First surface mirrors?

[TopHouse]

Thing is though, for a total outlay of around a fiver for an A4 it's worth the gamble.

[gliderpilot]

I got mine from fs mirrors in the US - as featured in my astronomy now article. It completely changed my viewing habits as it is such a pleasure to use.

Mark

[yeti monster]

Thing is though, for a total outlay of around a fiver for an A4 it's worth the gamble.

Agreed, and I plan to use some of the acrylic mirror to replace the damaged door mirrors on my Land Rover, a darned sight cheaper than glass ones, and they'll not be shattering next time I hit the bushes.

[Peter Drew]

Without wishing to spoil the excitement, I share the doubt expressed by Merlin that the acrylic mirrors may be disappointing optically, although for the price they could be useful for setting up purposes during the build. Many years ago I purchased a quantity of Xerox A4 size photocopier mirrors in 8mm plate glass, these proved to be pretty goog optically and I used the majority of them manufacturing Camera Obscuras.

[yeti monster]

There are also, for about 25 earth quidses, military spec FSMs, of a decent size available.

[scogyrd]

I decided to have a look at that acrylic mirror sheeting before buying it and to be honest I thought it was a bit too flimsy. As someone mentioned above it'd be ok to use when making the mount, to figure out what size mirror to use, but I think you'd run into trouble trying to keep it flat when glueing it down or screwing it to the wood.

In the end, after figuring out how much I'd need to spend on all the parts to make the mount, I decided to buy this.

ScopeTeknix ScopeTeknix Binoflex ST50 mirror binocular mounting

I've just got to wait for it to arrive now...

[TopHouse]

flimsy? the stuff I ordered from the links provided was lovely and stiff, in fact when dremeling lumps off it there's not a lot of flex, did you look at exactly the same product?

[scogyrd]

I'm not sure whether it was exactly the same product tbh. I just went to a local car parts store and they said it was a 3mm thick acrylic mirror, it cost £9.99 for an a4 sheet too!

[scogyrd]

I'm not sure whether it was exactly the same product tbh. I just went to a local car parts store and they said it was a 3mm thick acrylic mirror, it cost £9.99 for an a4 sheet too!

I just thought I'd say that I ordered some acrylic mirrors from trent plastics in the end and they aren't the same as I was shown in the shop. The mirrors from trent plastics are much stiffer, however they're all a bit bowed so maybe some thicker mirrors would be better. But saying that they might be alright when stuck down.

I've not had much luck removing the paint though. I bought some cheap paint remover from wilkos and if you use too much it takes the mirror off. I have had some success making small mirrors though, like in the vid, but making a big mirror like it is a bit tricky to say the least.

I noticed they've updated the vid too, with a method that uses stain remover instead, so I'm going to try that next. I'll post the results on here.