So i had figured one night, after not sleeping for a few days that i would take a beat up 70W HPS fixture (one of those wall pack lights) and put the guts into a desk lamp, one of the reasons i did this was the fact that when i recovered the thing the outer covering was wrecked anyway, so i essentially had a metal plate with a bunch of components hanging on my wall blinding everyone that walked into the room (except me, i don't mind it) plus, i kind of don't want LED's or CFL's lighting my room, too boring for my taste, i have a MV lamp and a HPS lamp for room lighting  

If i by some chance get the resources i may make an LPS and a mercury version

sorry had to reply to post more images

How lovely ! I've always wanted to try this only with CMH, probably 50 watts. How hot does the top of the reflector get after several hours of use ?

Did you also change the wiring in the fixture and socket, to 4 kv pulse rated parts?  and it's good to see what others would call junk get repurposed into something useful, and keep an eye on the re-stores they get all kinds of stuff with ballasts in them for cheap (like small HPS ballasts for coffee change, I got a 35 watt ballast new in the box for $3 and the bulb for another $1)

Did you also change the wiring in the fixture and socket, to 4 kv pulse rated parts?  and it's good to see what others would call junk get repurposed into something useful, and keep an eye on the re-stores they get all kinds of stuff with ballasts in them for cheap (like small HPS ballasts for coffee change, I got a 35 watt ballast new in the box for $3 and the bulb for another $1)

Oh yes, the socket is 4Kv rated, and wiring also, the only thing its lacking is a switch at the moment, i will probably get a switch that i could attach to the power cable.
Are you talking about an LPS lamp or an HPS? if its an LPS ballast I might offer to buy (im getting a few hundred bucks soon, I dont own any LPS lamps yet but i do love the colour of them , quite calming
 

HPS ballast by Sylvania (LU35/120R kit new in the box) the only LPS I've found at re-store was two 18 watt tubes, and those took about 3 years of looking every weekend and they didn't show up at the same time either, I've only heard about one user getting an actual LPS fixture from a restore (18 watt philips goldeye) on this site, but I've found lots of MH/MV/HPS and florescent stuff there from low wattage to high wattage and I think the most I've paid is $30 CDN (so $22 USD) for an entire nice new 150 watt HPS explosion proof fixture complete with a ballast, and bulb, plus the money goes to good cause allowing someone who otherwise wouldn't have the chance to become a homeowner to become a homeowner so your also doing some good, and at an average of $1.50 a bulb for HID's you can't really go wrong, the most I've seen a 400 Watt westy MV go for was $9, my trick is to grab what you find either ballasts or lamps and just keep looking eventually you'll get matching gear, but visit them often because the stuff changes pretty quick, and with all the LED retrofits happening there is always lots of good HID stuff going through the doors, even brand new stuff...       

How lovely ! I've always wanted to try this only with CMH, probably 50 watts. How hot does the top of the reflector get after several hours of use ?

Well, thats a hard one for me to answer, i might stick a thermometer to it, (i have very bad sense of temperature in my hands) For now until i get a reading, i would say it gets a little bit unpleasant to touch but its not like touching a bare 60w bulb, its not enough to burn you or anything. but, i never really need to touch it so that works well for me, also my cat loves the thing lol

PS: sorry for the late response, was a small message and im usually on this site late at night, so i over look things sometimes.

Well I guess if you don't burn your hands on it and it doesn't melt the plastic trim (or smell of overheated plastic) then you should be good.

Well I guess if you don't burn your hands on it and it doesn't melt the plastic trim (or smell of overheated plastic) then you should be good.

oh yeah if thats what you meant, yeah it gets no where near that hot lol, the things pretty nice, i think its one of the best things i've built in a long while

about 80 degrees (just measured it)

Thanks. Is that Fahrenheit or Celcius ?

What a powerful desk lamp! If I were to do it, I would use MH instead of HPS.

Thanks. Is that Fahrenheit or Celcius ?

Fahrenheit

What a powerful desk lamp! If I were to do it, I would use MH instead of HPS.

lol i dont relly got any MH laying around, i got some MV lamps but i like the colour the sodiums emit (warm) more for this application it seems to preserve my vision too

Fahrenheit

Wow, 80 ºF is only warmish. I wonder how hot a small metal halide would get. I guess I'll have to try, but time and resources aren't in my favour at the moment.