DIY Lumenwhatever reflector

[Anonymous]

I don't want to call it that other name since the mods over at RC got a little scared when Pacific Garden Supply told them the post was in violation of a copyright (which it wasn't... but that's another story)

Anyways, wanted to see how easy/hard these are to fabricate, and while it did take some time it wasn't that hard and quite cheap.

The aluminum flashing (HD) , reflective mylar (tapplastics), and assorted fasteners (glue/rivets/etc) all ends up costing me around $25 and there's enough leftovers to make almost 2.

The time to do this, easily a saturday afternoon project, and can be done in 4-5 hours depending upon your level of skill.

Here it is after I fabricated the shell

Then I added mylar (which isn't as distorted as the picture looks)

Finally mounted it in a rinky dinky way (still need to iron the bugs out of this step

 

[Anonymous]

Looks pretty good.

It shape an appearance looks alot like the real deal. I wonder how it would stack up in a Sanjay test? Bang out another one and send it to Sanjay.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Hahhaha, yeah I'll bang out another one, but it's for the other side of the tank!

 

[Anonymous]

You copying another companies design DIRECTLY is patent infringement. THe thread you put up at RC with the measurements is infringing on their product.

Part of the cost for anything is the R&D it took to make the first one.

B

 

[Anonymous]

Well first it wasn't me who posted the measurements. Second, I believe this was hashed out over at RC, there was no actual patent on the design, only a trademark on the name. Now that may have changed since then, but personally I don't see any innovation in this product other than it's a helluva lot easier to make than a true parabolic reflector, but then again I'm not a patent attorney, I'm sure they're as vicious and bloodthirst as real ones in order to lie and cheat to get what they want

But posting diagrams is infringement? How can this be so considering you can simply see all diagrams in the patent (if there was one)?

 

[Anonymous]

Well first it wasn't me who posted the measurements. Second, I believe this was hashed out over at RC, there was no actual patent on the design, only a trademark on the name. Now that may have changed since then, but personally I don't see any innovation in this product other than it's a helluva lot easier to make than a true parabolic reflector, but then again I'm not a patent attorney, I'm sure they're as vicious and bloodthirst as real ones in order to lie and cheat to get what they want

But posting diagrams is infringement? How can this be so considering you can simply see all diagrams in the patent (if there was one)?

From Dan's (owner) mouth to your ear, it is patented

 

[Anonymous]

I don't think DIY'ing something for your own use is a patent infringement. As long as you aren't trying to sell them, I think you are on the right side of the law.

I'm not an attorney, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Select last night.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah Gresham I found the patent at the USPTO.gov, complete with diagrams and I said "hmm yup that a lumenarc... sorta, why the hell would they give a patent for this? Geeze I hope this patent isn't a generic one that covers all 'multifaceted arrangement of mirrors'"

But either way, I'm not going to stop posting my DIY projects if it's patented, I won't post exact specifications and the like, but there are so many DIY projects out there that copy patented work it'd be silly to go after one thing.
Not to mention it's not exactly the same, so I'm in the right even though if the law says I'm not

 

[Anonymous]

I don't think DIY'ing something for your own use is a patent infringement. As long as you aren't trying to sell them, I think you are on the right side of the law.

I'm not an attorney, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Select last night.

Louey

Never said it was, I was simply correctly Mike whom was posting they apperently didn'y have a patend. Dan, the owner of PGS and I had a discussion on this a few months ago, he told me in that conversation he does have a patend. That's all.

 

[Anonymous]

Gresham wrote:

Never said it was, I was simply correctly Mike whom was posting they apperently didn'y have a patend. Dan, the owner of PGS and I had a discussion on this a few months ago, he told me in that conversation he does have a patend. That's all.

10-4. I just wanted you (or anyone) to correct me if I was wrong. That's all.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I'll keep the "Louey told me so" defense ready incase I get sued

 

[Anonymous]

Gresham wrote:

Never said it was, I was simply correctly Mike whom was posting they apperently didn'y have a patend. Dan, the owner of PGS and I had a discussion on this a few months ago, he told me in that conversation he does have a patend. That's all.

10-4. I just wanted you (or anyone) to correct me if I was wrong. That's all.

Louey

IMO posting the "reverse engineering" of a product, posting what products to buy and where, does cross the line.

 

[pwj1286]

mylar is that heat resistant? never would have guessed.
_________________
Cooking Chef

 

[Anonymous]

sfsuphysics wrote:

I'll keep the "Louey told me so" defense ready incase I get sued

That and fifty cents will get you out of jail!

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

sfsuphysics wrote:

I'll keep the "Louey told me so" defense ready incase I get sued

That and fifty cents will get you out of jail!

Louey

With a nickle to spare

 

[Anonymous]

mylar is that heat resistant? never would have guessed.

Yeah I wouldn't either. I tested with a piece I got from tap plastics, luckily there were some crinkles and dents in the piece and he said he'd give me the piece because he couldn't sell it (no problem!), and I glued it inside my spider reflector which kept it about 3 inches from a 250w bulb, and over those 3 days didn't see so much as a distortion or char mark from the heat. My guess is that the thinness also helps by having the heat get pulled away by the aluminum. I'm not exactly sure on this, but it seemed to work We'll see how well it works with a more enclosed fixture (the spider was quite open to the air). Eitherway I wouldn't put any bets if you used 400w bulbs.

And to further add what Gresham said, technically speaking just making a product I believe is a patent violation, I'm sure PGS could send a cease and desist order to me on my reflector but not sure how well that'd hold up.

 

[Anonymous]

Nor do I think they'd do that (extremelly nice people)

 

[Anonymous]

I stand corrected. I thought it was you who posted the drawings. My bad.

I don't mind paying good money for a well-designed product. And for the time and energy and materials, I couldn't build the two mini's I just bought.

B

 

[pwj1286]

Do you see any better of perfomance vs regular reflectors.
_________________
Honda Shadow

 

[Anonymous]

well I definately see a difference, the light is spread out over more of an area. Now whether it's a real change or a perseved one I don't know.