An 'old' mac500

[Wol]

I was recently working on a production where we had hired two Mac500s, one of which we found had the wrong lens in.

 

So we tried replacing it, only to find that although it had the usual removable unscrewable lens on the front, that the second lens (mounted on the focus unit), was a tad more secure than the other mac500 we had! According to the manuals, you just twist the lens, and it will come out, but this mac seemed to have screws to hold the lens in.

 

I also noticed that the gobo wheel was one solid disk with the gobos cut out, compared to the other mac we had which has a metal disc with holes in for the gobos, and then the individual gobos are connected onto that disc.

 

Is this just an old mac that we've stumbled across? Theres no mention of it on the mac500 manual, so was wondering if anyone else had seen a similar type of 'old' mac... and if theres any way to change the lenses in them easily!

 

Thanks in advance!

[johnhogg]

It's not a dodgy chinese copy is it? Do the gobos in each mac match or are they totally different, seems strange that lens should be attached differently.

[johnhuson]

Is this just an old mac that we've stumbled across?

 

Yes, the early versions (for several years in fact) had non-interchangeable fixed gobos (although you can swap the whole wheel for different gobos), and also didn't have the bayonet mount back lens as this was also a later addition.

[Wol]

It's not a dodgy chinese copy is it? Do the gobos in each mac match or are they totally different, seems strange that lens should be attached differently.

 

Yea, all the gobos and colours match. Its definately a mac.

 

 

Yes, the early versions (for several years in fact) had non-interchangeable fixed gobos (although you can swap the whole wheel for different gobos), and also didn't have the bayonet mount back lens as this was also a later addition.

 

Makes sense that it seems to be a earlier revision. As far as I remember the colour wheel was different too, but cant quite remember the difference!

[live]

Easy way to tell without taking apart is the iris won't shut all the way down (leaves a tiny dot). Nearly all mk1's were on Martin Protocol (before dmx512 became "industry standard") for use with the 3032 pc system I've still got 6 mk1's and 2 3032's as well as 2 mac 1200's!!

If anyone is interested in the history and evolution of the moving head I'll take some photo's of my 1200's and show you all Martin's first attempt (basically a 1220 scanner)

[son of lx dad]

As has been correctly mentioned you simply have one Mk1 Mac500 and one Mk2 Mac500. The differences are as you describe. Many hire companies have combinations of stock still in full service.

 

In terms of your 'wrong lens' comment, do you mean you had two different beam angles? It may interest members to know that for a time Martin actually released a third lens for the 500. A 30 degree lens was available, it used the same second lens as the 23.5 but had a different nose lens.

[Wingwalker]

Off on a slight tangent here, but did you mention this to the hire company you got them from at the time of discovering the problem, or did you wait until you returned the units? What was their response?

[Wol]

In terms of your 'wrong lens' comment, do you mean you had two different beam angles? It may interest members to know that for a time Martin actually released a third lens for the 500. A 30 degree lens was available, it used the same second lens as the 23.5 but had a different nose lens.

 

Yea. One was on the usual 17degree, and the other one was on the 23.5 degree one. We wanted them both 17.

 

 

Off on a slight tangent here, but did you mention this to the hire company you got them from at the time of discovering the problem, or did you wait until you returned the units? What was their response?

 

We mentioned it to them, and they came and gave us the 17 degree lenses, but the first time they only brought the lens which fits on the front of the fixture, and the second time they brought the inner lenses from another one of their Mk2s, so we weren't able to swap them in.

[liamjf]

In terms of your 'wrong lens' comment, do you mean you had two different beam angles? It may interest members to know that for a time Martin actually released a third lens for the 500. A 30 degree lens was available, it used the same second lens as the 23.5 but had a different nose lens.

 

Yea. One was on the usual 17degree, and the other one was on the 23.5 degree one. We wanted them both 17.

 

 

Off on a slight tangent here, but did you mention this to the hire company you got them from at the time of discovering the problem, or did you wait until you returned the units? What was their response?

 

We mentioned it to them, and they came and gave us the 17 degree lenses, but the first time they only brought the lens which fits on the front of the fixture, and the second time they brought the inner lenses from another one of their Mk2s, so we weren't able to swap them in.

Martin do an old style to bayonet conversion kit (around £100 or so IIRC) but it is a PITA to fit! You might as well do this if your Mk1 MAC lens falls out or is damaged somehow!

Liam.