I will post pictures and instructions on how to build your own 400 watt metal halide grow light when I have time.

With a 400 watt light, I will be able to grow many more plants and start seedlings much earlier.

They are quite expensive if you buy them with an electronic ballast.

dcarch

what did you use to cut the curved edge with out making it jagged.
exacto-knife ,scissors?

[quote=louise;76877]what did you use to cut the curved edge with out making it jagged.
exacto-knife ,scissors?[/quote]

I used a Rofin Sinar Blazer FlexScan CO2 Sealed high power 350 watt [COLOR=red]Laser[/COLOR] beam cutter.

[IMG]http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i240/dcarch/Laser.jpg[/IMG]

:lol: :)) :P

[COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman]A toe nail scissors was what I used.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman]dcarch[/FONT][/COLOR]

dcarch,

A couple of questions, early in the thread you said you were growing under compact fluorescents, later in the thread you mention metal halide, did you switch over MH or did you start under MH?

Out of curiosity, are you a commercial photographer? It appears that you used a sweep table for the photos and I think I see a reflection of a softbox in the pop bottle photo. Also, you make reference to Sinar, a highly respected Swiss manufacturer of view cameras.

[quote=neoguy;78438]dcarch,
A couple of questions, early in the thread you said you were growing under compact fluorescents, later in the thread you mention metal halide, did you switch over MH or did you start under MH?
Out of curiosity, are you a commercial photographer? It appears that you used a sweep table for the photos and I think I see a reflection of a softbox in the pop bottle photo. Also, you make reference to Sinar, a highly respected Swiss manufacturer of view cameras.[/quote]

Indeed, I switched from CP fluor. to MH. I got myself a cheap electronic ballast, so I built myself a MH/HPS fixture. I will post DIY pics sometime when I have time, hopefully before the next seed starting season for you guys.:P

No, I am not a photographer. The pics were taken with my inexpensive pull down white window shade. (with silver bounce light umbrella)

I do have a large old view camera made by Rambrant with a Goerz lens.
By the nature of your questions, I take it you are in graphic/photo related work.

dcarch

I used to manage a retail operation that catered to commercial and industrial photographers. We sold all the high end equipment, Sinar, Broncolor, Hasselblad.... We were the first in the region to carry all the high end digital cameras and digital backs. When the Leaf back was introduced it had a 40K price tag on it. We became Apple resellers so we could sell the whole package. Cameras, lights, computers, we were selling packages for over 100 grand. Many early adopters were commercial printers.

Have been out of the industry about 8 years now.

I wanted to have a camera with great resolution, flat image, and ability to do "parallax correction", so, long time ago, I made myself a view camera with a surplus aerial reconnaissance lens . It worked quit well.

dcarch

[quote=dcarch;78451]I wanted to have a camera with great resolution, flat image, [B]and ability to do "parallax correction",[/B] so, long time ago, I made myself a view camera with a surplus aerial reconnaissance lens . It worked quit well.

dcarch[/quote]

You can't beat the military for optics. But, I'm confused with the comment about parallax correction. With a view camera, as with a single lens reflex, no parallax correction is required. What you see is what you get unless there is barrel distortion or edge fall off. Now if we're talking a range finder camera or a twin lens, thats a different story.

[quote=neoguy;78452]You can't beat the military for optics. But, I'm confused with the comment about parallax correction. With a view camera, as with a single lens reflex, no parallax correction is required. What you see is what you get unless there is barrel distortion or edge fall off. Now if we're talking a range finder camera or a twin lens, thats a different story.[/quote]

Not "wine-barrel" distortion. Parallax correction is to correct "key-stone" distortion. For a view camera, you can tilt the film holder in many ways to achieve this. They also sell parallax correction lenses for SLR cameras which can move up and down the optical path to achieve this.

dcarch

I am a retired Electrician out of Local 1 IBEW St Louis/
[U][FONT=Times New Roman]Metal Halide [/FONT][/U][FONT=Times New Roman]potential pitfalls/

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]Metal halides produce great quantities of lumens, and beautiful lighting effects. Used properly by themselves or in concert with fluorescents they are the closely mimic natural lighting for gardens and other systems. My three gripes with metal halides however stand: 1) Their high purchase and operational costs, 2) Safety for your system, home and self, and 3) The fact that full-spectrum fluorescents will give you the quality and quantity of light you want/need for much less cost and danger.[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]Another real concern is the potential for explosion from these 'high-pressure' light sources getting splashed, or otherwise ruptured by inconsistent warming. Keep the lamps, fixtures and shields spotless, and clean them only when cool.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]Full-spectrum fluorescents are available in a variety of lengths and wattages in three formats: regular, High-Output (HO), and Very-High-Output (VHO) formats, and compacts. The other-than-regular types require special ballasts, end caps, holders and fixture pins, that burn lamps and phase shift more quickly. [/FONT]

[B][FONT=Times New Roman]Bulb-Life:[/FONT][/B][FONT=Times New Roman]for metal-halides is somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 hours. For loss of spectral integrity and brightness reasons they should be switched out once a year.[/FONT]

[B][FONT=Times New Roman]Bulb/Fixture Types:

[/FONT][/B][FONT=Times New Roman]Be aware that there are metal halides, and other lighting modes that have color temperatures of 5,000 Kelvin or less; you don't want these. They are deficient in necessary light in the blue-end part of the light spectrum. However, this limitation can be made up with adding actinic or equivalent fluorescents.

From what I have found to use a light to flower/ High Pressure Sodium works well.

P.S. all this came to me in a Dream while staying in a Motel 6 ;)
[/FONT]

Aw shucks I should have added,,, whew if you want to buy one, aw lets say 175 watt/visit your walmart and get whats called a Night Watcher for around 25 bucks/Make sure its the type of bulb and of the wattage you need.
Note they have a photocell switch on top.rap black electrical tape around it ;)

So COOL!!!!! What an awesome idea!