# Best way to attach mylar to tank hood? Glue?



## jreich (Feb 11, 2009)

i used super glue and aluminum foil not easy to work with but it actually turned out ok spray glue would probably be easyier but tape off anything you dont want to be a sticky mess.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Do you have the same Eclipse type of tank? If so, I'd be interested in seeing where you put the foil.

Superglue is an interesting idea though. I could do just the edges instead of trying to put a full coating of glue.

Good idea about taping things off if I use a spray. Thanks!


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## cah925 (May 18, 2007)

I bought a can of spray adhesive from Home Depot. Spray it on nice and thick, lay down the mylar, then use a credit card (or similar device) to squeeze all the air bubbles out and help press the mylar to the fixture. Then give it time to dry and you're ready to use it.


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## jreich (Feb 11, 2009)

yea i had to use the credit card trick also... waste of time if you leave it wrinkled and bubled


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

cah925 said:


> I bought a can of spray adhesive from Home Depot. Spray it on nice and thick, lay down the mylar, then use a credit card (or similar device) to squeeze all the air bubbles out and help press the mylar to the fixture. Then give it time to dry and you're ready to use it.


This is basically what I had in my mind. It's good to know someone who's tried it already.

Which spray adhesive did you use?


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## jreich (Feb 11, 2009)

superglue worked because its all i had and made it work... but messy to work with if ur not carefull. dont want aluminum foil attached to your fingers, or whatever else.


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## jflng (Apr 5, 2007)

I used some reflective tape I found at Lowes. I wanted it to be less permanent than glue in case I ever wanted to remove it. That was almost 2 years ago, and it's still holding up well.

You might not gain anything from using mylar. PM Hoppy. I believe he did some research on the matter.


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## snafu (Oct 9, 2004)

seems like shape/profile is as important as reflectivity when it comes to reflectors. i wonder if you can make a small reflector out of a small piece of aluminum/steel sheet metal to get a basic shape, and then use contact cement to attach the mylar to the shape. then screw the whole thing in behind the light bulb. maybe use a non-flammable contact cement? i think the DAP contact cement is good for temp ranges between -40 to 180 degF.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

I'm sure I could do a lot of modifications that would improve the lighting, but this is a matter of I already have the mylar so I see no reason to not go ahead and use it.

snafu, was the DAP contact cement workable for awhile? I had thought of contact cement, but thought that stuff hung on for dear life the instant it touched so no chance of smoothing it out.

cah925, could you tell me the name of the spray adhesive you used?


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Contact cement if applied correctly grabs the moment it touches, and you can't shift the parts at all after that. I used 3M Super 77 spray cement for many similar projects. It works much better. You just spray it on one surface and immediately lay the second surface on the sprayed one. That gives you a minute or so to shift the parts around a little.

I did some tests about a year ago with aluminized mylar, aluminum foil and sprayed on white paint. I was astonished to find that the mylar was the poorest reflector, and aluminum foil was just slightly better, if at all better, than white paint. If you don't look at the reflector as a mirror, which it isn't supposed to be, but as a surface that reflects the most incident light, you can understand that. We think surfaces that make good mirrors are the best reflectors, just because we can see such a good image of something in a mirror. But, most mirrors reflect far less light that good white house paint does. You can't see your face in a white painted surface, but shine a light on it and most of that light is reflected.


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## FSM (Jan 13, 2009)

Maybe I like to admire myself in the mirror finish of my aluminum reflectors, bathed in the glow of T5HO bulbs. 

Only sometimes.


I modified my single bulb 30" fluorescent fixture to hold two bulbs (transferred the ballast and stuff from an identical fixture). It had a white reflector, which wouldn't fit after I was done. So I used aluminum foil and it seems fine. As it turns out though, using hot glue around hot ballasts is a bad idea. I had to drill a few holes and screw them in.


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## snafu (Oct 9, 2004)

i've used the neoprene-based contact cement often for attaching tolex to wood and have found it pretty forgiving, much more so than the other types. it's best just to try out some test scraps for doing the real deal.


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