Professional DIY KINO Flo's in a case

[danielschweinert]

So I've started a new thread here about my DIY KINO Flo's. Maybe someone is interested in building his own Flo's and needs this info:

I've noticed that the original Divas use dimmable OSRAM ballasts and flicker / color shift may occur when dimmed below 50%. Therefore I've built my own 4ft 4 Bank KINO's with OSRAM Pro series ballasts (not dimmable - don't need that) and they're superb! I've made a flightcase out of them so they're very portable. I've used some sort of corrugated plastic named CON Pearl 7mm (used in higher-end flightcases where lightweight matters). The most important thing is to use a very good ballast and of course lamps with high CRI. You can even upgrade china knockoffs and make them flicker free by replacing the ballasts and lamps (if there is enough space and the wiring is of good quality).

Mor infos on my blog:
http://www.schweinert.com/blog/files...795026-46.html






I don't have a real schematic or video but I can give you the measurements of the flightcase (half-shell). Price for the materials were approx. 200,- EUR per DIY KINO Flo. I could have made them much cheaper but I picked only high quality materials.

Flightcase (half-shell): 1300x350x100mm
Flightcase material: CON Pearl 7mm (hard to get! 120,- EUR / sheet (2300mm x 1590mm x 7mm)
Materials for the Flightcase: aluminum profiles, detachable hinges, blind rivets, ... check any flightcase online-shop they have great stuff if you want to build your own flightcase

Lamps: Osram T8 L 36W/954 LUMILUX DE LUXE Daylight G13 (6,- EUR / tube)

Ballast: Osram EVG QTP8 2x36W Quicktronic Professional (14,- EUR / ballast) EAN 4008321131645
http://leuchtmittelcenter.de/Osram-Q...6/230-240-VS20

Aluminum anodized reflectors: almost doubles the light output (14,- EUR / reflector)
http://arnolicht.net/T8-Aquarienrefl...enge--611.html

Also take a look Joe Edelman's diy videos maybe you find another way to build them directly with stuff from your home-depot:
http://www.iso1200.com/2012/03/diy-f...hy-studio.html
http://www.joeedelman.com/blog/photo...-lights-cheap/

Here are 2 quick drafts of the flightcase (half-shell) and how to arrange everything to get 4 DIY KINO Flo's from 1 sheet of CON Pearl 7mm.





Check youtube or vimeo on how to build a basic flightcase. There are tons of tutorials about that. Just use the above "CON Pearl 7mm thick" or any other sort of corrugated plastic instead of wood and you will get a really lightweight flightcase.

[Howie Roll]

Daniel, what a great idea, and the execution is flawless. Is that your personal CNC, what model? How do you mount them? Is that a baby pin in the center, and you flip it? Do you think those switches are protected enough, maybe a recessed mount? Sorry for the 20 questions but this is really impressive work. Good Luck.

[danielschweinert]

Thanks very much.
Yes it's my own CNC. I bought it off ebay long long time ago and did some modifications to it. I think it's not produced anymore. Nowadays there are really good and cheaper alternatives like the ones from: http://cnc-step.de/en/

Actually it's a wall mount with a pin. I flip it and can connect it to a C-Stand... http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00I...ls?ie=UTF8&me=
or connect it to this calumet umbrella holder: http://www.calumetphoto.de/product/c...rchterm:mf6830
I used knurled screws to fix the wall mount to the flightcase: http://www.ganter-griff.de/de/produk...hem-Kunststoff

The switches are recessed because of the spheric corners but now I would probably do it a little bit different. I had to build them quick so it's not the best way to do it.
Now I would buy such a recessed plate from the flightcase shop and mount the switches to it.
http://www.flightcase-teile.de/fligh...hwarz/102/2014

[Howie Roll]

Thanks for the links, great blog.

[Tim Hole]

This is great Daniel, thanks. Will look at this when I'm not meant to be doing other things...namely writing

Will likely have questions

[MiguelFranco]

These look like something I would buy.

[djend]

How heavy is the whole unit? It looks really good and compact I must say.

[cassidyhilton]

These are genius. What can you say about the light quality and such? Are the lights pretty soft, good CRI? Have they proven to be pretty durable and reliable? Any shots you have lit with them would be much appreciated. Thanks for posting this, excited to see more!

[danielschweinert]

Im still very happy with my lights! They're really soft. Can't say much about CRI because I didn't compared them to original KinoFlo tubes. If necessary I could replace my Osram tubes with KinoFlo ones because the dimension are exactly like the original KinoFlo 4ft 4 bank. Here is a music video where these lights where used.

https://vimeo.com/88909655

Here is a test shot of a friend of mine to check the skin color. I really love these lights!

[KurtF]

Very nice. Lovely, wrap around highlights. Nice build on your units.

[andieymi]

Nice!

Is there a way to get a list of parts you used on the units?