Ghetto Flo

JasonFox

JasonFox

Internet Sensation
As much as I would like to do some DIY flos of the same quality as MattinSTL or Miracom, I have not the time, money, will or expertise to do so. And as I have not yet convinced my wife to let me buy some Flolights instead of living room furniture, I was left creating this monster. My 2-bulb LOA's just weren't cutting it (too hard to gang together in a tight spot), so I gambled on these Metalux fixtures from Lowes. So far, no problems with flicker or buzzing -- the ballasts are electronic. I could really use some reflectors and/or barn doors, but that's a project for another day. Like Saturday.

Anyway, as you can see, it wasn't that hard to make and it cranks out a ton of light. Those are Strong-Tie aluminum bars along the back. I had to wire in the plugs as these lights are made for ceilings, not hanging off of light stands. Yes, it is a bit heavy, but I haven't had any issue with that with the stand or grip head yet. So that's something.

Fox

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Sweet! Nice light, and I bet it'll come in handy!!

Just a technical thing: from what the pictures show (and I might be wrong), it appears the cable comes out of the back of the light's frame through a simple hole. This can be a hazard down the road as the cable's insulation will eventually wear out, and then....."frizzzzz!!".
You can buy some rubber grommets, or some other type of cord grips, in order to prevent this from happening.
 
Looks great. Some kino-style barndoors on there would make it perfect- I might even consider making one. It seems like you have 3 wires coming out of the back, if you did the wiring yourself anyway, why not wire them in a series and only have one cable coming out the back, thus only one outlet used. Is it easy to turn different bulbs on and off?
 
Noah said:
Looks great. Some kino-style barndoors on there would make it perfect- I might even consider making one. It seems like you have 3 wires coming out of the back, if you did the wiring yourself anyway, why not wire them in a series and only have one cable coming out the back, thus only one outlet used. Is it easy to turn different bulbs on and off?
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Having three different ones may give a rudimentary brightness control, if you can switch the individual ones on and off.

Would this be difficult to put gels on?
 
Yep, I left the three cords instead of wiring them together so I could turn off a bank if need be. I'm nothing if not rudimentary.

Good point on the cords/holes.

Gels? Hmmm. Easy to tape, less easy to C-47. Not much to clip onto at the moment. Obviously, if I finagle some barn doors it would be a snap to gel.

Anyone know what sort of hinges to use for doors?

BTW, forgot to mention I'm using T-12 GE Solar bulbs at 5000k and 90 CRI. I was going to get a T-8 fixture, but Lowes doesn't carry these bulbs in that size and I really didn't care that much. :)

I'm sure I'll need to reinforce this thing if I plan on moving it around much. I couldn't tie the lights together internally without taking them apart, so I just did it this way to see how they would hold up.
 
Well you could rig them in a series and just put the on/off switch before they get connected to one cable. Of course you could only swich lamp two on if lamp one was on and lamp 3 if lamp one and two were on, but this seems like the best option to me.

Once he makes barndoors, it shouldn't be any more difficult to put gels on this as it would be to any other light.
 
Jason, it looks great..

can you give me details on your tripod, and the mount you connected to the light with.

J
 
Noah -- good idea, maybe I'll try that next time.

TJD -- the tripod is from Amvona. It's the one they list on there for a grand. I got it off an eBay auction for around $380 shipped. It's also the same one you'll see at Flolights.com for $400 (which is the only other place I've come across it). The sticks are really good. Nice 100mm bowl and very strong. The head is pretty decent, but not outstanding. But it's rated at 22 lbs, which helps with my M2 setup that's around 12. My old 503 would hold it, but I feared wearing it out quickly.

The light has an Avenger baby plate on the back with a standard 3" grip head on a light stand.

Fox
 
One of my first lights was a Home Depot T8 fixture. I mounted it to a Halogen worklight stand with makeshift hardware ideas. Barn doors for a fixture like this would be difficult to make. I would use foam core I suppose which is what I always used with mine. Never figured out a good way to make a hinge though. What comes to mind now would be gaffers tape to attach it to the sides, but imagine how delicate it would be to move around. Also, how would you get the doors to stick in a particular position?

