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Re: Reflective Material
Dirk, You had written:
>Please forgive me. I am absolutely sure I have read, somewhere on the net,
>a discussion of various reflective materials for use in DIY flourescent
>hoods, but I cannot, for the life of me, find it back now that I really
>want it.
>
>Does anyone either know what I read or a good reflective material for DIY
>flour. fixtures?
I remember some references to reflective materials on the net but can't
remember where they were from.
I have used several materials for flourescent lighting fixtures on a couple
of hoods I have made. The best material I have come across is a highly
reflective material made by 3M. The name of it is SilverLux. As far as
reflectivity, SilverLux is in the high 90% range (96% to 98%). In fact,
the only material that is as close to the reflectivity value in SilverLux
is a metalized mirror. The bad news is that SilverLux is not available on a
retail level - I can get it because I work at 3M and know the engineers on
that product development team. I have been trying to get them to consider
producing a retail product for hobbyists - no luck yet.
In your case, I would try two things; Triton Bright Lights or an
aluminized mylar. The Triton (spelling?) products might even be using 3M
SilverLux materials and are generally ready for instalation into a hood.
The mylar requires more handy work as does the 3M SilverLux I have used.
Start by making a parobolic type of reflector with sheet aluminum. Coat the
surface with contact cement (not to plug 3M but they do make a great spray
adheasive for this type of application). Now the hard part, apply the
mylar to the prepared hood reflector - without any wrinkles (ha)(g). You
might be able to nearly double your light output if the reflector is shaped
right.
I hope this helps.
DWP