uncledeathmonkey: "Don't you guys worry about the combustible materials in these things??!!"
It is a concern. $2.16 up in smoke... good thing the hot tub is usually full and we're _excellent_ splashers.
hydrostream: "I have a fair amount of experience with styrofoam (carving it with red hot wire for an N-scale layout)"
One idea that I have is to use cryo-insulating structural foam. You can't cut it with a wire- the melting point is too high, and the melted foam is very tough; it has to be sawn. You can use simple solvents to glue pieces together. It is very light, paintable, and strong enough to stand on.
Mark Hoy: "I've noticed my LT150 can heat up a room fairly quickly (but not as quickly as my G1000)."
I measured the current draw of an LT150 using a B&K Precision AC power supply. In HV startup mode, it draws 0.8 Amps. As the arc builds, and it reverts LV current regulation, the AC current slowly rises to about 1.8 Amps, and by the end of five minutes, it stabilizes at 1.65 Amps, with minor fluctuations. This is an LT150 with about 100 hours on the bulb, at 115 VAC. No perceptible current change between full white and full black display.
This works out to around 190 watts running. Turning off the TV and one lightbulb actually means less power is used by the LT150, and less heat generated, than under normal TV conditions.
The perception that the LT150 generates a lot of heat comes from the fact that the main exhaust has such small area. If we could reduce that area to the cross-section of a toothpick, the LT150 would make a fair soldering iron, or box it up completely, and it would be a decent EasyBake Oven.
I prefer to use it as a projector.
apg