By the way, I wonder if you might risk having the light bend 3 ways and "splay out" when moving it around if the metal straps are only across the back? Perhaps should have at least one across the front too--or maybe you do and I just missed it somehow. Seems like it would be a stronger, more solid unit that way.

I eventually stopped using that original light because it just wasn't controllable enough and that's when I bit the bullet and started building my own. I will say though that in what places it was appropriate to use it (and I show it as one of the solutions in the "Simple Solutions Chapter" of my DVD, it produces really nice looking results. Usable in all the same places you would use a softbox really. Looks great though. Good job!
 
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vidled said:
Sweet! Nice light, and I bet it'll come in handy!!

Just a technical thing: from what the pictures show (and I might be wrong), it appears the cable comes out of the back of the light's frame through a simple hole. This can be a hazard down the road as the cable's insulation will eventually wear out, and then....."frizzzzz!!".
You can buy some rubber grommets, or some other type of cord grips, in order to prevent this from happening.
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If anybody wants some sealcon strain reliefs you can get those from me for $3 each... which is about what I paid for each 3-piece system... and naturally I had to buy 250 units. I have the ones at the bottom... they fit most round power cords... the range is about .2-.35"... and once these are used you can pick the light up by the power cord (not that you would do that).

Better then a grommet if you don't mind the size of the strain relief... and it's one more facet of a light design that will make it 100% bombproof.

p4paira.gif
 
miracom said:
One of my first lights was a Home Depot T8 fixture. I mounted it to a Halogen worklight stand with makeshift hardware ideas. Barn doors for a fixture like this would be difficult to make. I would use foam core I suppose which is what I always used with mine. Never figured out a good way to make a hinge though. What comes to mind now would be gaffers tape to attach it to the sides, but imagine how delicate it would be to move around. Also, how would you get the doors to stick in a particular position?

By the way, I wonder if you might risk having the light bend 3 ways and "splay out" when moving it around if the metal straps are only across the back? Perhaps should have at least one across the front too--or maybe you do and I just missed it somehow. Seems like it would be a stronger, more solid unit that way.

I eventually stopped using that original light because it just wasn't controllable enough and that's when I bit the bullet and started building my own. I will say though that in what places it was appropriate to use it (and I show it as one of the solutions in the "Simple Solutions Chapter" of my DVD, it produces really nice looking results. Usable in all the same places you would use a softbox really. Looks great though. Good job!
Click to expand...

Oh yes, it's quite a kludge. And it already splays out a little bit without extra bracing. I don't plan on doing more of these or hauling this thing around, but I needed something to test my M2 with inside and hot lights are, well, too friggin' hot. Especially in Dallas.
 
I'm in Houston now and it's bad enough. Lived in Dallas for 4 years though and it's a freakin' desert there. Easy to see why independents all eventually figure out they need fluorescent lighting or they just don't want to work on films / video. Just too unpleasant of work with conventional lighting in the middle of the summer!
 
Yep, I can't do it. My a/c would never keep up. Let alone me! I've already overdone it outside twice this year and the heatwave is young.
 
Cool lights. You might want to wire the three together in parallel, not series as series would split the voltage between the three, probably not good. You could then put a simple spst switch on each light and any or none would work in any order.

Bird
http://thebirdsneststudio.com
 
Bird said:
Cool lights. You might want to wire the three together in parallel, not series as series would split the voltage between the three, probably not good. You could then put a simple spst switch on each light and any or none would work in any order.
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Bird, can you draw a simple diagram of this?
 
Hi DJ,

Here is the Parrallell Diagram for you:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/attachment.php?attachmentid=730&stc=1&d=1152140499

Couldn't figure how to post the picture here so hope that gets you there. Too bad I don't yet know how to just insert a picture. Oh well, maybe this will help.

You simply want to make sure the same color lead from each light is hooked together and goes to the same terminal of the ac plug, and that the black ones are connected to ground (big terminal). That's why its parrallel, each wire from the light sees the source as if it were alone. Only limitation as to how many you can hook up is just don't exceed the amp rating of your circuit breaker, and I'd leave at least a 25% margin for safety. You can figure roughly 1 amp per 100 watts if you are using 120 volt supply.

Hope this helps!

Bird
 

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Oh,

The picture showed up automatically! Neat. I'm new to the forum so I'm still learning the ropes!

Bird
 
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