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How to make inside of tube reflective?...tia sal

G

Guest

Jan 1, 1970
0
Greetings, All

I have a tube which I would like to make the inside reflective.
Does anyone know if there is a reflective type of spray or dip that I can coat the inside of the tube with
to give it a mirror type of coating?

TIA
sal
 
M

Matthias Melcher

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a tube which I would like to make the inside reflective.
Does anyone know if there is a reflective type of spray or dip that I can
coat the inside of the tube with
to give it a mirror type of coating?

There's a chrome like color in spray cans that you can buy at hobby stores
and home improvemnet stores. The results are OK, but usually get dull over
time, especially when touched. If the basematerial is conductive, you can
also have it chromed via a car parts store. Also, you can polish a pice of
aluminum an bebd it to fit inside your pipe. The easiest an cheapest thing,
but also at mediocre quality and only in one available size, would be to buy
a polished or chrome clothes bar, those rather sturdy pipes that go inside
your closet, and polish the inside with some rotating fabric.
 
C

CWatters

Jan 1, 1970
0
Greetings, All

I have a tube which I would like to make the inside reflective.
Does anyone know if there is a reflective type of spray or dip that I can
coat the inside of the tube with
to give it a mirror type of coating?

Try your local art shop for plastic mirror foil. Roll it up and insert in
tube. Will give better results than trying to paint the inside of a tube!
 
S

steamer

Jan 1, 1970
0
--How reflective and what material is the tube made of?
 
Y

Yukio YANO

Jan 1, 1970
0
Greetings, All

I have a tube which I would like to make the inside reflective.
Does anyone know if there is a reflective type of spray or dip that I can coat the inside of the tube with
to give it a mirror type of coating?

TIA
sal
40 years ago, I would have said look in the Yellow pages under mirrors,
for a re-silvering shop. These people would use a modification of "John
A. Brashear's " silvering process. In this process a Silver
Nitrate/Ammonium Hydroxide solution would be Reduced to a metallic
Silver film on any surface using a Glucose solution . This is very much
equipment simpler than Vaccumn evaporation for large or irregular objects.
This is or was the method of choice for "Thermos Bottles", Dewar Flasks.

Most "Silvered objects are now Vaccumn Coated with Aluminum, very
cheaply once you acquire a suitable Chamber.

For a one time, application 25 grams of Silver Nitrate would probably
coat several square Meters. A tube would be simple to silver, using the
tube itself as your reaction chamber. I did silver my first Telescope
Mirror using this method. I recently Aluminized it in a Vaccumn Chamber,
very much cleaner and easier, but then how many people have easy access
to an Electron Microscope Lab.

Yukio YANO
 
C

CWatters

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yukio YANO said:
40 years ago, I would have said look in the Yellow pages under mirrors,
for a re-silvering shop.

If it's a metal tube you could get it chrome plated easily.
 
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