SpotLight Question

mbandgeek said:
I am a high school student and let me make my intentions clear I am not going to be tearing apart a $5000 Followspot, i am just trying to find out what modifications other people have done, and if they have had sucess. And from there i will sugust some of these ideas to my superiors.

I may be a teenager, but i have a sense of responsibility, i hate being stereotyped based on the popular belief that teenagers are full of rebellion. My parents on the other hand taught me right from wrong at a very early age. I can't say that other teenagers, or the ones that you work with. I have earned the trust of many people and i have never let any of them down

I've just reread my post and nowhere in it did I say that you were a teenager full of rebellion or that you would let people down. I didn't once hint at irresponsibility. Your reply has me a bit baffled. If I upset you, please accept my apology as it wasn't my intent.

I am trying to point out to any high school students following this thread that playing with electricity is not a good idea if you aren't absolutely sure of what you are doing. Since I have only met a handful of people highly qualified to do so in my life and they all have had thousands of hours of training, coursework, collegiate degrees and practical life experience, I am advising caution... not stereotyping.

I also speak from experience. When I was 16 our school did not have a TD. they had a 70+ year old choir director who we all adored and who could put the music portion of a musical together with no issues, but at the same time didn't know a thing about the stage, construction or tech. Since I was the elected stage manager at that time, and it was understood that the SM would handle all issues on stage, I took it upon myself to tear down our old LUXTROL dimming system to replace an ailing carbon brush on one of the dimmers (very very very old dimming technology). I hadn't a clue what I was doing and was just "making it look like the one to its left". I got shocked badly. WHEN I WOKE UP... yes I was stupid and was working alone... I was laying in the middle of our stage. I don't remember how I got there. My right hand was burned, I had a terrible lump on the back of my head and every muscle in my torso ached. Luckily a good friend showed up afterwards and helped me. It was a terrible mistake that had a lot of bad reprecussions. I was almost killed. Our director, who we all loved and who we would all do anything for, was called on the carpet for what I did because I was unsupervised. Our musical was almost canceled. I did not intentionally set out to do this. All I wanted to do was say Mrs. B. I fixed the problem and watch her smile.

As I tell my drama kids... practice safe drama at all times on as well as off of the stage.
 
nez said:
wat you could also try doin is replacing the fans

Replacing the fans would be coupled with a risk of electric shock.

The original poster has indicated that they are looking for ideas to take to their superiors. My advice is that you get them to have a qualified service person look at them and see if the service person knows of anything that can be done. Such a person would be competent to fix things and would have the knowledge to negotiate all the issues around electric shock etc. It also means that if they break it, they will be responsible for its replacement.
 
you might look into replacing the old fans with newer, quieter vans... but make sure they move enough air- check the CFM's

as far as the iris goes, use a little graphite on it- the powder, not the graphite that comes supended in a liquid. but the powder should do the trick. a little goes along way, and your gonna want to take the iris out to do it. make sure you work it a couple times before putting it back in.
 
Ha! I forgot about the Graphite. It is amazing stuff. It'll fix the iris and any other moving, squeaking, sticking innards up pretty quickly. But I will caution you as well to not mess with the electrical stuff, have a Professional do that.
 
Two words – SERVICE DEPARTMENT

Vibrating ballast generally means that the transformer either has a loose case on it or has broken one or more of its fasteners. Probably due to get a once over by a qualified service house.
 
I've just reread my post and nowhere in it did I say that you were a teenager full of rebellion or that you would let people down. I didn't once hint at irresponsibility. Your reply has me a bit baffled. If I upset you, please accept my apology as it wasn't my intent.

I am the one that should be giving the apologies. I misread your post and i realized that it was a word of caution. I shouldn't have reacted so quickly. what i wrqte didn't even make sense. I am truly sorry for reacting how i did.
 
there are also high temp silicon lubricants out there too that you can use in stead of graphite. I personally prefer to use them, but sometimes they are a pain to track down... not really that expensive- just a pain to find
 
So a lot of people like graphite powder? Never heard of it, that should take care of the Iris problem.
 
mbandgeek said:
So a lot of people like graphite powder? Never heard of it, that should take care of the Iris problem.

You should be able to get graphite at a hardware store. Failing that you will be able to get it at a locksmith. Its primary use is lubricating locks.
 
Don't forget the Pinewood Derby Cards. When I was in cub scouts, the primary lubricant for the wheels on their nail-axles was the graphite. We put enough graphite on so that the wheels could spin freely for five "mississippi's" and then they were perfect. Ahh, the good old days...
 

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