DIY reflector

[trutu]

Here is my DIY reflector, I made it from a 14"x10 foot roll of aluminum flashing, then made the bends to somewhat look similiar to the spiderlights.

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=522965

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=522961

Trutu

[Ltspd]

Very nice.

[dattack]

Nice, how did you crimp it?

[trutu]

I used the edge of the counter to make the bends, and a piece of wood, by laying the aluminum and bending it over the edge, then running the wood along the edge to make a nice sharp bend

[gilweb]

Hey man, i used the same stuff for my reflector, you may want to do what i did and use Mothers metal polish on it, i used it and it shines just like a stroe bought reflector. Great work.

--Gil

[scubadude]

Heres the reflector that I made for my 3 250HQI bulbs







Gil

Where didja get that Mothers metal polish?

[gilweb]

Hey, I belive i got the Mothers in an auto parts store, Have some good rags on hand becasue you wont belive the black gunk it takes off of the metal. I dont know if other metal polishers will work the same i just always used this on the wheels of my car and it worked awsome. Thats why i tried it on the diy reflector and it worked great.

--Gil

[trutu]

hEY nice looking reflectors

i'll give mothers a try thanks for the tip

[Kenzy]

I just did the same thing myself. I picked up some aluminum flashing and a metal polish called "autosol" from my local hardware store. it turned out really good, nice shiny reflector finish.

To polish I used alot of clean soft rags and alot of elbow grease.

Trick: Since I didn't have a buffer I used my orbital sander as a buffer. I just put a dallop of polisher on the aluminum and a folded rag on top and then used the sander to polish it up. This really saved alot of time and work. It's easier to do small areas(12"x12") at one time than larger ones.

Caution: Don't do this anywhere that making a mess might matter. This is really dirty work and deffinately should not be done in the living room or kitchen!