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Avoid scratching or polishing the side of the gobo with the aluminum coating. This side consists of a thin layer of aluminum that has been treated in order to be able to produce fine details at a very high resolution. It is recommended to hold the gobo by the outer aluminum ring and not by the glass. It is advised to wear latex or cotton gloves when holding the gobo, this reduces the risk of fingerprints and oily residue on the glass or optical coating.
The black surface MUST be placed in the projector facing the front lens and the polished (silver) surface facing the bulb. Therefore it is necessary to know which type of projector that is to be used. Placing the gobo facing the wrong direction will result in immediate breakage and void any warranties.
The glass and optical coatings we use are capable of withstanding very high temperatures for prolonged periods of time. Even after many thousands of hours of use, the colors do not fade or disintegrate. Similarly we use a special silicone adhesive to laminate the gobo layers together, which can withstand a continuous 205° centigrade - considerably hotter than a domestic oven. Our full color gobos are suitable for use in virtually all automated lights as well as profile spots and projectors. An exception to this is the 2kw halogen lamp which can generate temperatures in excess of 400° centigrade. So we therefore advise against using full color gobos in these fixtures.
It is very important to try to avoid getting dirt or grease on to the surface of the gobos as this can cause heat to build up in these areas causing hot spots, these hot spots may damage the coatings. The aluminum coating used on the gobos is very thin and is easily scratched. Great care must be taken when trying to clean them. Always try compressed air first. Monochrome gobos may be cleaned by very gently using a cotton bud moistened with alcohol or acetone. Full-color gobos need to be treated with extreme care, the color layers are very vulnerable due to the very thin glass used. We strongly advise you against trying to clean them, call us for advice.
It is a black optical coating beneath the highly reflective aluminum coated surface. This black coating absorbs the internal back reflections from the projection lens within the projector. This coating is a light suppressor that can greatly reduce the halo or glow around the projected image resulting in higher contrast of the projected image.
There are a number of big advantages with glass gobos, the primary one being the absence of tabs to hold the image or inner pieces of test together as with a metal gobo. The benefit of this is that the image can be reproduced with very high resolution and detail. Another big advantage is that metal gobos heat extremely hot and the tabs tend to burn off rather quickly and this causes the image to distort and eventually fail, Glass gobos will not distort or melt when used continuously.
Our gobos are processed at 3600 dots per inch, with a line screening (the process of converting photographic material to 'half-tone') of 600 lines per inch.
Our goal is to reproduce your artwork as close to the original as possible. Though there are many different factors that will affect the end result in the use of gobos. Some possible examples are: the color temperature and intensity of the bulb in your lighting projector, environmental lighting and even which surface the image is being projected upon. For more information about color matching, click here.
