Silverplating Needed - Headlamp Reflectors

[Greaves, Tammy]

Silverplating Needed - Headlamp Reflectors

I have recently picked up two headlamp reflectors which need silverplating. Does anyone know of a place to get this done. I am in Ontario Canada but the names/address of platers anywhere would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rob Greaves

[KENNETH PORTER]

Rob:
Try Steves Auto Restorations, Inc. 4440 SE 174 Street , Portland, Oregon 97236-1381. 'Phone (503)665-2222. They did a beautiful job with mine last year.
Ken TC 4147

[taterry@aol.com]

Now that we know that Viv modifies his TC's with modern stuff, may I suggest this!! Instead of Silvering, may I suggest "Aluminizing"? I do all my head lights this way in order to improve the reflectivity for safely night driveing. You start off by having your reflectors nickel plated, then you send them to Uvira ,

UVIRA Laser Optics, Inc
310 Pleasant Valley Road
Merlin, Oregon 97532
503 474 5050

for about $45 a pair, he will aluminize them, put them under a coating of glass and presto, no more tarnishing. Works great.

Uvira, not to be confused with Elvira, is in the laser lense business, but is an old car hobbiest too. If you run into Elvira, you want to dim those lights!!!

Terry

[PMS GB Ltd]

This is an interesting "solution", but Aluminium is not as good as silver for reflecting light. I've previously compared reflected light intensity of a silvered and an aluminiun (and a chrome) finished reflector with a light meter and the silvered reflector comes out just over 10 percent better than the aluminium. The aluminiun was better than the chrome but I dont recall by how much. The same type of reflector and therefore the same profile was used for each finish, and the same bulb.

This was a few years back - but the results were in line with what Physics predicted.

Cost for silver or aluminium was the same whichever method was chosen, though Chrome was more expensive.

I'd say if you went to Aluminium you would have to upgrade the wattage of the bulbs, with consequential power drain to get the same light output.

Clive Sherriff

[ROGER FURNEAUX]

Silverplating Needed - Headlamp Reflectors Hi Rob - here are two in the U.K. - have not used them but have seen their work at autojumbles.

Keith Ardley, Classic car spares (sells mostly all Lucas lamps), 14 Bridge Road, Mepal, ELY, Cambs, CB6 2AR, Tel & FAX: +44 (0)1353 778493

Doug Taylor, Plating & Polishing Specialist (inc. Silver & GOLD!), Unit 7, Knightcott Industrial Estate, BANWELL, Somerset, Tel: +44 (0) 1934 82054

I'm sure we had the discussion about reflectivities before, and silver always comes out on top. Nowadays there must be a plastic spray-on coating which would prevent tarnishing, but I would be VERY surprised if anything has been invented which could take the heat. Maybe something from NASA, after all, Teflon was supposed to be a spin-off from the space race.

ocTagonally

Roger Furneaux

[taterry@aol.com]

Clive, this is true for fresh silver but Uvira has run test and has curves that show that in a matter of hours/days, the reflectivity of silver falls dramatically as it tarnishes and falls well below that of the glassed in aluminium......hence the long term benefit of this approach. The problem is oxidation. I don't know why he can't put silver under glass like aluminium, probably something to do with the temp. of the process but what you end up with is a reflectivity that approaches that of a sealed beam light. No wattage in bulbs is needed. The look of the final product is similar to that of fresh silver. Of course, if you have a show car, you would want the yellowish look of the tarnished silver and those don't normally get driven at night or at all......

Did I mention that that SA lense that I need is 9" in diameter?? Hope you can help with it.

Cheers
Terry

[Peter Pleitner]

Clive,
Terry is right about aluminum with a silica coating. I used to be involved with mirror systems and optics for scientific spectroscopy with airborne optics exposed to atmosphere. Coated aluminum gave the best performance. My TC's reflectors are silver plated however. I brighten them up every couple of years by pulling the rims from the buckets, popping the bulb holder out, pouring a little "Tarnex" in and swishing it about, followed up by distilled water rinse and a blow air dry. This brightens the silver to as new.

Cheers, Peter

[Austin R. Baer]

A friend of mine here in Ridgway, Colorado may be able to help. His name is John Billings; he is a master mold maker who manufactures the Grammy music awards that we see handed out on television. He has plating equipment that deposits silver via a silver nitrate deposition process (as opposed to electroplating). Obviously, he is expert in buffing a variety of materials to a very high polish, and he uses this process frequently to simulate polished metal on large scale stage props and the like. I just spoke with him on the phone, and he indicates that for the very best work, electroplating may be preferable, but where the original headlamp reflector is badly dinged, or even needs filling in places with Bondo or a similar material, silver nitrate deposition can cover virtually any material equally well, and he is willing to provide this service to members of the group. It occurs to me that a plastic or metal parabolic liner could also be devised (that would avoid risking shipping damage or loss to the original headlamps) that could become a low-cost replacement after oxidation and sulphur fumes do their work on the plating. John is highly experienced in metal spinning as well (the horn of the Grammy award is spun in his shop), and may have some other tricks up his sleeve. If there is any interest, please contact John directly. He can tell you more about film thickness comparisons (to electroplating), protective lacquer coatings that may be in order, and costs. His e-mail address is grammydude@independence.net Austin.