Low cost moving heads with replaceable gobo or gobo wheel?

[cadcoke5]

I generally find most of the gobo choices on units that have fixed gobos to be useless to me. So, I am shopping for a fairly low cost moving-head fixture that has replaceable gobos. I mention price, both because I want to purchase between 10 and 20 of the units, and also because lower cost tends to indicate lower weight and size.

Years ago, I looked at some of the under $100 USD moving-head fixtures. And while they didn't have replaceable gobos, I priced out a custom laser-cut gobo wheel at around $90. It turns out the ones I looked at would require a major disassembly and a very difficult reassembly. But, perhaps someone can recommend a unit that has a gobo wheel that is not too time-consuming to replace (i.e. less than half hour)?. Also, I realize that the method it uses to be attached to the stepper can't require custom machining. Ideally, just a flat disk that can be laser cut to create a custom gobo wheel.

I am surprised that no one seems to be offering custom gobo wheels as a service. Though, if they are all very difficult to swap-out, it may not be worth the hassle, and the more professional units that are designed to take replaceable gobos are preferred.

-joe

[cadcoke5]

I ran across a video, where a guy not only replaces the gobo wheel, but he uses a 3D printer with ABS Filament (PLA went soft) to create the gobo wheel! I am not 100% certain that is a good idea, but it seems to work for him, and the wattage of his fixture.
His fixture is a generic one, so it is not really possible to know exactly what he has, and the LED power, which would greatly influence if a PLA printed gobowheel would survive the temperature. But, I am reassured that it is not that difficult to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS16WW_C7Wo

-Joe

[conanski]

You are going to want a fixture that has a gobo wheel designed with removable gobo holders, otherwise the whole fixture has to be disassembled to change them and that gets tricky because the wheel position affects image focus so it has to be acurately positioned because you want all fixtures to be exactly the same. It also helps immensely if the gobo size is common... used in a number of brand name fixtures, otherwise getting a custom gobo made may be impossible. There are companies out there that make custom gobos in almost any size such as TheGobo.com, they can create a steel or glass gobo in a stock pattern or your custom graphic. I have used this company for many jobs over the years but I'm usually buying Size B gobos for a Leko projector which are about 3" in diameter, a moving head typically has gobos in the 18-22mm range. I have also tried printing my own gobos on transparency, this works fairly well with LED fixtures as there isn't a lot of heat generated but my 200w LED leko will still wrinkle the transparency paper which distorts the image so it's not ideal. I think anything 100w or less wouldn't be a problem.

I just changed some gobos in a set of 230w moving heads I own, these fixture do have removable gobos and after doing the first one I had it down to about 5min per fixture to change several gobos. These fixtures are a direct from china product and are the 3rd different type I have bought form there over a 10yr period. The first set weren't really designed to have removable gobos while the second two sets are and as it turns out are quite easy to remove, the only part that has to be removed is the fixture side cover and then the individual gobo holders can be pulled out with a small set of pliers.