[SML] How to gauge the age of a Source Four?

[Jon Ares]

I was able to go into my facilities yesterday to start prepping for a
buncha new fixtures, and found some interesting things, and I'm curious
about any other "changes" that have come to the Source Four over the
years...

I have some bodies that are 2015, and others that are 2006.  All use 575w
HPLs, some long-life, none at 750w. All the 2015s all have cooked-off paint
on the lamp housing.  The 2006s still look fine.

The reflectors are clean on both bodies, but the 2015 reflector has a
definite 'cooler' color to it... the older ones have a warmer tone. But
they're clean - no haze.

So have there been changes in paint?  Reflector coatings?

 - Jon


On Sat, May 2, 2020 at 10:56 AM Dale Farmer via Stagecraft <
stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:

> The source 4 middle bodies are, afaik, unchanged from the early days.
> Single and double yoke bolt versions were the only distinctions, I can
> recall.
>   Reflector housings went through a couple of changes early on.  Main
> one was adding baffles to the air vents facing back to reduce light
> leaks.
>
> The lens tube revs only matter when you have a broken one needing to be
> replaced or your are changing the glass out of an existing lens tube.
> ETC doesn't keep old revisions in stock, so you have to purchase a
> matching pair of the newest revision, and the unbroken half of the old
> lens tube goes into the bin of misfit parts, in hopes that it will be
> useful for a future broken other half of the same revision lens tube.
>
> trying to mate different revs of the left and right lens tube castings
> is an exercise in futility.  they designed the mating lips of the two
> castings so they only fit together properly with the same rev.   You can
> force them to go together, but now the lens tube is out of round,
> leading to glass falling out when it's bumped, and it won't fit into the
> rest of the fixture easily.
>
> The lamp caps are the old 575 watt or below only, 575/750s, and the
> dimmer doubler ones.   There are lots of the old 575 caps around that
> people drilled out to allow 750 lamps to fit, but they need that extra
> heat sink and light blocking casting to handle the heat long term.  When
> you don't have that extra heat sink, the heat messes up the dichroic
> coating on the reflector, giving it a case of dandruff. (flakes falling
> off)  At that point you have to replace the reflector, which is a bit
> spendy.
>
>
> Dale
>
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-- 
Jon Ares
www.arescreative.com
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