Can you post a photo of them?
I inherited a Bantam Superspot without
lens,
wire,
yoke or
gel frame bracket at one
point. Had to make both
lens clips and
gel frame bracket for it. That and a
yoke also had to be made to conform around the body. Takes a 4.5" PC
lens. Such lenses are standardized parts and if a plano
convex, making it into a
Fresnel is also very easy to do as a viable option which could be more useful for the
stage given they are PC. Did this with some old 400w Kliegl PC’s to some
effect at some
point. The
reflector is similar and for the most part most PC’s I have worked on from the
Altman 101 to some from Major for the most part take the same parts as a
Fresnel. You for instance will probably be able to use a
Fresnel’s
reflector and slide assembly in them because the
fixture about works the same.
In any case, the lenses be them 6" or 4.5" should be easy enough to come by from most theater supplies as it’s standard parts for old gear. If I remember right a 4.5x6.5
lens is what I ended up installing in my above spot. Probably a wider
beam angle lens than origionally was made for the
fixture but with this brand there was lots of options available from
slide projector to
Fresnel. Given it’s a 4.5"
lens, the
Altman 4.5x6.5
Leko lens should work fine. Otherwise I might go with something like a 6x9
lens if a 6" pc. In any case, the lenses are about the same and generally available
thru theater supply companies.
Otherwise I have some links to some
lens companies that should be able to help you out.
You will need to know this to match the
lens exactly otherwise:
Radius and
Focal Length: Lenses are about .52 times their
focal length by radius of curvature of the
lens. For
ellipsoidal lenses. In other words, figure out what the radius is and it’s .52 of that. I used to have a better formula where you just measured how high the
lens sat and punched it into the formula but I expect with the given info above, such a formula can be created.
The
yoke is easy enough to
bend out of some steel bar if the shape does not conform roughly to that of a similar shaped
instrument. The missing wiring is probably better off gone as something you no doubt will have needed to replace anyway. Have a look at the lamp
base to verify they are in good condition also.
Rust is a little more challenging requiring elbow grease and a
wire wheel or sanding than HT paint. Otherwise you could if in-accessible try some rust reformer. Given a bond to the rust, I don’t expect the temperature will
effect rust reformer paint much in making it peel as normal paint would to a non-rusted surface.
I think they are a great thing, should give you hours of fun in making them work, what could be more fun for you? It’s not a moving light but should be fun all the same and if converted to
Fresnel, might be useful depending upon the
fixture design. I was never a fan of the grainy harsh beam provided by a PC unless it was an
element of the design. Depending upon the PC of course if it can be converted. Some of the longer
throw fixtures look more like a
carbon arc follow spot than a
Fresnel which I would assume to have too narrow a beam spread.
Moonshadow Never heard of them before, than again while Harmony and Minuet as names sound familiar, I can’t say I have ever seen anything by them either.
As for effort, I would not
throw them out. If you don’t plan to use them for
stage lights, you might
wire and
yoke them and use them for backstage work lights. Given a lack of
lens, the body acted as a good
baffle for the light and the beam was still adjustable for
beam angle. One place I worked did this with some success.