36 inch Gorilla

[LightSward]

4,000 watt HMI addition to the Gorilla soon.
(Sneak Preview) Here is a quick look at the Searchlight when half finished, using only a 100watt HID bulb. Eventually I did Upgrade to a 1200 watt HMI with the help of the IgnITEor.
Frenchman Mtn Beam Shots

36 inch Goriilla Searchlight shares the night with the Full Moon. Here the Beam is shining about 2/3rds the way up Frenchman Mountain, north of the aviation beacon near the top of the peak. (many people call all of this Mt., range Sunrise Mountain, which is actually another mountain peak to the North, ). the Beam Spot is located nearly a mile away on this part of the mountain, The mountain towers over two thousand feet higher above the ground the searchlight is located on.

A few weeks later I was photographed to the North West of Las Vegas, at the Local Ski Resort, thirty minutes away.

LightSward inspecting the 36 inch Gorilla Searchlight

Here I am checking on the 100 watt HID, 36 inch Gorilla's focus at Mummy Mountain and Ridge, over a mile away. I need to adjust the 'focus', it seems to be focused at about the half mile point here, and spreads a little, as it reaches over a mile in length to target. The light is competing with a nearly Full Moon, which helps light up the surrounding landscape.



Here is the Gorilla with a 700 watt HMI short arc HID

Here is the Gorilla with a 1200 watt HMI with the help of IgNITEor:
Here is waht the Gorilla now looks like with a 1200 watt HMI installed!!!

Strange perspective, top part of photo was taken looking nearly straight up, of cloud a mile and half up. The beam curves overhead like the Luxor Light in Las Vegas....Totally Awesome!






Video of Gorilla Panning a news helicopter
CLICK IMAGE FOR PANNING VIDEO OF THE GORILLA with old 600 watt regular HID
The 36 inch wide Gorilla searchlight is seen advertising it's new look, by shining over the Hill Billy Film Studio Back Lot and Portland area.

Video of Gorilla Panning the night sky when a news helicopter flew over several times. Many people were drawn to the "Gorilla".



Gorilla as seen from the Production Studio with 600 watt regular HID

Gorilla Panning the Portland Night Sky from the back lot of the Production Studio location of many Portland Movie projects. The Gorilla, with it's soft, eye pleasing beam, blends in nicely with the Portland, Oregon culture.


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I am improving and upgrading my two successful searchlights; the 24 inch LightSward and the 50 inch Monster, on an ongoing basis. I have learned much creating these fun lights. I will be obtaining a 1000 watt or higher medium to small arc length HID set up soon and will use it in each light.:candle::laughing:


3-D CAD view of proposed 36 inch Gorilla Searchlight

This view shows the basic layout of the spherical and parabolic reflectors of the 36 inch wide, 14 inch deep Gorilla.



This leads me to my next announcement: The creation of the 36" Gorilla! The Gorilla is a combination of the 24 inch LightSward deep parabolic reflector and the 50 inch Monster parabolic mirror.

The 24 inch LightSward is very efficient and good at creating a concentrated narrow beam. The 50 inch Monster is good at focusing and directing light a long distance. :twothumbs The 36 inch Gorilla will combine the best of both these lights. Priority will be on producing an accurate and flaw free surface that has a very glass like surface. I'd like to use the mirror paint mentioned in the 50 inch thread.

I learned from these two lights, how critical the surface preparation is...the 24 inch and 50 inch reflectors had some surface irregularities that gave both reflectors a little bit of an orange peel reflection, kind of like a mirror with wrinkles. I now realize the "chrome tape" I have been using is responsible for much of this. I placed some of this on an actual mirror and it gave it an orange peel look. I will eventually re-surface these reflectors with mirror paint and/or build additional new ones.

The 36 inch Gorilla will be somewhat based on the "Tank Light". This won't be a quick build project, instead, I am going to spend much time designing and building this light. It will quite possibly take many months or more to make the 36 inch Gorilla.


36 inch Gorilla Designer showing actual dimensions used.

This is the basic initial 36 inch Gorilla Searchlight designer using basic geometric procedures.



3-D view of Double Ended 1000 watt bulb and spherical reflector

This 3-D shaded view shows the 1000 watt HID double ended bulb being considered for the 36 inch Gorilla in front of the spherical reflector.



36 inch Gorilla CAD concept drawing ...This particular drawing is not an accurate parabolic depiction

This is a basic Concept drawing of the 36 inch Gorilla



Wire frame view of proposed 36 inch Gorilla's spherical and parabolic reflectors.

This side view shows the basic layout of the Gorilla.




