heat resistant black grill paint in source 4s before. But these were for a complex shutter cut onto a scenic piece.
 
My experience has told me that consumer and pro grade printers and transparencies never measure up. Gobosource.com prints gobos onto HD films which I've found to be excellent, I'd try that. THere is no slver bullet for getting around buying a gobo unless you use a video projector.
 
I have printed them in a pinch, but overall I would say if you can, get them made. You will be very happy with the result.


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The Apollo PrintScenic® plastic and glass gobos work well for one-offs and short productions, assuming your LED fixture has a heat management system-



PrintScenic® gobos have been tested and are approved for use with the following fixtures;


ManufacturerFixture
American DJ
 

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