Reflectors seem to be wicked expensive for what they are, polished metal. I thought I would try to get some polished steel from a metal finishing shop and had no luck there. Most shops didn't deal with small orders and the ones that did whould fit me in some time by Sept. I am building a light fixture to hold 3 MH, 2 96w PC and have the potential to add more PC's later. This is for a 240G tank and will be 24x72". I bought some sheet metal used for duct work at Home Depot, along with bufFing wheels and compound. What I have gotten is a really good finish. It is not a high shine mirror like a spider reflector or aqua mirror, but is more reflective than the white aluminum Hamilton uses as standard on there fixtures, and better than the dempled aluminium others use. Here's what you need.
Sheet metal, a 24x36" piece is about $8
Buffing wheels, 1 firm and 1 soft, about $8 a pop too.
White and brown buffing compounds. The white is called white rouge and the brown is tripole, or something like that. About $3 each
A good drill that wont overheat, or run out of juice.
And some time, to finish 3 pieces took about 4 hours in total.
First use the firm wheel and brown compound and go over your metal once, don't spend a ton of time on this step, about 15 minutes for the sheet. I did it in 6 sections, 1/3rd left to right and 1/2 top to bottom was a section. Do this with very little pressure, let the compound and wheel do the work here. Apply the compound to the spinning wheel, NOT the metal its self. Once you go over the piece once with the firm wheel and brown compound, swith out to the soft wheel and white compound. This is the step that takes a while. Again apply the compound to the spinning wheel. Here I found that if I have the wheel touching the metal as I apply the compond it works best, not with the brown, only the white. Again I did it in 6ths, and slowly worked each section until is was buffed out to where I wanted it. Use some pressure on this step and go over it a couple times. In the end the reflector cost was about $50, I have 2 buffing wheels and plenty of compound left over. The cheapest I found reflectors on the web was going to run $25 each for a spider type reflector, and 15 each of 36" pc reflectors. Would have put it around 135 plus S/H.
The differance is $85 saved, but not bent like the spider type reflectors are, and a near mirror like finish instead of mirror like, and 4 hours work. Works for me.
WATCH BUFFING AT THE EDGES, CAN GET TRICKY
Sheet metal, a 24x36" piece is about $8
Buffing wheels, 1 firm and 1 soft, about $8 a pop too.
White and brown buffing compounds. The white is called white rouge and the brown is tripole, or something like that. About $3 each
A good drill that wont overheat, or run out of juice.
And some time, to finish 3 pieces took about 4 hours in total.
First use the firm wheel and brown compound and go over your metal once, don't spend a ton of time on this step, about 15 minutes for the sheet. I did it in 6 sections, 1/3rd left to right and 1/2 top to bottom was a section. Do this with very little pressure, let the compound and wheel do the work here. Apply the compound to the spinning wheel, NOT the metal its self. Once you go over the piece once with the firm wheel and brown compound, swith out to the soft wheel and white compound. This is the step that takes a while. Again apply the compound to the spinning wheel. Here I found that if I have the wheel touching the metal as I apply the compond it works best, not with the brown, only the white. Again I did it in 6ths, and slowly worked each section until is was buffed out to where I wanted it. Use some pressure on this step and go over it a couple times. In the end the reflector cost was about $50, I have 2 buffing wheels and plenty of compound left over. The cheapest I found reflectors on the web was going to run $25 each for a spider type reflector, and 15 each of 36" pc reflectors. Would have put it around 135 plus S/H.
The differance is $85 saved, but not bent like the spider type reflectors are, and a near mirror like finish instead of mirror like, and 4 hours work. Works for me.
WATCH BUFFING AT THE EDGES, CAN GET TRICKY
