More Smoke and Mirrors

[QUAZ HOLT]

Scott holds paper in the light beam and smoke is seen almost immediately.

Moments later the paper starts burning. We figure it's hot.

Maybe a little to hot for a solar cell. The mirror size is 20.5 inches or 521mm for you metric types.Redirecting research to water heating.

To cool for school! Bill.

[asheets]

I recommend taking a look at this site: http://www.solardeathray.com/ -- although, your's might be an improvement.

[QUAZ HOLT]

This unit is not a death ray but an adjustable solar concentrator.

Don't break my focus man() lol Bill.

[willib]

451 but who is counting , you fit right in here quaz , this diary section should be renamned experimenters "R" us

what did you use on / as a mirror? , plexiglass ? with a mirrored side , where did you find that?

[QUAZ HOLT]

Willib, I obtained this plastic at a Cadilac Plastic. A store that sells all types of plexiglass. The price was a little expensive but I say "for the sake of science". Wrecked a lot of stuff with this saying. The plexi is 1/4 inch or 6 mm thick. Also Glass bends a little. Bill

[SparWeb]

Please tell Scott not to hold the paper with his bare hands next time!

Suntanning seasons has almost arrived...

[pyrocasto]

Ahhh no reason to not hold it while it burns. :p

They are quite addictive though, and somehow everyone's amazed at how good they work.

Mine:

http://www.anotherpower.com/albums/album34/mirror_cooker.sized.jpg

[dinges]

I see that at first you used aluminium foil but have later switched to tiny square mirrors. You see much difference in performance? Enough difference to justify bothering with cutting & placing all those tiny mirrors?

Looks very nice. Am looking for a small parabole antenna myself to tinker around with. Was thinking of alu foil, covered by epoxy or varnish for durability.

Peter.

[pyrocasto]

I would sugguest using mylar, as it would work much better than aluminum foil. That's something like what I used, a shiny plastic. The stuff I used was actually from a hobby store though, and caim with a sticky side. Stuck it on and was done.

http://www.mirrorsheeting.com/

For some reason I thought I burned wood faster with the mylar, but it must not be true because I can barely melt aluminum cans with the mirrors. Boils water faster with mirrors as well.

Worth the effort though? I'd probably stay mylar since it's just so darn easy next time.

[dinges]

Have you considered using space blankets? They aren't self-adhesive, but it should be possible to glue them down. IIRC, they have a golden and a silvery side.

Is the foil you are using water resistant, or did you cover it with a clear coat?

Thought of the space blanket right now. Don't know what kind of glue will stick to mylar, but maybe it's an idea. Checked out your links (but am in Europe, so can't order), prices seem ok, but a space blanket is almost for free (just a few $).

Peter.

[pyrocasto]

The foil I used was plastic, so it needed no coating. It's gotten quite dirty and cleaned up nice as well, so I've had no problems with it yet.(except for the store not having enough)

If you can find an easy way of gluing space blankets or mylar that'd work easy and dirt cheap. I'd give the spray adheisive a try, like you get at a Walmart or Lowes type store.

I just got a call from a guy with a satelite dish for me, so I'm hoping it's a fiberglass one and not the aluminum mesh ones. If so, I'm going to do mylar, if it's aluminum, it will probably get scraped for gas $.

[SmoggyTurnip]

What is a space blanket?

.

[dinges]

Thanks to the magic of google:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_blanket

[hvirtane]

Checked out your links (but am in Europe, so can't order), prices seem ok, but a space blanket is almost for free (just a few $)

There is in Europe available shining like chromium plated plastic, self adhesive. It is meant for covering books. A bit costly, but otherwise good.

I a made mirror from a satellite dish of 80 cm dia some time ago. Used it for cooking experiments and run a model steam engine with it. A quite big problem is the distance of the focus point, which is far from the dish. It is a quite dangerous thing.

- Hannu