Obtaining equipment from lighting factories

[Ash]

For several years now, the selection of luminaires i'd not be ashamed to install is shrinking. As manufacturers stop making the stuff, it's fair to ask : Can we take the manufacturing end of things ?

Luminaires are, actually, the least of a problem :

- Many current LED luminaires still use enclosures from HID/FL luminaires. It is not a problem to source empty shells of whatever thing you want

- Many luminaire designs are just simple. The entire thing can be done with not much more than a sheet metal box (cut with Laser to order, folded and tac welded) and PMMA cover (formed with a vacuum machine, which is simple to build)

I took on me a project to resurrect the equipment from a closed magnetic ballast factory (ELTAM, a daughter company of VS). Most of the equipment was allready purchased and moved to my location. Eventually it will be back to work, and we will have secured future availability of magnetic ballasts - and ones that pass all the EU efficiency requirements at that

Electronics (ignitors, starters like "vivatronic"/"perfectstart", and even HF ballasts) are electronics - If we ever want to make our own, the manufacture part of it, is no more than ordering a circuit made to a drawing from one of the many electronics companies who do just that. There isn't really any equipment involved which would be unique to lighting

Finally, we have 2 things left :

- Applications

- Lamps

In applications, i mean why would anyone choose a non LED light source. We do know why non LED lighting is better (for reasons other than just being our favorite). We can work to show what it can do, and promote it, as specialists in our field. If it is legit, there will be use for it

In lamps, i mean that manufacturers will be slowly phasing out the manufacture of lamps. And here i am looking for collaboration :

- Lamp making equipment put out of use will be available

- The equipment, atleast the part of it which can't be reused for making LED filament lamps, will cost as much as scrap metal

- If i managed, within 3 months, being complete n00b into the world of manufacturing and still living in the basement of parents, to search and find a place (and even good one, and cheap !) to set things up, so can others, some of which are more experienced than me in many things or already have a place of their own

- If anyone got both the desire and the knowledge to even attempt this, then it is us (if we share it)

- It is more constructive than watching things gone in dispair, and better investment than wasting money on stockpiling of stuff

- Having the machinery and trying to get it to work (whether succeeding or not), is the opposite to the despair from not doing anything

- If we have it, we choose what to make on it. For example, we could make something new that will be more optimized for some application. Example : self ballasted SOX as a high Lm or "night friendly" retrofit lamp

I am looking to brainstorm with who would like to do something and see whether, and how, we could realise things