3M™ PPS™ SUN GUN™ Light, Car detailers need a Light!

[yomike]

I been reading this forum for a while and found some interesting info on real bright spotlights. Here's what drew me here, I'm also into car detailing. Car Detailers use lights to fine swirl marks in the paint their easily seen by reflecting the light on the surface as seen here;

Most detailers use the halogens on a stand from sears 500w:

The best place to see fine scratches is to view the car under direct sunlight just take a look at your car!
Some Detailers use the Brinkmann and get great results,

Let me get to my point.
3M makes a light, 3M™ PPS™ SUN GUN™

This light sells for over $300 and is out of the reach for the weekend car buffs who wants his car to have their paint finish perfect.
The 3M bulb is a 35w and is running at 4350 k and can be bought for $49 all the info I have.

Is there anyone here who knows of a portable light or a way to modified one to get this job done on the cheap?

 

[Bushman5]

hello! that looks like an interesting light! :twothumbs

 

[Ra]

Yomike,

A warm welcome to these forums !! If you love light's, this is the place! (where you need to watch your wallet!!)

To the point:

The sun has exactly that what you need in a portable pakkage: Surface brightness !

The only way to come close to the sun's surface brightness are short-arc light's like Maxabeam and Megaray, very expensive! (think +1800 $) Those can reach surface brightnesses about 40-60 times of halogen !

The best compromise I can think of: Is a 10watt mini-HID.. Power is not that important: The average HID has about 4-5 times the surface brightness of halogen. Two exeptions: My mini-HID monster: 10-12 times halogen and the Eznite 10watt mini-HID: 8-10 times the surfbr of halogen. Mine is not for sale and the Eznite costs 400$.

All HID's have aprox the same surface brightness (4-5 times halogen), higher HID-wattage only means more lumens output!


Regards,

Ra.

 

[Aaron1100us]

Build a mag 85. The Sun Gun uses a 35 watt incan bulb. The Mag 85 is 35 watts. Wouldn't that be about the same brightness? I don't get why that light is so expensive. What is the lumen rating of the Sun Gun? Seems pretty basic to me.

 

[scott.cr]

The 3M bulb is a 35w and is running at 4350 k and can be bought for $49 all the info I have.

Buy the lamp and install it into a Maglite or whatever type of cheap rechargeable light you can find. The lamp's form factor looks like a plain old MR16, this is a very easy lamp to find other housings for, and it will also drop into a Maglite head. But you will have to figure out the wiring and voltage supply (not difficult with the parts you can find in the CPF Marketplace, but with a $300 ceiling, this can get difficult).

$49 does not sound out of range for a specialty lamp; there may be a cheaper alternative, but in my mind there's something special about its color rendition or surface brightness. Pay attention to what Ra says, surface brightness can make a noticeable difference in details you can see. Studio photo lighting uses a very low surface brightness (ie. you can stare right into it) and your photos come out looking great because you cannot see flaws in the subject.

Ra mentioned using a portable HID, great idea, but if a $300 bill is your concern I don't think an HID is the cure hahaha. BUT!!! You'll always have an awesome flashlight that can be used for purposes other than auto detailing.

BTW, great thread, I always wondered why I could not see the swirl marks in my black VW GTI while detailing inside my garage...