Color Wash
Enclosures
Here's a great idea from
Mark Zembruski. Plastic flower pots for weatherproof
enclosures for
Chauvet 200B LED color wash DMX
fixtures. These 8" flower pots are available at Home Depot and many Ace
Hardware stores.
I have cut an elongated hole which will be the bottom
of the holder. This slot will allow the XLR plugs and power cord to hang
out. Notice the splines around the inside of the lip of the flower pot.
These line up with the holes around the bottom in two places but they do
help you align your cut hole. The elongated hole is 2-1/8" from the
bottom, 2-1/2" wide and 1-3/8" high. I cut it with a small carton cutter
but a #11 Exacto blade would work too. I also drilled two holes in the
sides.
In this shot you can see the side holes. These were
drilled at where the side of the pot begins to taper. You can see the
line around the inside circumference. These holes were drilled where
there were splines along the lip as above. I did this as they were 180
degrees apart. I then hot glued nylon washers on the inside. This
reinforces the holes and helps space the fixture in the center of the
pot. I also used hot glue to reinforce the oblong hole and prevent it
from cracking. I have a two temperature hot glue gun and "Hot" setting
just about melts the pot but that way the glue is bonded to the pot. I
did a test piece and the hot glue really strengthened the plastic.
Here is the Chauvet 200B DMX color wash fixture. I
pre-installed two 12" XLR cables (eBay) so I wouldn't need to try and
connect them once the pot is installed. I also pre-programmed the DMX
address as I won't have access to the DIP switched once the pot is
installed. It's also a good idea to test the fixture before you encase
it ;-)
I also taped the plastic washers to the fixture. These washers came with
the fixture.
This was a test fit to be sure the cords fit and the
holes line up. With the two washers on the inside of each side of the
fixture, the flower pot remained fairly round.
This is the fixture (tested) installed in the flower
pot. I also added two rubber washers on each side of the yoke. This will
help seal the holes and keep the yoke from moving once the wing nuts are
tightened. I also used a little hot glue along the lip of the flower pot
to keep the fixture from rotating. Once I silicon the cover on I don't
want the fixture pivoting and possibly popping the cover off.
This is the 6" pot bottom that gets siliconed to the
bottom. 8" pot and 6" bottom tray. This way the bottom tray fits right
on the end.
This is a completed fixture in the flower pot. I used
plastic diffuser lens (2' X 4' from Lowes)and cut them in circles. A
band saw or roto zip works best. There is also a small flower pot bottom
pan (also plastic) hot glued to the back (bottom) to cover the flower pot
holes.
Once I build the stands to hold these I will add
pics.
I also taped the plastic washers to the fixture. These washers came with the fixture.