my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Home-made Lamp Terminator - Problems!! (Page 1)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3

Author Topic: Home-made Lamp Terminator - Problems!! Cathal Griffin Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Galway, Ireland Registered: Feb 2009 posted 12-03-2009 11:32 AM                        Hi Guys, I've got a local engineering crew to build me a lamp terminator. It turned out looking perfect but will not actually break any lamps :-). I'm guessing that I need to get a different tip to the piece that puts pressure on the lamp but thought I'd put it up here before I go any further. Any ideas? Here's a pic so you get what I mean. At the moment, the threaded bar is wound down and puts a crushing force on the lamp. I've tried it with a 2k OSRAM lamp but it just seems to scuff the lamp. The lamp isn't moving around or anything, it just seems to hold under the pressure. Cheers, Cathal  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-03-2009 11:47 AM                        Damn, what we won't do to have fun! Awesome project, Cathal! How about changing the contact point with a sharp pointed impailer rather than the flat one. Same pressure, only concentrated at a smaller point might be more effective. Or, instead of screwing down the impaler, how about letting impaler shaft slide freely up and down. Spring load it so it stays up, then you can whack it down with a hammer. Hopefully you have enough room in the box for there to be enough space for the impaler to move up and down between the bulb and the top of the box.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 12-03-2009 12:19 PM                        Perfect! Louis  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 12-03-2009 12:25 PM                       Comment deleted (redundant with Frank's post).  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 12-03-2009 01:16 PM                     Very ingenious device, but why bother? I have had no problems with taping the bulb up in its box and throwing it against a wall.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 12-03-2009 01:18 PM                     But there are so many FUN ways to destroy a bulb!!! After all, nothing beats keeping a 6K handy while driving in traffic.  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-03-2009 01:19 PM                     The flat tip will be spreading whatever force the screw is putting on the lamp across a fairly large area. Change the flat tip to a pointed one (preferably hardened) and I'd reckon it would work OK.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 12-03-2009 01:23 PM                     Brad's right of course.. and another fun one involves the bulb, an open space and the firearm of your choice....  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 12-03-2009 01:31 PM                     oooooooooooooooooh, that one is a favorite. It comes with an added bonus, if you miss you still win!  |  IP: Logged Cathal Griffin Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Galway, Ireland Registered: Feb 2009 posted 12-03-2009 01:32 PM                        Cheers for the advice guys, back to the drawing board I guess. Thankfully, the tip just screws off so not that big a mod to sharpen it. I'll keep ye posted. Regarding the reasoning behind this, we've got some pretty tight health and safety rules at our cinema. I would never let my projectionists out screwing around with lamps... we've all seen the videos on youtube and I don't fancy trying to explain myself when something goes wrong. When this eventually works it'll all be contained nicely.  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-03-2009 04:21 PM                     Just build in some non-conductive mounts and run 80A through the bulb while in that box with no ventilation. I'm sure your lamp will explode in no time! --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Jake Spell Master Film Handler Posts: 294 From: Johns Island SC Registered: May 2009 posted 12-03-2009 06:24 PM                     This reminds me, I know of 2 old IMAX bulbs. Wonder what that would look like dropped off a roof? Or does anyone have a better idea for these monsters?  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-03-2009 06:42 PM                     Someeone should make those and sell them! BRAD.....  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-03-2009 07:03 PM                     How about dispensing with the threaded rod all together. Just get a rod that is only large enough to slip through the hole. Put a cross pin in it to keep it from coming out if you like. Sharpen the end of the rod to a point. Then put the lamp in the box, close it up and hit the rod with a hammer. Bang! Busted lamp! This is similar to how we used to break them at Cinemark. We'd put them in the cardboard box and poke a large Philips screwdriver through the cardboard until it contacted the glass. Then one sharp crack with a hammer busted the lamp and we simply tossed the whole box in the dumpster. BTW: I have shot xenon lamps with bullets. It's a pretty spectacular explosion. Pieces of glass and metal can fly several yards! An air rifle won't break a xenon, even from close up. There's just not enough mass in the projectile. It just goes, "Tink!" and bounces off. It barely leaves a mark. A .22 cal standard velocity will break a xenon lamp easily even from distances of over 75 yards. Never shot one at 100 yards. It's too hard to see the carnage. I've also tried it with a .223 cal. but it's no different than the .22 LR. One thing I haven't tried yet is a .54 cal. muzzle loader. That ought to be fun! But shooting flintlocks is just fun by itself. One of these days I'd like to get out the video camera and make a movie of a xenon lamp being shot by a bullet. Too bad I don't have a hi-speed camera.  |  IP: Logged Jim Bedford Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 597 From: Telluride, CO, USA (733 mi. WNW of Rockwall, TX but it seems much, much longer) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-03-2009 07:16 PM                        1. Put the bulb in the box; 2. Close and latch the box; 3. Do not tighten the pressure screw; 4. Throw out of a third floor window onto concrete (if this doesn't work, keep going up a floor each time and throw until it breaks or you can't find it.)  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.