This is the tentative design of the 36 inch Gorilla Searchlight. This combines the best of the 24 inch LightSward and the 50 inch Monster into one super light!:candle:

Stay tuned...:tired:
I apologize, but one of my photo hosts has unreliable and unstable links, (Facebook based), and this caused a large amount of my photos to vanish over he last few days. Apologize, but with all the photos I posted I'm not able to update all them do to a variety reasons, mostly time.


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[AlexGT]

Here is the perfect body for that reflector!

AlexGT

 

[Mick]

You could save yourself some time by finding an old Prime Star offset satellite dish. I expect they did a proper optical design. Then your problem would be the feed optics to properly illuminate the reflector. This reflector measures about 36 inches in diameter. I enjoy your threads ... thanks for sharing.

 

[LightSward]

Here is the perfect body for that reflector!

AlexGT

That is a great looking light. I might need something slightly larger.

 

[LightSward]

You could save yourself some time by finding an old Prime Star offset satellite dish. I expect they did a proper optical design. Then your problem would be the feed optics to properly illuminate the reflector. The reflector measures about 36 inches in diameter. I enjoy your threads ... thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the kind words.

I would like to have found one of those, satellite dishes, when I was building the "Monster". The design of the Gorilla, will have the light source closer to the reflector, to grab half the light from the bulb on one side and a spherical reflector to redirect the light from the back side of the light source, back towards the main reflector. This way I may get 75 percent or so of the light into the light beam.

3-D wire frame view of Searchlight

3-D wire view of the main components of the 36 inch Gorilla Searchlight. Shows the spherical and parabolic reflectors along with the 1000 watt HID double ended bulb.



I actually enjoy making as much stuff, from raw material, as I can. A friend of mine makes neon bulbs and I fantasize that one day I would even build my own bulbs. I have constructed crude ballast from raw steel plates I laminated and coil wire I pulled from an old T.V. Set raster magnet. I like making my own reflectors for now, because it gives me a lot of design control.

I will keep an eye out for one of those dishes for future searchlights. They are 'optically' well designed, although there is a coating and/or material used on them which needs to be dealt with, to get a reflective surface to bond to it. Thanks for the idea.

 

[LightSward]

:naughty: I've been investigating various searchlights, and found my 24 inch and 50 inch searchlights are good designs. I've found many advantages to each design and am using a combination of both. Here are some more CAD design concepts.

:candle: :mecry: :thinking: :wave: :tinfoil:

3-D wire view of Double Ended 1000 watt HID bulb and spherical reflector facing the main 36 inch reflector.

This 3-D wire view shows the 1000 watt HID double ended bulb, being considered, for the 36 inch Gorilla, in front of the spherical and, part of the, main reflectors.



3-d shaded wire view of 36 inch Gorilla

This 3-D perspective view shows the 36 inch Searchlight.


Front view of the proposed Gorilla

This Front View shows the 36 inch Searchlight as it may look pointed our way..


1000 watt bulb and spherical reflector

This 3-D shaded view shows the 1000 watt HID double ended bulb, being considered, for the 36 inch Gorilla in front of the spherical reflector.





Here is a 900 hour 1000 watt bulb rated @ 110,000 lumens

Enlarge image​

Price: $138.35


This is just one of many bulbs I'm considering.




Here is another bulb


Manufacturer: Osram Sylvania

1000 watt HID ceramic pin base

$160.00, 10 mm arc gap, 1000 watt HID.

Several good options.

Here are a couple typical Metal Halide 1000 watt ballast. For some bulbs a full electronic ballast is needed.

These are basic concepts I'm considering. The total depth of the 36 inch Gorilla will only be about 14 inches; if I use one of the smaller dimensioned sized 1000 watt HID bulbs, (In these particular CAD drawings, I show the Gorilla, with an eight inch spherical reflector; which increases the Gorilla to an 18 inch depth).

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[PhantomPhoton]

A 1kW HID! Many thousands of lumens... tee hee hee.
Can't wait to see it in action in the coming months.

 

[LightSward]

A 1kW HID! Many thousands of lumens... tee hee hee.
Can't wait to see it in action in the coming months.

I really like this design. The other two lights came out well too. This one takes the good from each.

It should be fun!:candle:lovecpf

(I just purchased a Gear Motor that takes the place of most of the bike panning mechanism used on the 24 inch LightSward. I still have to create some mechanical links and all to produce the desired motion, but at least I should be able to put the whole thing on the front seat of my car and not have to use the bike rack. The whole thing should have a nice compact look and be adaptable to the other Searchlights; ( 24 inch "LightSward" and the 36 inch "Gorilla", now in the design phase):thinking::twothumbs:candle::naughty:

 

[LightSward]

Video of new rotating mechanism (click image for video)

:candle:

Video of rotating mechanism that will be used on the 36 inch Gorilla. Many parts came from an old mechanism using bike parts. Eventually the bike wheel and coffee can will be replaced by actual gears.

