Mylar Reflector?
- Thread starter DoubleMeh
- Start date
trichlone fiend
New Member
Mylar reflects like 95% of light, flat white paint reflects 85-90% of light. Aluminium foil is one of the worst reflective materials due to hot spots. Good luck.
whiteflour
Well-Known Member
Mylar is much too expensive, that's why you only get like 2-6mils of it. You could coat something with it like metal or plastic, but for the price you could just get aluminum.
Cpl. CornB33F
Active Member
No it isn't its like 2 bucks for 6 feet by 4 feet. Its worth it unless you have a big grow room with lots of plants.
whiteflour
Well-Known Member
We're talking mass production not store prices here. Mylar is a made through a chemical process and has to be sourced or you need a factory. Specular aluminum just needs a roller.
If mylar is cheap to a consumer then it's cheaper to a company that buys vast quantities of it. However lets get back to the point, forget mass manufacturing for the moment.
I have some flexible wooden panels which could be formed into the perfect shape for a reflector. If i coat these with mylar sheeting, making sure to keep the sheet crease free, would it work well as a reflector or is there some drawback i'm not seeing?
whiteflour
Well-Known Member
Wrong. These are totally different business. Manufacturers are not Chemical Labratories ie Dupont. They can buy mylar at their markup, then pay labor to process it. Or they can buy aluminum in bulk at a much better price and process it in house. Either way Mylar is a film so it has to be surfaced onto something to build a reflector or hood. It's just not feasible for profits.
whiteflour
Well-Known Member
No not really it would work. In fact it ha a slightly better reflective rating. It's simply not used by companies for profit margins alone. That's not to say there may not be some doing it.
Ok great so it would work if carefully glued to some wooden panels, if i understood you correctly. I do have a lux meter to measure the output i was just concerned it might melt or something.
whiteflour
Well-Known Member
Well wood might not be the best idea. You have to take heat into consideration too. High temp plastic or sheet metal.
Brick Top
New Member
The difference in reflectivity between polished dimpled high-grade aluminum and Mylar is negligible, some reflective hoods claim higher reflectivity than Mylar. One MAJOR difference would be durability. Mylar loses a good deal of its reflectivity when dirty so it needs to be cleaned and it will lose some reflectivity over time. It is also soft and easy to cut/scrape/tear and aluminum is much, MUCH tougher. A Mylar covered reflective hood would need to be 'relined' to keep the reflectivity up.
Who wants to mess with that when you can have basically an equal or greater amount of light reflection with a high-grade polished dimpled aluminum reflective hood?
whiteflour
Well-Known Member
Flash point, sure but it's also going to dry out a lot faster and not be as supportive. Plus if your light shorts out or starts arcing it won't catch metal on fire but it just may wood.
It would be easy enough to protect the wood from such things. But if need be i'll find a more appropriate material. Just looking to cut some costs
FRESHSMOKE
Active Member
i had a little bit of mylar left over once doing my wardrobe and i had a diy filter with foil so i just replaced it with mylar works like a treat