Old lanterns

[smalljoshua]

At our school we have patt123's and pat23's and we are lucky enough that one of our CDT technicians are involved with amateur dramatics and have about 15 Years experience in the field, over the sumer we got all the lanterns updated including cleaning them up and painting them black, replacing the cables and polishing the reflectors (that alone will help)

 

Josh

[sparkyweb]

Take them down, clean them, paint the outside black and fit new halogen lamps to them.

 

I would be very careful about painting these black, especially if you put a halogen lamp in them. There used to be a company that used an anodised style paint on the Patt range and they looked really smart, however if the wrong paint is used (and surface not prepped) then all that will happen is the paint will flake or burn off over time. Besides I think they look better in their original state- or is that me being nostalgic.

 

I had some Patt 743 on hire until about 6 years ago, really good lanterns, only sold them on to update stock etc.

 

Oh and there were some Patt23's around with a PC style lens (much like the 263/ 264's) to answer previous questions- but they were fairly rare. Only seen a few in my time.

[gareth]

I'll echo the comments about the P223s - if you can afford to get the TH conversion kits for them, and they're in serviceable condition, they'll serve you fine for many years to come. There was also a link posted on the BR a few days ago from one of our Antipodean colleagues, to a company who manufacture TH conversion kits for anything which takes a P28s lamp base - they'll do just fine for your P123s and P23s.

[springgrove]

The lanterns are Patt 123 Fresnels, Patt 23 PCs, Patt 223 Fresnels

As others have said, these lanterns are built like the proverbial brick s*** house and will go on for ever. If your replace the T1 lamps with T17s, (about £13) - no need to change the base - you'll be surprised at the increase in light output.

 

I think if we were gonna sell them we would want to keep some of the ones that arn't too faulty! just as some extra stock.

There's not a lot can go wrong with a lantern like these - and they are easy to repair. You might be able to cannibalise one to make the rest work. Anyone technically competent can do it.

 

if we can get some money from selling some of them then thats gonna make the school happier buying new ones.

Patt123s go for about £20 on eBay, more if they have barndoors, Patt23s for £10-15, depending whether they are MkI or MkII and condition. This is not going to go very far towards new lanterns!

 

Nigel

[Jivemaster]

The "via money (sell and buy)" route will give you the worst value for money and may not put the proceeds where you want according to politics at your establishment . The in house clean and re-polish the best value! An upgrade to halogen will see improvement in output compared with the tungsten lamps.

 

Consider an in-house clean and polish and PAT test. Consider also getting the accidental lighting down, - there is no point in art in lighting if the curtains don't close! Once all the fittings are clean and fitted with halogen lamps, look for some more! 223s and 123s especially as economy extras or spare part donors.

[Andrew C]

I would be very careful about painting these black, especially if you put a halogen lamp in them.

 

Oh and there were some Patt23's around with a PC style lens (much like the 263/ 264's) to answer previous questions- but they were fairly rare. Only seen a few in my time.

Hmm... I've used ordinary black spray paint from RS, and not had ANY problems at all. Sure, it's not as nice as having them anodised, but from a distance of 20' they just look black. They have not flaked, but do scratch a bit.

 

In fact, as the TH is MORE EFFICIENT there will be LESS heat to damage the paintwork!

 

And yes, I too have some weird lenses for 23s. They look like frenels, but I've not used them.

[paulears]

The servicing of these things is normally within the skills available within school - if you have to consider sending these away to have done, then despite agreeing wth everybody who is telling you how good they are, money wise, it isn't worth it. Spending £50-100 per lantern is wasted money, as they are not worth that.

 

Oh and there were some Patt23's around with a PC style lens (much like the 263/ 264's) to answer previous questions- but they were fairly rare. Only seen a few in my time.

 

er..... apart from the very small numbers of P.23s with a Fresnel lense (available as an option) - they were all PC - but the PC standing for plano-convex, not prism-convex or pebble-convex.