inside was this beautifull large diameter "closed loop" zenon tube
Ideal for using at close distance to the subject , an unbroken ring of light from a relatively large surface has less diffusion requirement than a short point source tube
OK so far... but i did not want the ring in ringlite and decided to convert it to a diffused internal reflection circular flat panel by removing the original lens and black inner tube , glued some acrillic lightguide from a lcd screen to form a flat cube. In turn this flat cube was turned into a lens on the lathe ,with an opening large enough for the objective to fit through and the outside of the lens to fill up most of the space between the objective and the tube
The back area of the lens around the objective was silvered with alu foil and the lens sand blasted to help diffusion
an Old 430 ex with bust lcd screen was used to give it full ettl and manual functions from the back of the camera
tested it functions great ,very short duration, well diffused (especially with a white skirt around the housing . The exposure is consistent shot after shot
If there are any forum members interested in doing something similar i would be pleased to prepare an illustrated "How to" step by step
