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This topic comprises 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
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Author
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Topic: Lamphouse Spot-the-Difference game! (With pics!)
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Dan Bouvier
Film Handler
Posts: 70
From: Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted 10-06-2004 03:19 PM
quote: Mike Olpin
and now they're trying to scrape what's left of his melted shoes from the booth floor.
Ouch! It is pretty funny, though.
Official Answers:
What the fuck?
The lamp in the first picture is a 2000 watt. The second one is a 2500.
From front to back, the following "mods" were made:
- Douser removed to clear lamp.
- A coat hanger (yes, a coat hanger) is used instead of the yoke. The yoke held the anode too low so on the advice of our tech, a coat hanger was used.
- The rectangular block that the yoke sits in was rotated 180 degrees when it was thought that the yoke might work, but was too far back.
- Anode cable from previous lamp screwed into cathode...
- ...because the terminal running to the igniter had to be removed. The cathode end on the 2500 watt was too big.
- Spare collet end enlarged to accept larger cathode end.
- Pipe clamp used to hold cathode to colllet. Note that two small pipe clamps were used together because they didn't have any bigger ones in stock.
- Thumbscrews that held collet/focus assemby in place were removed. The lamp had to be moved back and the old thumbscrews wouldn't reach anymore. They were replaced with two random screws I found in the toolbox that just happened to have the right threads to fit. Then washers (for fixing seats) were added to move the assembly back. Wingnuts from a standee downstairs held it all together.
Who did that?
Me. ![[uhoh]](graemlins/uhoh.gif)
WHY?!?
A month ago I warn my boss that we're gonna need a new 2000 watt bulb. Last week, we still don't have the spare, and the lamp fails. Friday afternoon our new lamp arrives - but it's a 2500 watt. So, I could either cancel a weekend's worth of shows and explain to a bunch of pissed-off customers how we got a slightly wrong lamp, or I could throw something together and pray to the gods of Cinema for it to work. A phone call to our tech guy gave me some info, and off I went. It took FOREVER to do, seeing as how I had little to no idea what I was doing, and I ended up trying something, igniting the lamp, seeing that it's WAY too dim, shutting off the lamp, waiting 2 minutes, and then going back in to tweak. We took the pictures just to prove how absurd this place can get, and figured the guys on film-tech would get a laugh out of them.
The anode cable LOOKS like it's touching the lamphouse, but it's not. It was close, in the picture, before I rotated the lamp.
Yep, no douser. I taped up a sign that said "WARNING! HALF-ASS REPAIR JOB - NO DOUSER!" but it was mostly me that had to use the damn thing anyway.
It looks like there are extra wires just chilling but they're actually the same in both lamphouses, you just can't see them in the picture.
Lamp is rated at 83 amps, rectifier is putting out 80.
John noticed the new bulb and lack of douser. Mark caught the front yoke first. Ian suggested I be sacked. You all win passes to the "Theatre of Doom," send me your addresses and I'll mail them ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Should I have just killed that auditorium for the weekend? I had no proper parts, per se, except a spare collet. What's standard operating procedure on emergency shoehorning a too-big lamp? And, though it probably doesn't need to be said, if anyone's curious we DO NOT have protective gear for handling xenons.
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Dan Bouvier
Film Handler
Posts: 70
From: Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted 10-06-2004 05:20 PM
Man, you guys are vicious!
quote: Scott Norwood
Do you not have any other theatres within driving distance? If I'd been in that sort of situation, I'd be calling every theatre in the area, starting with the ones where I know the operators personally, asking to borrow a bulb.
Hadn't even occurred to me. I'd have felt like a jackass asking the competition for a spare lamp, but it's better than getting killed or trashing some equipment. That's what I'll do next time.
quote: Scott Norwood
For that matter, why doesn't your theatre have a stash of high-hours-but-still-give-good-light bulbs in the back room somewhere?
We've been open just over a year, and all we have for 2000W lamps is one that failed early with a totally black envelope.
quote: Phil Hill
What a sad day this is for "True Professionals" and for "film done right."
NO wonder TV will take over in the theatres very soon.
A "good" theatre and/or tech would have had the CORRECT spare lamp ON SITE at ALL times.
I'm sorry! But put yourself in the shoes of your average film-goer. If you go to the local theatre and your movie is cancelled, you'll get pissed off, go down to blockbuster, and maybe decide never to come back. But if the show runs (and maybe it's not 16 footlamberts, but it looked pretty good), you'll never know the difference. Maybe it's not a good theatre, I certainly don't conisder myself a good tech (or a tech at all for that matter) but the show went on, didn't it?
quote: Bill Carter
Part of me wants to give the poor guy some credit, for obviously trying very hard to save the weekend business. But, I just can't help being very disturbed by this.
