# De-metalized plastic reflector repair solution!



## Daekar (Apr 10, 2008)

A family member recently asked me to repair an old Everready flashlight that had belonged to her father. She's elderly now and had no idea why it didn't work, but she wanted to see if I could get it working... it has sentimental value. 

Well I got it and sure enough, all the usual suspects: contact corrosion, bent contacts, etc. However, the metal coating on the plastic reflector had almost COMPLETELY gone... there was only one tiny thin strip of metalic reflector left. After I got the light working again, I looked on CPF for reflector repair tips... only to find previous threads with the same question unanswered.

I couldn't just give up, so I started looking at paints and vapor deposition and all sorts of other things which seemed promising. Silver metallic paint isn't reflective enough, no business in their right mind would accept a PO from a private individual to do vapor deposition on a single part (particularly not for any reasonable price!)... I was stuck.

My Fiancee and I were in Michael's (a craft store we have in Virginia... not sure if it extends elsewhere) and I found an item by Mona Lisa Products called "Simple Leaf" - it's available in gold (alloy), silver (aluminum alloy), and copper (real copper) colors, and is applied in a multi-step process: surface prep, adhesive application (I used the spray adhesive), leaf application, and sealer application. I had my solution!

I removed the reflector from the light and used some very very fine sandpaper (the guys in the machine shop call it "emory" cloth?) to rough up the surface as per the instructions, then layed out some newspaper, masked off the center where the bulb sits, and sprayed a coating of the adhesive. The adhesive remains tacky for 24 hours, but I think applying the leaf within the first few hours is probably the best bet. 

Anyway, it looked like it was going to be impossible to get the leaf into the reflector without it tearing some, and it was... but the nice thing is, it doesn't matter. The stuff is so thin and the adhesive is so sticky that if you miss a spot you just press the leaf against it and it sticks. Once you have the thing pretty well covered, you can lightly run your finger over it to wipe away excess leaf and smooth out the surface. It takes about 24 hours to dry, so it was a long nervous wait but when I came back everything looked good. I didn't get 100% coverage though, there were some small cracks in the leaf which were visible if you backlit the reflector. However, from the front, especially when the bulb was on, you couldn't see them at all. If this had been a personal project, I would've continued with a second layer of leaf as the instructions mention is possible, but since I was nervous about ruining the light I stopped.

The instructions also mention a sealer. Again, if this had been a personal project (or if I had been using gold or copper) I would've continued. But the beam the light was now throwing looked almost exactly like the beam from my FiveMega MOP mag reflector and I was afraid of hurting the layer of leaf that was present or inhibiting the reflectivity of the surface. That, and it's unlike the reflector will ever be removed from the light again (unless by myself), so the additional durability was unneeded.  

Overall I am very pleased with the results. For about $20.00, I got a can of spray adhesive and a package of leaf, enough to do many reflectors. For $10.00 more I could run out and get the sealer. The end result was not perfect, but a mostly-even medium-to-heavy OP reflector that worked pretty well was the result. I cannot, of course, give a long-term report since it's unlikely I'll ever see that light again! 

Just FYI, the Simple Leaf package includes 18 sheets (13.97cm sq), and the Metal Leaf Adhesive that I bought is 170g and came in an aerosol can. I found the Simple Leaf for sale here, for a lower price than I paid, and the adhesive here on the same site, also for less than I paid. Happy reflectoring!


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## LukeA (Apr 10, 2008)

That it's emory cloth isn't nearly as important as the grit. Was it around 400 grit?

If you throughly warm up the can of adhesive in hot water, it'll go on smoother.


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## 12Johnny (Apr 10, 2008)

Thanks for the great idea!! :thumbsup:


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## PEU (Apr 10, 2008)

WOW nice find (and nice price) I would like to find these here in Buenos Aires for reflector testing, if it works as you described it would be a big timesaver for reflector prototypes 


Pablo


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## Daekar (Apr 10, 2008)

LukeA said:


> That it's emory cloth isn't nearly as important as the grit. Was it around 400 grit?


 
I think it was around there, yes. I don't think you'd need anything rougher than that unless you had some really weird base material or you wanted to increase the irregularity of the surface further.



LukeA said:


> If you throughly warm up the can of adhesive in hot water, it'll go on smoother.


 
Now that I didn't think of! Is that true for other aerosols like spraypaint as well?



