High Tide Aquatics

DIY Lumikearc Reflector

Roll of aluminum flashing $8
Reflective Mylar $8
Being bored over the summer and really finding out how creative you are? Priceless

Decided to try to build one of these things, I measured and cut the aluminum flashing by hand with tin snips (really wish I had a nibbler), cut all 9 pieces out. Drilled and riveted all the pieces together. Surprised to hell that all those pieces actually fit together in a 3d space as well as they did.

I still have to put the mylar in, I'm currently testing that on my spider reflectors, and so far there's no noticable scorching or discoloration 3 inches from my 250watt MH bulbs, even so I might make a hole for a fan if i notice it later. I'll probably put mylar in tomorrow.

Also need to cut a hole for the mogul and bulb, also a mounting bracket, but I can do that later as well. Either way, $20 Lumikearc (tm) Relfector :)

Also will follow up as I put things together.
 
Nah it's lightweight it's made out of aluminum flashing. Infact the mounting bracket for the lightbulb & bulb I'm willing to bet will weigh more than the reflector. Still need to figure out how to mount it though.
 
Well if you have a nibbler (automatic tin snips that cuts nice straight lines) then that'll make it go quicker, but it probably took about an hour to cut all the shapes. Maybe another 2 hours to drill and rivet everything. It's fairly clean, I wouldn't sell this as a commerical product, but "good enough for government work" standard applies here. I'll see how well it works before worrying about how pretty the exterior looks.
 
not bad for 3 hrs of time. can you send me the measurements for the patterns? I'd like to try making one of these too. I'll pm you my email address.
 
And with some shiny mylar added

p7290007zu6.jpg
 
And as they said... viola it is done! (yeah yeah I know.. the pipes, that's one of my upcoming projects)

p7300005oj4.jpg


While this might not be as spanky fresh as a $130 lumenarc you can buy it definately is better than the spider reflectors I had. The mylar isn't as irregular as it looks int he picture, while not mirror flat (glue adds some amount of distortion) it is quite reflective, infact I was putting the mylar on near my tank and nearly blinded myself when I hit a certain angle as the reflection was quite bright.

Only issues I have are mounting issues, currently twine from the ceiling which is sorta ok, but it really makes leveling it a royal PITA.

I really want to make one for the other bulb now, although cutting all that stuff is a major pain :) Maybe tomorrow I'll do it when I lose power for some hours due to PG&E replacing a transformer. Also want to lay down some acrylic ontop of the tank to double up the strength then increase the opening of the holes, this is a large tank that is meant for fish and stuff not optimal light penetration.

Total Time: 4-4.5hours (weekend DIY project easily)
Cutting pieces ~1 hour
Bending/Drilling/Riveting pieces 1.5-2 hours (here my dad helped me since I was in his garage using his rivet tool, having an extra set of hands helps emensely here!)
Gluing in mylar ~1.5 hours (this wasn't as hard as I thought but did require a bit of patience.

Total cost: ~$26 could be less though.
Aluminum flashing 14" x 10feet ~$8 (got about 4 feet leftover for another one)
Reflective mylar 4' x 5' $11 (2.15/ft at tap plastics, but I used maybe 1/5th of it)
Glue (3m spray on adhesive) $4/can (I had already though so didn't cost me a thing)
Additional nuts/screws/assorted hardware $3 (depends how much you have laying around the house, not much is needed though)
 
Glue the mylar to the aluminum flashing? Nothing much I suppose, except the fact that you'll be touching it all over the place, moving it around, etc, might put put scratches and smudge marks all over the place.
 
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