It did work!I can't see 'why not'?? You can see in my picThe corona(??) is actually below the pan.
Solar cooker made from a satellite dish?
- Thread starter . Raine
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I tried to cover dish with aluminum foil of the type for insulating heating ducts.
Attempted to work it in, with fabrics gloves, from outside edges to inside, in a sort of spiral path.
The foil kept popping out.
Used heat gun, and made it stick to the dish.
Next day, noticed the foil popped out in the center (50 % of surface).
Pushed it in, now with fingers only, ( no heat gun).
But it popped out again. The dish surface was painted with a paint which is rather grainy, not smooth, and it did not let the foil glue to hold.
Other thing, the heat gun made the foil surface kind of matte, less reflective for light.
Another example, how NOT to do things...
Cheers, polgyver
Attempted to work it in, with fabrics gloves, from outside edges to inside, in a sort of spiral path.
The foil kept popping out.
Used heat gun, and made it stick to the dish.
Next day, noticed the foil popped out in the center (50 % of surface).
Pushed it in, now with fingers only, ( no heat gun).
But it popped out again. The dish surface was painted with a paint which is rather grainy, not smooth, and it did not let the foil glue to hold.
Other thing, the heat gun made the foil surface kind of matte, less reflective for light.
Another example, how NOT to do things...
Cheers, polgyver
Some mylar mirror film glued onto that 12 footer aimed at the sun would quickly melt that old LNBF.
... I am now in the process of cutting 12 wedge shaped pieces of mirror film to glue to my 8.5'. Going to wait till after sunset to apply them.
I've got the 12 mirror film pieces cut. Rather than applying them all to the whole dish at once I decided to just test glue some of the small leftover scaps to make sure that it doesn't bubble and does OK outdoors. I'm trying some 3M Super 77 spray adhesive with 4 small scraps on the dish now.
If this doesn't work, any glue recommendations ? Liquid nails as suggested by Garyd?
If this doesn't work, any glue recommendations ? Liquid nails as suggested by Garyd?
The 3M Super 77 adhesive worked OK for the test with the small pieces, so I started applying the mirror film to the dish this evening after work. 1/2 of the dish is done. There was more wrinkling than I would have liked but it should work fine for this, especially since I'll be taking it off the Birdview when I'm done experimenting.
Meanwhile, I have several square feet of mirror film leftover if anyone wants to try this -- just PM me with your address and how much you need and its yours for free.
Meanwhile, I have several square feet of mirror film leftover if anyone wants to try this -- just PM me with your address and how much you need and its yours for free.
Looking forward to seeing your results from this, I'm thinking it's going to be impressive!
One thing we found out with the little dishes here recently is that whatever we try to cook or boil works better if it is covered. On your dish though, I'm thinking that it won't matter if it's covered or not, it's gonna cook!
One thing we found out with the little dishes here recently is that whatever we try to cook or boil works better if it is covered. On your dish though, I'm thinking that it won't matter if it's covered or not, it's gonna cook!
I don't wanna be the one to place or remove the cooking pot!
If I used one of my wife's pots for this I would be in big trouble.
Now just waiting for the sun Saturday....
Can you put a lens and mirror at the focal point to make a rudimentary death beam? A neighbor complains, you fry their garden?
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is not allowed to go in the trees in my surrounding greenbelt because the area is protected by the Federal Endangered Species Act. Its one of the few places left with the 'Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle'. Honest. Gotta love those beetles!.
... At solar noon, 1:04 PM I had the dish aimed south at an elevation of 62 degrees. My first test was with a spray bottle to see if the focal point or the beam was visible in the mist (like in the video from an earlier post here). Unfortunately it wasn't. Either the background lighing was too bright or my beam wasn't sharp enough.
Next I stood on a ladder and placed a scrap piece of wood fence near the focal point. It ignited quickly.
Then I put two eggs in a cast iron skillet (given to me before I got married, not my wife's) and tried to reach over far enough to get the skillet bottom into the focal point. I simply could not hold the heavy skillet at a distance for more than a few seconds. My plan was to position the bottom of the skillet a few inches short of the focal point in order not to melt the iron.
I might try this again when the sun is much lower elevation, like 8:30 AM, so I don't have to stand on the ladder.
That's a lotta dish just to cook an egg. I used only an 83E for the egg fry.
Put the LNBF legs and scalar back on. Place a coil of copper tubing, painted HT flat black, on the scalar grooved side. Pump the pool water thru it. Az/El tracking is a must.
Put the LNBF legs and scalar back on. Place a coil of copper tubing, painted HT flat black, on the scalar grooved side. Pump the pool water thru it. Az/El tracking is a must.
Maybe a garden hose with a nozzle on it adjusted for fine spray might work instead of a spray bottle, for seeing the focal point and beam? Might be it's so big on that dish that the spray bottle just doesn't put out enough. The spray bottle worked on our little dish here, you could see a triangular beam converging at the focal point, but our dish is only 20'' dia. You might just need something with a bit more oomph than the spray bottle!
It was just a temporary experiment for fun -- no practical use intended. If I put the legs and scalar on they would probably melt.
Anyway, the mirror film is starting to detach and I really want to get started this weekend setting this dish up for FTA. So I'm taking it off now.
I still have some mirror film available for the asking -- just let me know and its yours.
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