Home Made Tank Light - The Swan Blaster 260W Short Arc

[FRITZHID]

ok, well glass it is then? or are you going to up the cooling airflow? the IR from the bulb wouldn't have done that, would it??

 

[ma_sha1]

It's polycabonate (lexan). I need to drill some holes at the front edge for additional air flow.
I also need to look into a large custom borofloat glass window with AR coating. If anyone knows where to get it, let me know.

 

[jmpaul320]

after seeing that lens melted i need to clean out my diaper... this thing is nuts!:devil:

 

[Illum]

no kidding! oo:

 

[LightSward]

Nice beam shots!

For the lens melting, drill a big hole in the center and attach a rain vent onto the lens. LOL...just kidding, my 'Mini-LightSward with 1,200 watt HMI in a Cyclops housing, I had two large vents just behind the lens.

Here, before some modifications to the front lens cooling system, the 1,200 watts was IR cooking the black rubber sealer, replaced with shiny metal and air vents enlarged behind lens, which stays cool now.


Hopefully my soon to be re-lit, NightHawk with it's 'bubbling' adhesive taped plastic mirror reflector will make something resembling a beam.

Nice work.

 

[The_Driver]

That thing looks awesome :thumbsup:
Can't ait for more beamshots and lux measurements

 

[ma_sha1]

@lightSward,

Thanks! I like your DIY mirrors. FIY, the camera I used is not expensive DSLR, it's just a P&S, cost about $150.
FUji FinePix, F70 EXR. It has full manual control & 10x Optical zoom. One of the best kept secrets

Drilled a bunch of vents & did a bunch of search last night & spammed out seven quote requests to Borofloat glass manufactures.

 

[Echo63]

Wow, that is an incredible beam.

Very jealous of you light, I wish I had the skills, time and money to be able to build something like this safely.

 

[get-lit]

Finally, after nearly two years, the Swan Blaster came to life

Very nice. A classic short-FL reflector beam, with an intense centralized beam surrounded by a "mini" flood as seen in the trees and roof top, as a result of the reflector's mix of long and short source-to-reflection distances. Would be interesting to see the beam with the stock long-FL reflector as well.

 

[ma_sha1]

Very nice. A classic short-FL reflector beam, with an intense centralized beam surrounded by a "mini" flood as seen in the trees and roof top, as a result of the reflector's mix of long and short source-to-reflection distances. Would be interesting to see the beam with the stock long-FL reflector as well.

Thanks!

I had taken some beam shots when I had the stock reflector set-up like this re-coil style:

But the beam was super ugly, so I didn't keep any photos. The mirror coating was peeling-off & the beam spot had many radiation lines.
If I had a good stock reflector, it'd have been an easier build, could have finished it long time ago. I like the re-coil style in that it had zero spill. Also, I used the lamp's built-in elliptical reflector without peeling the bare lamp out.

 

[get-lit]

I just re-read and saw you went from 8" CA long-FL to 9.6" CA short-FL. The larger CA is going to give the edge. If the lamp has 1mm x 1mm luminous area with no emphasis in either dimension, the CP will be about the same with any reflector of the same CA, with the difference being in the beam pattern. You've really come up with a nicely optimized design.

By the way, positioning a lamp mounted with an elliptical reflector at the focal point of a parabolic reflector is not going to work. You'd have to position the focal point of the elliptical reflector at the focal point of the parabolic. For example, if the focal point of the elliptical is 4 inches from the lamp source, and the long-FL parabolic was 3", you'd have to position the lamp source 7" from the vertex of the parabolic. Same goes for when using an elliptical reflector with a lens. All that length is what makes elliptical designs comparatively on the large side.

 

[ma_sha1]

I did. For the recoil style set-up, I placed the Elliptical focal point at the focal point of parabola mirror.
Theses projector lamps have extremely short focal length, the focal point is about an inch or so out. The mirror has very long focal point, about 5-6" or so based on memory.

I was able to focus it ok, hot spot with lux of 16million cps, but so much lights are lost on the star radiation stripes seen around the hot spot, like 2/3 of the lights didn't get into the spot. That's when I decided to go with a top quality parabola reflector & also gain as big a size as the light could hold.

 

[get-lit]

With such a miss-match in focal lengths, what very little light that would actually be utilized would not be utilized all that well. Your decision turned out great.

 

[ma_sha1]

First quote came back on the front lens, crazy price for a piece of glass

"Borofloat glass,
AR coated. AR coating withstand high temperature400F

247mm diameter,
5mm thickness
AR coating@400-700nm


Qty: 1pcs
Unit price: USD 630/pcs
Shipping charge: USD50"

 

[TEEJ]

First quote came back on the front lens, crazy price for a piece of glass

"Borofloat glass,
AR coated. AR coating withstand high temperature400F

247mm diameter,
5mm thickness
AR coating@400-700nm


Qty: 1pcs
Unit price: USD 630/pcs
Shipping charge: USD50"

That's actually not that bad for custom glass.

I mean, its a lot of money, but, well, luckily you're a rich man.

:nana:

 

[ma_sha1]

That's actually not that bad for custom glass.

I mean, its a lot of money, but, well, luckily you're a rich man.

:nana:

Hahahah, very funny TJ, Don't make me "Tell on you" on the true value of the bags of lights you brought to the PF18 meet, she'll think she married a rich man who's hiding money from her :devil:

My 2nd quote just came in, it's even worse.

"The MOQ for your specification is 4pcs.

Unit price:350.00USD/PCS.
Delivery time:40-45days.
The freight charge by DHL:340.00USD."

 

[missionaryman]

I really hate the reluctance from manufacturers to go outside the square, if they bothered looking they'd probably find they had a scrap that may be close but not exactly what you wanted and could do it for $50 but instead they quote worst case scenario based on using an entire sheet and re-tooling from scratch.

My work do similar things like that when quoting custom work and blow out prices exorbitantly then one day the owner's mate needs something completely custom and we're all forced to find a solution for $50.00 which surely enough we do

Hahahah, very funny TJ, Don't make me "Tell on you" on the true value of the bags of lights you brought to the PF18 meet, she'll think she married a rich man who's hiding money from her :devil:

My 2nd quote just came in, it's even worse.

"The MOQ for your specification is 4pcs.

Unit price:350.00USD/PCS.
Delivery time:40-45days.
The freight charge by DHL:340.00USD."

 

[get-lit]

This cost makes no sense. Borofloat glass is the less expensive alternative to Pyrex, and Pyrex is damn cheap.

Now if you could get a quote for Gorilla or Dragon glass, you're my new best friend.

 

[ma_sha1]

Now if you could get a quote for Gorilla or Dragon glass, you're my new best friend.

You should have asked earlier, I used to work for Corning.

OK, where there is a will, there is a way! I figured out a way to solve this problem inexpensively

Step One:
Getting ready to retrieve the AR coated High Temp Glass from a UHP lamp. Note the face mask, safety first! UHP lamp is under 800 PSI pressure cold.

This is the largest UHP lamp available, the front glass is just over 3".

Step 2:
Put it in a bag & Hammer the reflector, then tear apart carefully with plier to retreve the front glass.

Step 3:
Drill a 3" hole in the Lexan Window, hard to see the AR glass placed over the hole, as it hardly reflect light.

Step 4:
Coming soon...

 

[FRITZHID]

VERY Innovative!!!!!!! way to use your noodle!