Lighting equipment is both heavy and fragile, which makes traveling with projectors, bulbs and gobos seem daunting. However, there are ways to minimize the risk of something breaking or being damaged in transit, whether you’re traveling by plane, train or automobile.
Below are some of our top tips for traveling with gobos to eliminate any danger from the moment you pack them up until you return them to storage:
Projectors have many pieces that could be damaged in transit if they aren’t properly secured.Let them cool down – Even LED projectors get warm, and if you pack them up immediately after use you create a fire hazard within your travel cases. Gobos and lights are best packed in foam, which could melt or combust when in direct contact with hot lighting equipment, so give all of your projectors a few minutes to cool off after ever use.
Remove large bulbs – With larger light bulbs, such as halogen and discharge bulbs, it is also important to remove them from the projector and package them separately in their own foam cases to minimize the risk of breakage. Unpacking a projector with a broken bulb is a major health risk, as you could be severely cut, and depending on how the bulb breaks it could become extremely difficult to remove, effectively making that projector useless until you have time to properly dismantle it and get the remains out.
Store metal and glass gobos separately – Glass gobos, while resilient are the most fragile, so making sure to store them securely and separately from other equipment, especially your metal gobos, is important for arriving at your destination with everything intact.
Use the right cases – Packing all of your equipment in the right cases is incredibly important when traveling with lighting gear. Simply throwing projectors, donuts or gobos in a bag or box could result in major damage upon arrival, but storing everything in properly protected cases with foam inserts so the equipment can’t shift around will keep it all safe and sound on every trip.
If you need to purchase any lighting equipment, be it traveling cases or custom gobo designs, contact GoboSource and we’ll hook you up with the necessary tools for any and all of your lighting demands. Make sure you have all of your travel necessities in order before you start moving your lighting gear around, or you could damage the equipment, your team or your customers accidently.