I have many ideas on how I will build this 36 inch reflector. I have many factors I will examine to determine which method(s) will work best.

 

[LightSward]

:santa: I am experimenting with some design ideas and will photograph some of these as I actually do them.

I have several spherical reflectors and bulb configurations I am testing at present.

I also have some ideas to get a good reflector surface. :thumbsup:

 

[LightSward]

:tinfoil: I am beginning construction of the main reflector. I will be using a combination of techniques used with the 24 and 50 inch reflectors. I think this will be an awesome searchlight. It theoretically will capture almost 100 percent of the light, minus reflector(s) efficiencies. If I have the money, I will use the reflector mirror paint, (several hundred dollars for a pint), instead of the chrome mirror tape I have been using.

I will start posting design and construction drawings, along with photos of the actual fabrication of the components.:candle::laughing:

 

[led'sx1000's]

would you be interested in some 5" round mirrors. i probably have a thousand of them, i don't know if they would fit the bill but i just thought maybe, if your interested in a turtle shell effect parabolic mirror. might be something else for you to experiment with. if you're interested they're free, just pay the shipping. i also have some 5x8" ovals if you're interested, same deal

 

[Techjunkie]

Hey, what kind of batteries will that thing take? :laughing:

 

[kramer5150]

:rock:

 

[LightSward]

Hey, what kind of batteries will that thing take? :laughing:

:laughing::candle::tinfoil: I may start with inexpensive sealed lead acid batteries, such as found in Cyclops, or use a bundle of lap top batteries with electronic regulator. :tired::huh::laughing:

 

[LightSward]

would you be interested in some 5" round mirrors. i probably have a thousand of them, i don't know if they would fit the bill but i just thought maybe, if your interested in a turtle shell effect parabolic mirror. might be something else for you to experiment with. if you're interested they're free, just pay the shipping. i also have some 5x8" ovals if you're interested, same deal

Thanks for the offer. I may be able to use them for some light bounce experiments. My budget is very limited right now, so I can only afford small expenses right now. If you have those around for a while, I may be in a better position few months.:candle::wave:

 

[LightSward]

:welcome: Here are some beginning shots of the 36 inch Gorilla Searchlight construction sequence.


Profile screed cut out

The profile shape is plotted on a large printer from a CAD drawing that I designed. This is glued onto a suitable material and then precisely cut to form the reflector profile.




Profile screed almost complete

This is the reflector profile. Used to apply silicone cement to the Styrofoam rigid foam.


Basic geometry skills required

Here the basic circular shapes are drawn on Styrofoam rigid foam, using basic geometric procedures.


Styrofoam mold profile sections half finished

Styrofoam mold profile sections half finished. These will have more material removed and shaped to coincide with the profile screed.


Off to a good start. Hopefully this will be a great compliment to the 24 inch and 50 inch searchlights.

Stay Tuned :twothumbs

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[LightSward]

:candle:

Day two:

Modified and stacked Rigid Foam Mold Frame

Here the Rigid Foam has been layer stacked and profile screed positioned for Silicone Cement application.


First layer of Silicone Cement applied

Here the first layer of many Silicone Cement layers is being applied using the profile screed.


First Silicone Cement layer drying

The first layer of Silicone Cement is left to dry.

I am stoked! :thumbsup::twothumbs

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[ScottFHall]

Wow: recognize! An utterly awesome project. Respect!

 

[LightSward]

Wow: recognize! An utterly awesome project. Respect!

:twothumbs This is one heck of a fun project.


Here are a few more photos of the project nearing a mile-stone.


Final Silicone Cement surface applied

Here the 36 inch Gorilla Reflector Mold receives the final Silicone Cement finish. After this has dried a special mold paint is applied and dried. After paint has dried, candle wax is applied by hand rubbing, and additional waxes are applied, prior to fiberglass application.




Mold Waxes have been applied to the painted mold

The final Silicone Cement layer has been sanded and several hard base paints applied. Various mold waxes are applied, prior to Fiberglass application.



Final surface paint and wax prep

Candle wax, is hand applied, like using a giant Crayon, only on it's side, to the specially painted surface. This is followed by a special blend of Beeswax, and other ingredients


Fiberglass job half complete

Here the steel frame and yoke attachments along with additional safety reinforcements have been added, while the fiberglass application is half done. This is a phase that doesn't look very high tech.




With-in the next few days, final Fiberglass layers will be added, and a grinder used to cut and shape the outside of the Fiberglass shell, prior to mold and product separation.:candle: :laughing: :mecry: :thinking:

I think this is going to be one awesome Gorilla tank type light! :twothumbs :naughty:

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