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DIY Reflector on the cheap

hoosierdaddy

Active member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Many have been interested in my old DIY reflector that I used with 150hps.
I still use the reflector in my stud box.
I'll go over this thing quickly, as there isn't much to it.

You will need:
Piece of aluminized insulation board.
(I use Dow SuperTuff R x 1/2" this comes in an 8x10 sheet for about $12)
Roll of aluminum tape.
Knife (carpet knife is best)
Straight edge (yardstick)
Piece of uni-strut or some sort of mounting bracket


I made my reflector 18" deep
I cut a piece of SuperTuffR 18" x 26"

Then I make a small cut on one side of the board every two inches...do NOT cut all the way through the board..all you want to do is cut through the aluminum sheet on that side only. And you want to cut THE BLUE SIDE!
Leave the aluminum side for reflection.
Best to make 2" marks on both ends of the board and then lay your yardstick down lining them up, then lightly cut the top layer.

Once you have the one side cut every two inches, lay each section on a table edge and break that piece. It will not come off, and will break cleanly with a swift downward motion. Practice on some scrap first if you are uncomfortable with this. First time you will see it breaks like magic.
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Once you have all the sections broken, open each section up until the gap is 1/8", then tape it with a small piece of alum. tape so it stays.
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When you get done, you will have this:
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Mount on a channel or piece of uni-strut to hold your light base, and hanger, and you are done.
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This configuration can be used with two 150hps bulbs facing each other. I used the now discontinued econolights vapor tights.
42896cab04.JPG
 
G

Guest

Thanks a lot for posting this Hoosier, you go into great detail and the finished product looks great! Definitely doing using this to complement my DIY cooltube.

Really helping me plan out my first setup, thanks a lot for your posts!
~A
 
I plan to use a fan mounted directly to the bulb mount in a simliar way you have done here. I am however a bit worried about vibrations from the fan shortening bulb life.

Have you noticed any shortening of bulb life from this setup? For an easily replaceable 10 buck 150W HPS I wouldn't really worry, but I'm planning on using this on a fifty buck CMH lamp that has to be mailordered.
 
K+ Hoosier. That is cool. Where did you find the 1/2 inch Supertuff R? The lowes and home of pot only have 1-inch and thicker around here.

-dTv
 
This is a very good idea but there might be a cheaper way. Buy a dryer duct. It is a piece of aluminum that is in that shape already but i would prefer yours better
 
I am going to do this tomorrow for a 600 watt how big should I make the reflector? This one is 26 inches for a 150 so I guess 36 inches would be better for a 600 watt? Or should I just leave the dimension the same and just make it longer?

I need one reflector to cover as much of a 3' wide x 6' long space. I will be using two 600 watts to fill as much of a 7'x7' space as possible. I will be dimming 1000 watt bulbs so technically I could run them at 1k watts but I would think it would be too much for the space..
 

toastfighter2

Active member
Although this is an option for lower wattage lights, I would not do this with anything above a 150w light just to be safe. Styrofoam burns pretty good the last time I checked, and a thin sheet of foil just doesn't seem like it would cut it on a 400w light, let alone a 1000w. Now if you were to use a cool tube in combination with this design, I am sure that you could do whatever you wanted with it.
 

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