Hey Guys,
I have been milling around here for a while checking out everyone's work and waiting for the day I can afford to begin construction.

I came across this PYREX BAKE A ROUND bread making tube in my searches and it seems like this could solve the lightbox problem pretty efficiently.

If you cut one of the norpro bowls to fit around the tube at the center and affixed it with a clamp of some sort, then attached a fan at one end of the tube and an intake vent at the other... you'd have a self contained/cool light which would have a relfector, and no need for tempered glass.

If you created some sort of partition behind (towards back of projector) the light tube, where the air would be sucked too, you could place another, less powerful fan exhausting out the rear for the ballast, ignitor.

let me know what you guys think, I have one of these already and will be trying it out in my design, however, that won't get started until the summer.

HMMM, interesting idea. like to put the 400 watt bulb in it and see how hot the outside gets...

How much did it cost? maybe i will go get one

and whats the inside dia.?

oh looked at it again, its from the 70's?

I've done some more research and it seems the lovely people that have 'homegrow' operations for large 'tomato' plants already utilize the power of the bake a round. People use it for 400W MH bulbs in their grow boxes as a 'cool tube', with a vent and fan, apparently reducing temps by a lot.... and the fact that it is from the 70's doesn't mean it is bad, crappy.... it means you can call your projector 'vintage'!

I got mine for $15CDN off ebay.... the deals are there, just find 'em!

No i Mean its from the 70's meaning will be hard to find for eveyone to use, may be able to find only a few...

But anyway do you have a picture of how they used it, maybe you ran across one in your research.

Joe

Seems like I heard (read) something Brain was saying about... the operating temperature of this EYE lamp needs to be a certain temp. I have to wonder if this cooling efficiency would be too much.

Hey Brain! Was this about life expectancy, or color correctness, ...or am I dreaming?

Mark

The lamp performs best at it's operating temp. The lamps we use will perform down to freezing though so there's no fear of over cooling them.

The Bake a round is readily available on ebay, just type in bake a round, you'll see how many there are....

I found out that you can buy these pre-wired under the name 'cool tube' from hydroponics stores.... check that out as well...

here is a pic of how they are used in grow boxes....

Now that's pretty slick!

yea pretty cool, well mayby run cool also.
but then again Light produces heat also

Agree.

So we need to try.

I thought brain said you can't blow air directly across the bulb?

These big bulbs will probably be fine with an air stream. We've debated this a lot but since the lamps are rated down to freezing temp we're hoping it won't be an issue.

I've seen pics of people having 300+ cfm fans attached to a cool tube or bake a round... and the light functions great.... i think it'd be no problem at all....

They use MH and HPS bulbs for outdoor security lights.... and temps outside get pretty chilly... the lights still function great there as well.... (don't flame me saying the colour temp is wrong if it goes below zero, cause I know, my point is it still works!)

now i just gotta wait till i have the funds to begin!

Ijust got a pyrex bake around, and the eye bulb "JUST" fits in. there is a little room between the bulb and glas, i'm talking like 1mm room. Do you think this is enough room for air flow?
If not what other bulb can i use?

hello?...is this thing on?

yea its on, do you have any pics with it in the bakeround?

there are long skinny 400w bulbs also, but not as good as the eye.

There is no way that air would adequately flow.

Sounds like the makings of a good bulb cannon. "Ah crap, my bulb blew again, this time up through the roof!"

i'm not sure if it's enough... apparently, people are using them for growing... but most of the pic links are dead that I've found...

two alternatives to the pyrex bake a round are the kool tube, 6" diameter, or using hurricane lamp glass, apparently this works fairly well...

sorry if I influenced you to waste money, that was not my intention, do some google searches on pyrex bake a round.... or go to www.overgrow.com and search their forums... you may be able to find some good advice there!