It still works!

[daifuse]

From time to time, references to old lighting gear (lanterns, desks, dimmers etc.) come up. Plus there is quite a bit of ancient stuff on e-bay. It got me to wondering how much of it is still proving reliable and in regular use. A recent post mentioned Mini 2's. Yes, I've got one kicking about somewhere and it still works, but I've not used it recently.

 

I'm regularly using an MX48, Betapack 1's, Patt.23's 123's, 264's T-spots and a 2K Sil follow spot mixed in with more modern stuff, my philsophy being 'if it still does the job, why get rid of it?'

 

What do other BR members have out there? ;)

 

Dave

[timtheenchanteruk]

we still have many 123s, 23s, and a few cantatas floating around here, we also have 3 Act 6 dimmers in drama. as well as an old strand desk in a cupboard, cant remember what it is, but it works.

 

my last place of work had a tempus desk and 2 mini2 racks in reguylar use, and a rig consisting entirely of 123s, 23s, 45s and a few of the old floods.

[Russ83]

This topic seems very similar to THIS recent one! ;)

[heinz57]

My college had some old 'bred bin' fresnels from like the 1400's (1980s realy) and they still work fine.

 

We also had a old Sirius 24 manual analouge desk. And that worked like a charm!

[Kevin Robertson]

I have a strand M24 in regular use in one of my venues. Works a dream... Mostly

 

Kev

[paulears]

My college had some old 'bred bin' fresnels from like the 1400's (1980s realy) and they still work fine.

Not familiar with these, what are they?

[heinz57]

My college had some old 'bred bin' fresnels from like the 1400's (1980s realy) and they still work fine.

Not familiar with these, what are they?

 

Just some old fresnels. Like this -

 

http://www.onstagelighting.co.uk/wp-conten...old-fresnel.jpg

 

Accept a bit more round so they look like a bread bin.

 

'Bread bin' is a nickname we had for them at college.

 

Heinz ;)

[adam2]

There is not much to go wrong with old style lanterns.

Lampholders often last decades, and can be easily replaced if they do fail.

The original wiring was possibly asbestos insulated and should have been replaced, more modern internal wiring and supply flexes may have perished, but again are readily replaced.

 

Lenses and reflectors dont normally wear out, though of course they can be broken.

 

Dimmers and desks are more complex, but generally reliable and often repairable.

 

Remember though that some older equipment was not built to todays safety standards, especialy as regards access to live parts without the use of a key or tool, take extra care.

[mutley]

The school I work at still has:

 

8x Furse SPK500

http://www.davidfitchservices.com/secondhand_clip_image002_0011.jpg

 

8x Furse profile (similar to the Patt 23)

http://www.freewebs.com/otherlights/Furse-Stage-Lantern.jpg

 

And until I recently condemned them all and threw them into a skip, we had 8x Furse (?) oval-bodied 500W fresnels, which took a T1 "goldfish bowl" lamp. I don't know what they were exactly - apart from them being dangerous junk with cracked flexes that were about as bright as a candle in a baked bean tin!

 

Also, hidden away under the stage, we have about 6x Patt 23 Mk1, and lighting the back curtain, we still have 3x Strand 'Type S' batten floods:

http://www.strandarchive.co.uk/lanterns/images/s63.jpg

 

 

Controlling all this antiquated equipment, is a Strand MX24 lighting desk, and 4x Act6 analogue dimmers (via demux)

http://www.vancevegas.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/DSCF0003.JPG

 

As you can well imagine, I'm pushing for a major refit!

[paulears]

The 'bread bin' Fresnel was the Patt.45 Well known for having the light output of a glow worm, as the designers didn't think a reflector was worth having! They're also quite a bit earlier than that - I left school in 74 and we had quite a few attached to a few pre-Junior 8 resistance dimmers.

[Neil Hampson]

The 'bread bin' Fresnel was the Patt.45 Well known for having the light output of a glow worm, as the designers didn't think a reflector was worth having! They're also quite a bit earlier than that - I left school in 74 and we had quite a few attached to a few pre-Junior 8 resistance dimmers.

The School I work for has a fleet of the Pat 45 replacement the 833, could have been a good 650W lantern except there was no reflector and it was only rated as 500W. The Pat 803 was identical except it had the reflector. They are about the size of a Cantata PC so most visiting companies assume we have a great stock of 1Kw lanterns, until they are switched on of course. Other lanterns include the Mk2 Patt.23 and 137's

[c.cam108]

We use an MX24 in the church. Fantastic piece of kit. It needs a bit of fixing though. Some faders are a bit iffy. I'll need to crack it open at some point soon to see what the problem is.

 

Colin C

[Guest]

we have a strand m48 at school and if you brethe hard enough it will go in to blackout.

 

just had a new refit tho :blink: however they didn't take the advive that you can't see LED stuff over 10kw of tungsten

[paulears]

Moderation: Please - can we not get into big lists of what kit we have. The OP said

From time to time, references to old lighting gear (lanterns, desks, dimmers etc.) come up. Plus there is quite a bit of ancient stuff on e-bay. It got me to wondering how much of it is still proving reliable and in regular use. A recent post mentioned Mini 2's. Yes, I've got one kicking about somewhere and it still works, but I've not used it recently.

I took out a few posts that mentioned some old stuff, but included modern stuff too - I removed them while trying to work out how to edit this topic - but put them back and added this note instead.

 

 

If we could just comment on kit that comes under the blanket heading of 'ancient' the topic may progress - things like Quartets and Cantatas don't really fall into the ancient category next. Apologies if my editing has confused, but going through lots of lists removing non-ancient is tricky as we don't have a cut-off date.

Paul

[tom_the_LD]

We still use patt 123's, 23's and 60's at our school. We also used to use a Sirius 24 but this died a couple of months ago - may be getting it repaired or may be getting a new one. Who knows!