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building HID systems

warbeastwarbeast Regular
edited January 2011 in Life
I built remote ballast metal halide system and it works well, but I used plywood with sheet metal on it to build it. There's no fire risk, but it still gets hot and heats up the plywood, making the whole room smell like plywood. Any of you ever built one? And what did you use to build it? I'm going to buy some sheet metal to replace all the wood parts. This way it'll be lighter and won't stink.
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  • warbeastwarbeast Regular
    edited January 2011
    I'll post some pictures of the new housing for the ballst/bulb/socket.
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  • FATTY_MCFUCKFACEFATTY_MCFUCKFACE Regular
    edited January 2011
    YOU MUST HAVE A REALLY DARK ROOM TO NEED THAT KIND OF LIGHTING :o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o
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  • HellishHellish Regular
    edited January 2011
    Or a Reef. I have a 400W Mogul under a plywood hood and its been fine for months.
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  • warbeastwarbeast Regular
    edited January 2011
    Did you paint your plywood? Any pictures of it?
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  • HellishHellish Regular
    edited January 2011
    No paint, just plain wood. They did smell like burnt wood a little when the fan died, but eventually I forgot and it doesn't smell of burnt wood anymore. Even when it did, it was only noticeable if you were close. The top of the wood is warm but not hot. It is enclosed on all but the back which the whole dimensions are 72" by 24" by 6". Only 72X6 is open.
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  • warbeastwarbeast Regular
    edited January 2011
    Cool. I think it'll help motivate other people to build their own when they see videos and pictures.
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  • HellishHellish Regular
    edited January 2011
    I can take some pictures today, but they are Mogul not HID. Same technology, different socket.
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  • warbeastwarbeast Regular
    edited January 2011
    My car died because god hates me so I'll probably finish everything tomorrow or the next day. I built an all metal reflector and housing but I used shitty bent up scrap metal so it's just temporary and not worth taking pictures of.
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  • warbeastwarbeast Regular
    edited January 2011
    Decided not to even build a new one for now. The temporary one works pretty well. I had no nuts for the screws and no rivet gun, so I just used screws and tree branches cut longways. Plywood is toxic so I don't think that would be good to use without a fan blowing on it. It would probably still emit fumes over time though. So many things in the industrial world do.
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