Thanks for the idea of a 3/4 scale build doctorwho8 .Do you notice my lens only has two prism rings at the top and bottom.

Yes.  And what could be done to make it taller is to do resin casts of the ribbed sections and then gluing the replicas onto the glass.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

That seems a bit of a hassle i will keep it as it is although i think my lens could be a modern reproduction

Quote from: cathlyn847 on Jun 15, 2010, 03:33 am

Quote from: cathlyn847 on Apr 18, 2010, 01:47 am
6" fresnel 360 degree clear glass
Specialty Hardware Company  Seattle WA
206-624-5785  $44.00 + shipping
"Joe Hickey" joe.h.hsc@gmail.com
NO PHOTO

Edit/repost: info still good

I contacted Joe Hickey at Specialty Hardware the middle of last month and he still had some of the "6-inch" Fresnels available at the same $44.00 + shipping. Contact info is the same.

I figured it was high time to get a decent sized beacon for the old Gallifrey TARDIS rather than the porch light sized thing it's had all these years so I bought two (always good to have a spare).  Joe was great to deal with and was very quick to ship - things were securely packed and shipping costs were very, very reasonable.

I asked him how many more he had left, but he didn't respond beyond saying he still had some more at the same price (I don't think he's done an actual inventory of them).

They are very, very nice, as previous posters have indicated - one hefty chunk of glass. The only thing I might find fault with is that they have four prism rings above and four below the central lens rather than the three on either end original Met Boxes, Posts, and those TARDIS's that sported Fresnels actually had. Still, it's a fantastic price for the real thing.

$50 or so is awfully tempting. That said, I thought I'd share another quick-and-dirty solution I just had. 

Lately I've been keeping an eye on bottles.  Jam jars, honey jars, reusable water bottles--even disposable water bottles.  A lot of disposable water bottles have a sort of quasi Fresnel shape to them.  The trouble is, the ones that have the right shape aren't any bigger than my existing lamp.  The ones that are the right size are either square-ish or have a handle molded into the side. 

There are lots of good candle holder/vases, that are the right size, but they don't have a Fresnel shape to them.  That's when it hit me:  If I take a square-ish ribbed water bottle and cut the top and bottom off it, it will have a much less square shape.  Then if I fit it over a round piece of glass, I will have something of the right size and shaped more or less like a Fresnel lens.  Should be do-able for around $15 too.  And if I don't like it and return the vase, I'm only our the buck or so for a water bottle.  I may give it a shot. 

I bought this replacement globe earlier this month for $30 with $3.50 shipping. I'll post the particulars when I get home to a real computer.

Oooh... If the size is right, the price is right!  And it beats me doing another "good enough" attempt--and then being unhappy with it. 

It looks really good.... I am trying very hard to not start the next build before I am finished my current one, but I to maybe interested in one of these.....


I look forward to seeing more of your build.

cheers

Dave

Here is the correspondence:

Okay Bob and yes we do sell them your cost for the glass is 30.00 part number 90953GS. We accept Visa or MasterCard's. Thanks   

Thank you.
Jenee' Blatzer
Customer Service Representative
KenroyHome
3723 Regent Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL 32224
www.kenroyhome.com
(904) 642-4340
(904) 642-4150 Fax
Please visit <http://b2b.kenroyhome.com> and log into your account for order status, invoices, tracking information, inventory levels and pricing. For access, please email customerservice@kenroyhome.com 

Here's a couple of pics of the globe:

Oh, and I got the information from this pic...

Don't forget to check out my post here http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1522.15#msgx41978 for another source, especially if you're working on a Matt Smith TARDIS. (My post with the link is at the bottom, and the lamp is near the bottom of the page the link leads to.) The housing looks good; you'd just need to replace the top and the existing one comes off with screws, so no cutting. And the price is also very reasonable.

Dino.

I don't know if this has been mentioned before but here in the UK Trinity Chandlers have exactly the right lenses. After losing a few promising eBay listings I did some extensive web searching and dropped them an email on the off chance; I was very coy about what I needed the lens for and got this excellent reply......

"Hello Tempus Fugit . Is it for a tardis ? We have these 6" x 7" ones at £35 plus delivery and vat . Regards Richard at Trinity Marine"



Perfect! Ordered.

http://www.trinitymarine.co.uk/

Ha ha, they know us.  We must be regular customers of theirs unknowingly. Or maybe one of them is one of us...
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

Interesting. Just ordered my lamp from Trinity Marine and they claim that they supplied one to the BBC when Doctor Who came back in 2005. As the Beeb used a load of old tat from a garden centre and not a proper lens, if there is any truth in this I suspect they supplied someone putting together a more authentic box in a bid for the TARDIS contract, and I suspect I know who that might have been.....

Quote from: Tempus Fugit on Jul 23, 2012, 03:54 pm
Interesting. Just ordered my lamp from Trinity Marine and they claim that they supplied one to the BBC when Doctor Who came back in 2005. As the Beeb used a load of old tat from a garden centre and not a proper lens, if there is any truth in this I suspect they supplied someone putting together a more authentic box in a bid for the TARDIS contract, and I suspect I know who that might have been.....

Any hints as to who it might have been?

Dino.