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Author
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Topic: Strange xenon lamp
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 03-01-2007 01:20 PM
The College has just rented some space in a unit on an industrial estate a few kilometres away at New Addington. (yes, this really has got something to do with xenon lamps) for courses in 'wet trades' (plastering, bricklaying, puumbing, that sort of thing). I went over there last week to set up some computers and an Internet connection and router in a small room off the main training area. We went back on Monday to find the place flooded, but that's another story.
It's a very odd place, with a thick concrete barrel-vaulted roof, it looks almost like a wartime bunker if it wasn't for large skylight windows in the roof which have been painted over. Over the top of this has been built a more modern roon, '70s maybe. The whole place seems to have been out of use for some time. The unit which we are now setting up has been refurbished, but through a door on the far side is another unit which is still in semi-derelict condition, with a huge pile of rubbish dumped in the middle of it. Somebody told me that there was some 'old film' there. The thought crossed my mind that I hoped it wasn't nitrate. I went and had a look, and there were no problem, it was all safety, a few odd bits of 35mm print, and a small reel of what looks like 16mm reversal camera original; I picked that up to see if there's anything interesting on it. I then noticed a few carbons sticking out of the pile, which are always useful, so I moved some other junk, to see if there were any more. No luck, but what I did find were two xenon lamps, just laying on the floor, without even the protective safety casings, which I found nearby. It's anybody's guess how many more there might be, or what else might be in that pile. Earlier in there day there had been a man working in this area, I think he was doing electrical work. He was wearing a head torch, as there was no light in there. He had gone off, so I couldn't warn him, nor whoever is about to clear all of this rubbish, ready for the refurbishment of this area. I 'phoned the College's health and safety officer, but could get no answer. I took these two lamps with me, and showed them to him later in the day when I managed to find him. He has spoken to the project manager, who has spoken to the landlord of the property, and hopefully suitable precautions will be taken when the area is cleared. I doubt that anybody working there would have known what these were if they found them. I found a couple of film lab invoices dated 1979, but I doubt if the place has been dis-used for that long. Another good one is that there is a goods lift; these units are on the upper level. We wanted to use this to take the computers up, but when we looked at it I wasn't too hopeful. We stood on the upstairs landing, and pressed the button; nothing happened. We tried to open the landing doors, it was an old-style lift where you open the doors manually. The door opened, and we looked into the empty shaft, with the top of the car visible down below. Another call to the health and safety officer. I'm not too impressed with this place, and I'm not a health and safety fanatic.
The smaller lamp has two rods sticking out sideways at the negative end, which I haven't seen before; does anybody know what they're for?
As can be seen, the lamp is of the type where one end is threaded; are they just for screwing the lamp in? My limited experience with xenons has been mainly with the older long type, as in the other one in the photo, and a long time ago with three electrode ones, and 300 Watt ones in a portable 16mm machine, UXL300D, which are threaded at both ends. I use projectors with the modern type of lamp, but I don't normally have to handle the lamps, which suits me just fine - they worry me. I don't remember seeing these rods on them though.
[ 03-01-2007, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: Stephen Furley ]
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Hugh McCullough
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 147
From: Old Coulsdon, Surrey, UK
Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 03-02-2007 10:44 AM
These lamps are, or were, also available without the two lugs.
I discovered this fact when I was called out to change a lamp in a very poor Peerless carbon arc Xenon conversion.
The old bulb came out without any trouble. This did not have any lugs on it, but the new lamp did, and because of this it would not go through the very small hole in the centre of the mirror.
This hole was just large enough to fit the metal end of the lamp through.
Only answer, in the time allowed, was to hacksaw off the two lugs, keeping the main body of the bulb in the protective cover whilst doing so.
Apparently you had to state when ordering these bulbs if you wanted lugs or not.
I managed to persuade the cinema owner to change the mirror for one with the standard hole, as I did not want to go through that experience again.
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