So,

i want to put a lens (Focusing or a Fresnel) or a piece of glass on my 1000W flood, but i don't know where to get the materials, i looked a little bit online and cannot find a 15 inch lens, maybe i missed something, there is a lot of 14 and 16 inch lenses though  i was thinking of using the same style mount as you would see on a NEMA, it seems like it would look nicer and be sturdier than most other methods that come to mind, do they make a 15 inch version? or would i have to fashion one up? i'm no good with metal working... it'd probably look like crap... is there another option out there that would look similarly? and be as sturdy?

Maybe you could use a Fresnel lens from a junked overhead projector-remember those in school classrooms?The instructor could write on the plastic film and it was projected on the screen-kinda of another chalkboard!

oh yeah! my old school had lots of those, back in kindergarten i liked to draw "naughty words" on the teachers sheets when she was not looking lmao

The older big screen TV's also have a massive Fresnel lens inside the screen and they are normally free on Kijiji or back alleys and most you can just pull the trim and pull out the lens with nothing more then screwdriver and you'll end up with a 55 inch Fresnel, they are large enough that you can melt a stack of the zinc pennies in the sun... And just cut them up with a hot wire as they tend to shatter if you use a saw, all you need is an old toaster and a low voltage power supply and something to hold the wire tight while its hot and just melt through the plastic, do it outside as it smells...

The older big screen TV's also have a massive Fresnel lens inside the screen and they are normally free on Kijiji or back alleys and most you can just pull the trim and pull out the lens with nothing more then screwdriver and you'll end up with a 55 inch Fresnel, they are large enough that you can melt a stack of the zinc pennies in the sun... And just cut them up with a hot wire as they tend to shatter if you use a saw, all you need is an old toaster and a low voltage power supply and something to hold the wire tight while its hot and just melt through the plastic, do it outside as it smells...

Well i know what i will be hunting for now... but what about the mounting thing? I've been thinking on this for a while and i don't see really any other option than fashioning something up... which i don't want to do but if theres a cheap/relatively easy way to bend metal into a perfect circle then maybe i'll do it...

Is the reflector Aluminum or steel ? if it's steel you could just glue a few small rare earth magnets on the lens and just let them hold it in place, and add a small chain, or steel cable or a key chain ring if your worried about it falling, so it's physically attached to the reflector, and copper pipe strapping is pretty easy to bend by hand into all sorts of shapes, it's also handy for strapping down igniters and cap's inside fixtures, and it's easy to find in most hardware stores for a few bucks a roll usually 25 feet and its pre-drilled so you just need to add the nut and bolt or spring like the picture above.. 

Maybe you could use a Fresnel lens from a junked overhead projector-remember those in school classrooms?The instructor could write on the plastic film and it was projected on the screen-kinda of another chalkboard!

I still use one regularly at work !

i like the copper strip idea... i'll look into that... also im not sure if the things magnetic i will check

built a new... sorta simple lamp, outof some parts i got from work, i took off a busted shade from one of the fixtures and reused it, the medium socket that was in it originally was busted so i puled that and attached a mogul socket, that took some trial and error (took like 3 hours for me to figure out how to get it to stay... lotta bolts brackets washers and screws...) i work with junk parts so i make do... anyway... i got the shade fitted with the mogul socket... then i attached the wires to a remote ballast... it is a 175W MV, but in theory with how this thing is connected i could make it anything like an HPS or metal halide or whatever, so i will probably keep this simple, it is serving as a hanging light, it has my cheap regent clear MV lamp which has already greened slightly  

i'll call it "the bell" lmao

For throwing some junked parts together it looks pretty good, and creative, personally I think it's good to learn working with junked parts  it makes people creative and helps them solve issues later as they run into them.. 

For throwing some junked parts together it looks pretty good, and creative, personally I think it's good to learn working with junked parts  it makes people creative and helps them solve issues later as they run into them.. 

Thanks 

I think saying your lights on steroids are an understatement Owen, nice work.

Thanks man, 

So i had a slight issue a few moments ago,
with one of my lights i built

it started to produce orange smoke that smelled like burnt silicon kinda, but a little bit different from burnt silicon kindof "sweeter" i was suspecting the relay... the ballast is not warm and neither is the cap... but the weird thing is the relay still works so idk... could the lamp some how have acted like a short circuit and tortured the relay a little?

when i found out it was this, i went to go unplug it, but before i did the lamp stopped the main arc, and started an orangish discharge between the start probe, and main probe then it completely extinguished, the incandescent lamp was not triggered by the relay but i unplugged and plugged it back in and it triggered the incandescent lamp, the MH lamp was too warm to restrike... as i type this it just got cooled down enough to restrike and when it did it switched the incandescent lamp off like it should normally... why did it act all weird trying to self destruct a few minutes ago???

Hmm that is strange, I wonder if it could have been a brief power surge or something?