Should I keep this light?
 

I just bought a used Mole Richardson 1000W baby solarspot from B&H. Two hundred bucks and it even came with the 4-way barndoors! It's definitely seen serious use, but I kind of like how beat it looks. Seems to work all right, although I've noticed lamps seem to want to work themselves loose. There are no significant dents, but the lens has a tiny -- real tiny -- crack. You can't even see from the front, but it's noticeable when you open it up. A bigger problem is the focusing mechanism. The rails are kind of corroded and completely dry. The lever won't really move them, and when I tried to force it, one of the rockers started to buckle. Can I oil the rails? What kind of oil should I use? I don't want a fire. Also, does Mole sell replacement parts? Could I replace the rocker arms if it came to that? You can push the light socket all the way back with your hand, but who wants to do that. I really want to find a way to keep this light. It would be $500 new. Besides, we're bonding well. The barn doors are really stiff too. Can I oil them, or is it better to leave them stiff? I'm just afraid of bending the metal. There are some patches of rust on the leaves of the barndoors that someone has sandpapered down pretty well. Can I paint the leaves so the rust doesn't spread? What kind of paint? One last thing, it's more wattage than I need right now. Can I use a 300W lamp? Thanks much to anybody who can help me.

Don't oil the barndoors!!! You want them to stay where you position them, so they should be stiff when you move them.

I suggest you call Mole about your other questions. They are nice people and I am sure they will give you good advice.

Wayne Orr, SOC

use silicon spray if you must , never use oil. Oil will smoke and smell horrible and it will get allover your fingers.

It almost seems that you've bought a light that's a lot hotter than you'll ever use and there are some serious problems. The rails and the cracked lens are a biggy., by the time you buy a lens and a set of rails you mayas well have bought new.

There are varying opinions but I find that a 650 lamped down to 300 doesn't look right. The beam from thr 1000n watt lamp just wouldn't look right. The lenses are sized to present an attractive light at the specified wattage.

You've spent 200, you could spend $320 and buy a new Arri 300 watt fresnell with barndoors. It's a beautiful light, I own one.
You could buy a mole tweenie 300 for $365 with barn doors as well.

For $365 the Arri 650 with barn doors, this can be lamped down toi 300. Altman make a 300/500/650 for $305 with barn doors. I've never seen one but several friends are happy with them.

So for just a little more you can have something shiny and new and at more comfortable wattage.

This isn't gospel, just my opinion.

Thanks for the advice. The silicone spray worked beautifully. The focus mechanism works fine now. I think I'm going to hang on to this light. The crack I mentioned is only about an eighth of an inch long and doesn't go all the way through the glass. I'm guessing a bulb blew up in there or something. I suppose it could develop into a problem, but I don't anticipate that happening for a couple of years. Yeah, it's bigger than I need, but I'm planning to add a couple of smaller fresnels next year, and this just needs to hold me over until then.