A while back I wanted to try coating one of these lenses:


(2.5" center hole on a 5-7/8" lens, this could be slid over the lamp)

But after revisiting the idea, I'd rather have something at least as deep as the Arc length of the lamp. I figured if ALL of the arc's light could be sent in one direction a person could diffuse it and then use a lens to condense it before aiming it at a fresnel. I'm not sure if I am explaining that right, but in my mind the light lost from diffusion should be acceptable if you are using 99% of the Arc's light. Anyways, if anyone has any idea's I'll be contacting this guy this week as I am probably going to have to get my mirror re-silvered as it has some slight chips in the coating.

I am also going to find out what other coatings he does, Anti-Reflection, UV and IR filtering.

~Lucky

I would also be interested in what method/source materials he uses - sputtering vs. chemical, soucrce materials used for coatings, and applications of.
My understanding is that the technologies are relatively simple, but the method is the art. I would be very interested in your findings if he is willing to discuss such things.

Well, so far I have only emailed him. He responded today asking me to call saying it's easier to talk about things over the phone. They've been doing it here in Vancouver for over 40 years so... I think you are right, I think it's a bit of an art.



I know nothing really about this process other than some plants do vaccum deposits, you can see in the pic above it looks like he is pouring it out of some kind of container.

Looks like he is using a chemical process to restore an antique mirror.

See http://dgmlnx2.sun.ac.za/personal/astro/telemake/silver.htm

and

http://www.atmsite.org/contrib/Coslo/silver/

for the basics of the process involved. There are several formulas that can be used, all of which involve some form of noxious chemical. Notice how in the picture the walls look so nasty. Maybe the acid reacting with the lime in the mortar?

My understanding is that chemical coatings tend to be a little more delicate than sputtered coatings, as well.

So, I have yet to speak to him about this, but in delicate does that mean that even after curing the (first surface) mirror coating will be extremely susceptable? Of the 6 first surface mirrors I have (I try not to touch them) I'm not scared of flaking off any coating (but I think these are vaccum deposited mirrors). Is there more of a risk of the coating desinigrating with the process he is using in the picture above?

I read your links... interesting, I think I'll leave that process for someone else to do. There is a reason why people are craftsmen.

I think that on one of the pages that I have looked at, they mentioned that because of the chemicals used in the process, some residue was left behind, and the mirror would need to be resilvered no matter what after a time due to decompostion related to the residual chemicals.
My concern is that the high heat would accelerate decompososion due to residual chemicals, or cause the coating to delaminate more easily than a sputtered coating.

Ahh.. that's one of the questions I'll have to remember to ask. But that should only be a concern on mirrors placed to reflect the lamp arc right? If you can think of any other questions I'll try to remember to ask them when I give him a call. If I do get him to do something, I think it would be neat to visit his shop. Maybe I could even see if he would take online orders?

I would definitely ask about the longevity of the coating in a standard household type setting and high heat setting. Being a professional, he should have some knowledge of the chemistry involved and can answer the question about heat accelerating the decomposition as well as delamination. Also, I am interested in chemical processes that might be used for other coating types. I can't really think of anything else to ask other than what the specific properties of the reflective coating are in IR and UV wavelengths.
Good luck, and I will be very interested to hear about your findings.

Thanks for the posts, I'll re-read this thread before I give him a call so that I have the best chance of remembering to ask specific questions.

Ok. Well, here's the basic rundown.

He Silvers mirrors on the side from his main business (glass working, tabletops, etc), he does about one mirror a month. He prefers to meet his customers face to face and show them the process but he would (almost in a reluctant tone) take online orders if you shipped the glass to him. I think the main reason for this is that there is no gaurantee on teh quality. Lets face it, this is the same technique that was used for the very first mirror made in history. It can have its setbacks.

On to the good stuff, he simply Silvers the glass. He offers no protective coating, so if this was done in a First Surface fashion the Silver will eventually oxidize. Normally, he Silvers the back side and then it gets painted over top sealing the Silver from teh Air.

Heat wise, he makes no gaurantees but he does quite often silver search lights for large ships. He says those lights get very hot and he never has any complaints.

As far as getting into the specifics of how he goes about doing things and the processes involved I didn't really want to eat up his time as it sounds rather involved. He did mention that is a very involved process that includes a lot of chemicals.

So my conclusion. I won't be having him resurface my First Surface mirrors, but if I had a piece of glass I wanted silvered for a projector lamp reflector I would definitely do it.

I almost forgot the most important part. Price, he gave me a ballpark price of $140CDN ($115USD?) for silvering a 10" Sperical piece of glass.



Visit his site: http://fricksresilvering.com

Frick! Thats exspensive!

LOL!