Does Anyone know where I can find a Altman 1KL to practice on?

Kristin Dibble

New Member
I need to learn how the Altman 1 KL fixtures work, how to make shutter cuts repair and maintenance. I have spoken with the technicians at the Altman Company and they have disposed of all of those fixtures. I have looked around NYC to see if anyone has any with no luck. If any one can help me I'd appreciate it. I am located in NYC (Brooklyn) But I can commute to the surrounding areas for training. Also, I know these fixtures are horrible, so please no jokes or bad comments. E-mail is kristindiane1985@gmail-this the best place to reach me.
Thanks
Kristin
 
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I think most people have already used these for practiced. Target practice that is.

Sorry I know you said no jokes. I can't resist hating on the 1KL. Seriously I think all the 1KLs left in the wild have trickled down to the dusty back closets of community theatres and high schools.


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I think most people have already used these for practice. Target practice that is.

Sorry I know you said no jokes. I can't resist hating on the 1KL. Seriously I think all the 1KLs left in the wild have trickled down to the dusty back closets of community theatres and high schools.


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Exactly! It would be impossible to hone your own skills using a piece of equipment that doesn't work correctly and never has.
No jokes. No derogatory comments. Pure and simple. You can't polish your skills on something incapable of producing polished performance.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
 
For those playing along at home, you can search Altman 1KL for other threads which have even more bad things to say.
I do have to wonder why you have to do this?????:). Is it a trick question? Is this sort of like the old trick to play on newbies of having them go wash the gels? Is this an audition for some small and ill equipped theater that is looking to hire some tech help?
Perhaps @SteveB will pop in and he might know of someone in your area that has one.
 
I need to learn how the Altman 1 KL fixtures work, how to make shutter cuts repair and maintenance. I have spoken with the technicians at the Altman Company and they have disposed of all of those fixtures. I have looked around NYC to see if anyone has any with no luck. If any one can help me I'd appreciate it. I am located in NYC (Brooklyn) But I can commute to the surrounding areas for training. Also, I know these fixtures are horrible, so please no jokes or bad comments. E-mail is kristindiane1985@gmail-this the best place to reach me.
Thanks
Kristin

Hi Kristin

Not much to these, it's just a much enlarged older style incandescent ellipsoidals unit. Altman made these in this size so as to deal with the heat issue when using a 1000 watt FEL lamp.

Do they have the access hatch on the side of the front ?, my 4.5" Altman zooms have that and it allows access to the lense(s) for cleaning. I seem to recall the 6" units had a removable shutter with a handle that was on a 30 degree angle or something, to allow easy removal and replacement. Never mind I just looked up the .pdf and see it had the latch on the front to access lenses. No shutters available anymore so don't lose them. The .pdf is on the Altman website, I found it via a Google.

So nothing really special, the sockets are readily available, OSRAM TP-220 is the new version.

It can use a GLC 575w lamp though you might need to adjust the alignment if swapping from an EHG or FLK

Same cleaning procedure as an ETC S4. We clean our 4.5" zooms exterior with a watered down simple green, lenses with de-natured alcohol.

Other then that, focusing is really the same as a S4, just no method to rotate the front lens assembly.

Altman's gobo holders were slightly smaller in width then a ETC standard S4. B size image though. City Theatrical sells the holders.

I recall that Kingsborough Community College theater department had a bunch of these in their small theater, way back in the early 90's though. Call Paul Winnick at the college (mention my name, he's a Brooklyn College grad.) he might be able to help.

Or pay a visit to me at Brooklyn and I'll show you the 4.5" units we use in the lighting lab.

I did get your resume as BTW, unfortunately we are mostly dark currently and have few events till October.

SB
 
Hey Steve, Sure, I know Paul Winnick's son David, The major problem is with the shutters and how to maneuver them to make shutter cuts correctly. I wanted to know how to clean them and maintenance them; so first the Audio guys doesn't have to, and I can get the Kay to understand and recognize, yes I can do the electricians job correctly. I do not want to pop in unannounced But the week of Labor Day I am pretty open. I understand that your not busy until Oct. Most CUNY/Local 1 houses aren't, so that's fine. It gives me time to look over your spaces paper work. It is excellent on how you were very precise on everything. Let me know when a date is good for you. Tony Giovannetti is also trying to help me as well.
 
John D, yes we all want to take baseball bats to them, it would help my frustration, but also aim/ hand eye coordination better as well. I wanted to take the shutters out and make ninja stars out of them, with a batman symbol (artistic purposes). However, I don't think He would even use them. These fixtures were purchased about 6 months before ETC placed their source four on the market. By the time they did this, the venue had already purchased the Altmans. I don't think they came to the conclusion that patience is a virtue. Still I would like to learn this fixtures, because it is another house that can "help me" get into the union. Actually the audio engineer at the venue is most helpful there , with the union questions I have All that he knows.
 
If you can fly out to the far West of Chicago area, and can do your own hotel, I have two 1KAL Leko's (a 6-30 and zoom) in the museum you can play with as much as you want. (PM me if wanted.) I never used them but think them much more highly of than the Colortran Mini-Ellipse I was stuck with in my early days.

Wish back in the days I got out of college or while still was in college, designing shows off site that there was the internet. In part this is why I still check into the forum. Should not be jokes or references to what crap this tech person is about to experience. Yes, less efficient - but who has ever had a "My Kindom for another Leko" experience while designing a show? At that point you would take any Leko of any era. You prioritize the efficiency and beamspread, than make do with what you have available.

For the most part I can speak of parts bought to restore and posted before about them, but never used them.
 
I'm certainly not on the market for more but thanks. Backlogue of lights to work on and other projects including a castle loft bed I have been working on all summer for the most part. We have both been there in design than "My kindom for another Leko!" comment.

On re-surfacing shutters, I posted about it before, silicone abrasive right angle grinder wheels, than PEFE based dry lube. About an hour per set in time. Don't forget the leading edge of the shutter. Often the leading edge of the shutter will get warped and or shutters will become too bad to really repair... details but sometimes if just belt sanding them down a little shorter will help if only a little material has been removed - or in general if bad but some amount of usefulness can still be found. Belt sand that leading edge often a good cure for say the first 1/8" bad.
 

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