PEU said:


> WOW nice find (and nice price) I would like to find these here in Buenos Aires for reflector testing, if it works as you described it would be a big timesaver for reflector prototypes
> 
> 
> Pablo


 
Well I hope it helps - Anything that will get me a Neoca 18650 sooner is good in my opinion! :huh: :thumbsup: I would suggest googling a few key words. Even though Michael's carried it in-store, I can't seem to find it on their website... might take a little hunting. I think there are probably multiple products which are similar, I just chose this one because it was the first I found... other products might not have the wax-paper backing though, and that makes it nice and easy to apply. Looking forward to hearing if you have any luck!

One small note... the larger the reflector the easier it will be to apply, I think... more room to work. Also, if LukeA's tip on temperature works the way I think it will, it might be possible to obtain a less-OP surface texture by being aware of the way the adhesive is laying on the base material. I imagine the smoother and thinner the adhesive (while still remaining effective of course) the smoother the finish might turn out.


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## Bimmerboy (Apr 10, 2008)

Excellent find, Daekar! :thumbsup:

You're right, this issue has been faced before, and as far as I can tell, there hasn't been a feasible solution.

What'd be interesting is if you do a couple different reflectors in double-layer, and run some tests to compare beam quality, and possibly any visible improvement in efficiency.


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## Daekar (Apr 10, 2008)

Bimmerboy said:


> Excellent find, Daekar! :thumbsup:
> 
> You're right, this issue has been faced before, and as far as I can tell, there hasn't been a feasible solution.
> 
> What'd be interesting is if you do a couple different reflectors in double-layer, and run some tests to compare beam quality, and possibly any visible improvement in efficiency.


 
I have an old mag reflector with this problem which I could work on... I just dont' have a maglite anymore to put it in! This makes beamshots difficult at best. (You know you're a flashaholic when you have flashlight parts for a light you no longer have...) I can tell you what would happen with two layers though: Almost no change. The cracks were so small that they didn't affect the beam quality at all (let me emphasize, I ended up with very heavy OP), you'd just get a tiny bit more light reflected. I know you wouldn't be able to tell a difference by eye, but _maybe_ with a lux meter. 

If you're thinking you'll improve reflectors that are already metallized, I'd dismiss that thought from your mind, this stuff is probably no more reflective... and if you want OP, I think there are probably better methods like sputtering that would do the job (I guess, I've never tried it)... but if you have a dead reflector or are prototyping heavy OP reflector shapes like PEU then this would be a good idea.


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## LukeA (Apr 10, 2008)

Daekar said:


> Now that I didn't think of! Is that true for other aerosols like spraypaint as well?



Warming the adhesive thins it and that reduces the OP-ness of the surface it's applied to. It should help loosen up the binder in pigment-based paints.


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## CancerLad (Apr 11, 2008)

I think that the final sealing process is important. If you are applying actual metal leaf without it, the metals will corrode over time, making them non-reflective. This will be more important with the aluminum alloy and copper leaf, but even the gold leaf is an alloy, and over time will probably corrode to some extent.


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## CM (Apr 11, 2008)

Is it possible to post pictures of the result?


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## Daekar (Apr 11, 2008)

CM said:


> Is it possible to post pictures of the result?


 
Sorry, I don't have the light anymore, and for some reason I didn't think of posting about this until after it was gone.  It's quite reflective though, and I imagine the sealer might help that some too. 

It occured to me that I hadn't mentioned this would certainly be a no-no for incans that produce any meaningful amount of heat... the adhesive smelled like you could start bonfires with it.


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## Bimmerboy (Apr 18, 2008)

Daekar said:


> I can tell you what would happen with two layers though: Almost no change. The cracks were so small that they didn't affect the beam quality at all (let me emphasize, I ended up with very heavy OP), you'd just get a tiny bit more light reflected. I know you wouldn't be able to tell a difference by eye, but _maybe_ with a lux meter.


 
Actually, I didn't mean the cracks in terms of efficiency, but the overall reflectivity of double vs. single layer. However, if by eye, under the right conditions, if you can see no light whatsoever bleeding through the "better" parts of the layer, I'll assume it's efficient enough to get the job done on an older reflector in need of servicing.



Daekar said:


> If you're thinking you'll improve reflectors that are already metallized, I'd dismiss that thought from your mind



Fortunately for me, I wouldn't be thinking that... lol. Mechanized, aluminized vacuum deposition would be a far more effective process than anything done simply by hand (i.e. Simple Leaf). That said, I have an old reflector (surface is totally gone) that could defnitely benefit from the stuff.

Once again, great thread!


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## Walt175 (Apr 18, 2008)

I think this product would work well too. One of these days I'm gonna give it a try....
http://www.alsacorp.com/products/killercans/kc/killerchrome.htm


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