Reflector Restoration?

Greetings,

I need some help. I got a little addicted to reflector sputtering last week. I played with the crystal clear Krylon with good results. This is too cool. When the can dried up I reached for a can of clear gloss Rustoleum. The Rustoleum initially was giving more consistent results with fewer sputter coats. In a frenzy I grabbed everything with a reflector and bulb, and started spraying Rustoleum.

Foolishly I reached for one of my prized lanterns hoping to smooth out the beam. The sputter coats were superb. I waited about an hour to do the final smooth-gloss coat. Disaster! The heavy smoothing coat began to dissolve the silver finish on the reflector leaving an "Icy" looking finish. I can't replace this reflector so I am trying to figure out a way to refurbish.

Since I am not looking for a mirror finish I'm hoping there are some options. My plan is to find some kind of high gloss silver/aluminum paint (not metallic), then finish that with some high gloss clear.

Can anyone help me save my reflector?

Thanks, TR (Crying and trying to locate some glass etch to frost the bulbs on prized reflectors).

Wow! I've done some "sputtering" also on my stock Maglite reflectors and they worked out great for its intended purpose with the desired beam pattern. . .I don't want to say something that might make it worse.

Anyhow, you can get that Armour Etch from Michael's. That's the route that I'm going with instead of "sputtering" until I received Litho123's stippled reflectors!

Enjoy!

Try googling "chrome paint." There are several chrome paints available on the market, among them paints from Alclad and Alsa. Not quite as reflective as chrome but much more reflective than silver/aluminum.

Altoon,

I'll do some more looking into the chrome paint. I took a quick trip to Michael's today and found a krylon paint that looks like it might do the trick. My biggest concern with the so called chrome paints is the solvents included. The Krylon chrome paints had toluene, MEK and a few other nasty solvents. It makes me worry that the solvents in the paint may finish the job permanently by melting the plastic reflector.

CHC,

While at Michael's I also looked for Armour Etch. Armour OUCH! $25 for the smallest bottle (enough for 1500 lifetimes). I hit 3 other craft stores including JoAnn's. All of them have quit selling glass etching compounds. I'll keep looking. I think that frosting may be the best solution for my other lantern.

Thanks, TR

pizzaman said:

My biggest concern with the so called chrome paints is the solvents included. The Krylon chrome paints had toluene, MEK and a few other nasty solvents. It makes me worry that the solvents in the paint may finish the job permanently by melting the plastic reflector.

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Good thinking. Model builders are using chrome paints; they'd probably have good advice on which ones won't melt plastic. I know Alclad's chrome paint can be used on Lexan, but I don't know what reflectors are made of. Perhaps another CPFer has a good recommendation for a model builder's site or similar?

There are also silver leaf materials. You can find these in art stores. These are extremely thin sheets of silver or aluminum. You can't pick them up by hand; you need a soft, flat gilder's brush that picks them up by static electricity. You paint the surface with a light glue that will be slightly tacky after it dries, then position the silver leaf. Once it's dried and cured, you burnish it down with an agate burnisher. Then brush off the excess and varnish. This is gilding, which is how plating was done before plating.

Good luck on this.