I fancy having a go at soething like these ( but down the side of the garage
to put some light in a dark corner of the garden where the beans are trying
to grow.
http://sun-2-u.com/uk/ is an internal one you can buy

I dont want to spend £200 to try it out

any ideas for materials ?
I cant find a concave lens for the top - perhaps a car headlight lens -
Rovers and Corsas seem the most straightforward shape ?

Materials for the tube?
a sheet of acrylic 3mm mirror mounted inside a frame?
had a hunt for highly reflective lining material but havent come across
anything.

we are also looking at other options - a convex safety mirror on the garage
wall angled down has been surprisingly effective

Line anyting with aluminium foil and it becomes a "highly reflective
material".
A sheet of frosted glass IS lots of convex/convave lenses,so is a
funnel (kind of).
M.K.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Line anyting with aluminium foil and it becomes a "highly reflective
material".
A sheet of frosted glass IS lots of convex/convave lenses,so is a
funnel (kind of).
M.K.

Use aluminised mylar for a reflective lining. It is sold as survival
blankets in
Outdoors and Camping type shops. You can get deck prisms for boats at a
chandlers, they come in rectangular and round shapes I think, don't know
what they cost. You could maybe even make your own with a mould and resin.

Andy.

On Sun, 05 Jun 2005 21:56:39 GMT, p cooper
wrote:

I fancy having a go at soething like these ( but down the side of the garage
to put some light in a dark corner of the garden where the beans are trying
to grow.
http://sun-2-u.com/uk/ is an internal one you can buy

I dont want to spend £200 to try it out

any ideas for materials ?
I cant find a concave lens for the top - perhaps a car headlight lens -
Rovers and Corsas seem the most straightforward shape ?

Materials for the tube?
a sheet of acrylic 3mm mirror mounted inside a frame?
had a hunt for highly reflective lining material but havent come across
anything.

we are also looking at other options - a convex safety mirror on the garage
wall angled down has been surprisingly effective



Mirrors are terribly poor for using light that way, you'd be better
off buying some mylar from somewhere like growell.co.uk - can buy a
metre for £2.50 and sticking it over the mirror.

Mark S.

p cooper wrote:
I fancy having a go at soething like these ( but down the side of the gar=
age
to put some light in a dark corner of the garden where the beans are tryi=
ng
to grow.
http://sun-2-u.com/uk/ is an internal one you can buy

I dont want to spend =A3200 to try it out

any ideas for materials ?
I cant find a concave lens for the top - perhaps a car headlight lens -
Rovers and Corsas seem the most straightforward shape ?

Materials for the tube?
a sheet of acrylic 3mm mirror mounted inside a frame?
had a hunt for highly reflective lining material but havent come across
anything.

we are also looking at other options - a convex safety mirror on the gar=
age
wall angled down has been surprisingly effective


Dont make a tube unless you really need a tube, as they will cost you
in light and materials.

There are 2 grades of aluminised mylar, one reflective, the other very
reflective. The cheaper stuf is used for emergency blankerts, and is no
use for light tubes, as its reflectance is inadeuquate. Light in tubes
bounces many times, so its critical to use top reflectivity material
and keep it clean.

An open mylar mirror would be much easier for garden use. White
chippings on ground help a bit too.

NT