Well, thank you. As for the protective gear issue, I've had to change the 4500W lamp in the big house half a dozen times as it kept failing due to a cooling issue. I didn't have gear then either. I didn't feel great about it but the fact was that I could have either fixed the problem or I could have cancelled shows until my boss shows up from out-of-town and fixes it himself. So, if I'm changing a Xenon without proper gear, I'm accepting any and all risk involved. Just like driving without a seatbelt (which I don't do).
Edit: For the record, we HAD cancelled shows for a couple days prior to this. Then the new wrong lamp showed up. Missed shows on a Wednesday or Thursday are one thing, but a weekend?
And when my boss finally saw it, he laughed and said "This theatre is a 3 dressed up as a 9" which refers to a Trooper song, a little before my time.
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Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug
Posts: 7595
From: Hollywood, CA USA
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 10-06-2004 05:31 PM
quote: Dan Bouvier
quote: Phil Hill
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What a sad day this is for "True Professionals" and for "film done right."
NO wonder TV will take over in the theatres very soon.
A "good" theatre and/or tech would have had the CORRECT spare lamp ON SITE at ALL times.
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I'm sorry! But put yourself in the shoes of your average film-goer. If you go to the local theatre and your movie is cancelled, you'll get pissed off, go down to blockbuster, and maybe decide never to come back. But if the show runs (and maybe it's not 16 footlamberts, but it looked pretty good), you'll never know the difference. Maybe it's not a good theatre, I certainly don't conisder myself a good tech (or a tech at all for that matter) but the show went on, didn't it?
Not to keep harping on this, but please read Adam's post... It's RIGHT on target!
HOPEFULLY, YOU have learned something for this thread.
>>> Phil
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Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug
Posts: 7595
From: Hollywood, CA USA
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 10-06-2004 05:40 PM
quote: Dan Bouvier
I have learned from this thread, and I learn something every time I'm on this site, thanks to you guys.
![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif) ![[beer]](graemlins/beer.gif)
Honestly, we are all good guys here...even me no matter what Brad, Josh, Manny, Joe, Paul, Scott, etc sez! ![[evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
>>> Phil
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 10-06-2004 06:10 PM
Hey Dan, we have all been there, done that....well maybe not exactly THAT, but there is this innate desire to live by the addage, The Show Must Go On. And as much as you are trying to solve a problem to keep this owner's theatre open (and hats off to you for an ingenious fix), in actuality you really ARE part of the problem. Why? Because you are the enabler in this disease called goddaweful theatre management. Fixing the immediate problem makes long-term, systemic Problem worse. It allows this horse's ass of a theatre owner to get away with being a cheap pile-o-shit who would run his theatre into the ground and endanger his staff rather than spend a penny on Film Done Right.
You said at least the audience can sit and watch the movie not even knowing what shenanagans went on in the booth to get the picture on the screen. Maybe. But at the same time, doing that allows the owner to go blithly about his business (his ill-run business), not knowing how the crap he's pulling seriously impacts the safety of his employees and the quality of the peresentation. And what you said is correct -- a number of patrons may get pissed and go to the competition and maybe even never come back. Well, GOOD! That's why it's call competition -- they are doing it better. Maybe that's what the jackass needs to have happen. His lack of attention to booth needs and what his employees have to do to "keep the show on the screen" has got to come back and bite him in the ass if it ever is going to get rectified. Tuff Cinema Love, my friend.
The fact that he doesn't have a freakin spare bulb in the booth is bad enough, but the fact that he lets a bulb burn so far past it's rated life that it comes out of the lamphouse black is a good indication that he's not paid for a thorough service visit for way longer than he should. It's indicative of a shoddy operation. The fact that he would allow someone who is not a technician to make this kind of "repair" and compromise his safety is an even better indication that he needs a serious wake-up call, say, like an inspector coming in, taking one look at that lamphouse and closing him down. And the fact that the booth doesn't have protective gear is the piece-de-resistance, enough to make me say he doesn't deserve to be open in the first place, the dedication of his loyal employees not withstanding. Which is a question in and of itself -- why are you loyal to an employer who obviously couldn't care less if you walk out of the booth one day with shards of quartz impaled in your eyeballs?
The fact that you choose to place yourself in harms way (no protective gear while changing a 4500w bulb....are in insane?) has no bearing on the fact that an employer should never, ever allow an employee to do dangerous things regardless of their willingness. Your disregard for saftey procedures doesn't absolve him of his responsibility to insure his that his employees follow proper safety protocols. A good employer would fire you on the spot for doing something that dangerous.
Dan, you have to resist the temptation to "fix it at any cost." Sometimes the smartest and most praiseworthy course of action is to step up to the plate and tell the SOB that he ordered the wrong part and the lamphouse will not work with it. Period. Not, gee boss, maybe I can get in there & fix it with a freakin coat hanger. ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
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