Gobo questions.

[Excalibur]

I recently bought an Equinox Gobo projector and have only used the metal gobos so far. What effect do the glass ones give? I've got a client interested in this. Thanks.

[Imagine]

The glass ones are just colour filters aren't they? (the ones that came with mine were anyhow).

Or are you thinking of having custom made jobbies?

[Pe7e]

The main difference is with glass gobos you can project full colour complex graphic and photo images in both LED, halogen, or discharge lamped fixtures, as they aren't affected by the heat. They also don't suffer from the 'stencil' effect when using text containing the letters A, B, D, O, P, Q, and R. If you are using a LED fixture you can print your own GOBOs with an inkjet printer on to transparent film saving a small fortune (glass GOBOs aren't cheap) I suppose it all depends on the budget the booking allows for, unless you can find cheap generic glass GOBOs that the client is happy with, I think custom glass GOBOs are a non starter for most mobile work unless of course the budget will allow. Since you have a LED fixture, you could enhance the appearance of a metal gobo by using a piece of colour film, but this will obviously reduce the luminance and a 30W fixture could struggle with this.

[Shaun]

There are design limitations with metal. Think of the metal design like a paper stencil being cut. It has to be cut in such a way that all the pieces join so none parts fall away. Where as a glass design can be more intricate as nothing is cut away. I find this is the main benefit of glass over metal.

[rth_discos]

Has anyone had any luck with printing gobos? I find the quality is quite poor - have tried both laser and inkjet

[DJIanScott]

The glass ones are excellent. I suggest a good look around the Projected Image website - www.projectedimage.com - they create custom glass ones in monochrome (colour is really expensive) and specialise in Bride n Groom designs.
I've just bought the astonishingly good ADJ Ikon Profile projector and will be adding the service to all my quotes in future (and getting custom logo ones made too for the business)