Reflectors, or Wife Always Right - Dagnamit!

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Reflectors, or Wife Always Right - Dagnamit!

Gotten used to my role over the conventional fixture departement in telling how “wifie” sort of wires or rigs her department, this and the role as the buyer for her parts in at times telling her to buff out a cloud in a reflector that seems to not yet need replacement as long as it with effort can be saved.

Details of how she runs her department, crew and fixtures after my specifications have always been hers of course in running her department in final choice after a few choices for how to that would be acceptable and safe.

Wiring up a 2K scoop, how it’s done, my role in giving three choices for upgrade and buying the parts for the final choice. Just buying reflectors because they are clouding up... polish them my answer, then after attempting we will see just killed me tonight in my polishing up the reflector to my Bantam Superspot which had no doubt not been polished since the 50's and had spray paint and other stuff on it.

Me... expert, just work with fiber wheel and felt wheel both with and with out rubbing compound and MAAS polish on them in a lower gear on the Dremmel tool. The MAAS polish was not something I came up with but accepted in others finding for a non-pumice type polish that works well on metal. Polished the heck out of the reflector and got rid of a huge amount of stuff on it to my credit. A few minor scratches to it which won’t really effect reflection, and I did get rid of the major scum in going from rubbing compound to MAAS to denatured alcohol for cleaning off the residue on the steel reflector. This also in combination of non-buffing or polishing compound wheels and those coated with it to polish and clean. Got the job done, lots of alcohol to remove the residue. Left with some minor buffing scratches and clouds on the reflector final.

Very disappointed with the results, I took the reflector up stairs to my wife that noted the before and after than stated her recommendations in how to best next get the clouds out, if not much of the buffing scratches. Hand polish with very soft paper towel or rag in the MAAS with elbow grease and lots of polish over time. Than if not, add some hand cleaning solution with pumice/grit to the soft rag, than re-clean with the polish. Darned if after a lot of elbow grease, didn’t these clouds on the reflector get removed. Crap,... she was right.

Over power tools and compounds, just hand polishing worked 100% better to get a proper reflector on steel or aluminum.

She also noted that I should avoid at any point putting alcohol on the surface, it will only cloud it up. Possibly what clouded up what my power tool did in the first place but still in disupte with me in it only being used to further polish and remove the residue from the cleaning or buffing compounds on steel or aluminum - not like a dichroic reflector. Still, once I left behind the alcohol, there was a much reduced amount of clouding to the reflector and that was nice.

Given she works on 5Kw reflectors on down, I suspect residue and seeing the cloud with or without the alcohol in use for cleaning the residue off it, in otherwise backing in and still being there isn’t a problem in one would think it would become apparent with heat. Guess it's not as much a problem as I thought in attempting to use the alcohol to remove the residue.

Very impressive and comfounding. The heck, got all the power tools and ability in the world to power tool clean a reflector and in the end just hand buffing/polishing it worked better than what I was doing especially for the final polish. Crap... have to KowTow to the wifie in at least reflector cleaning. She is like... well, you won’t buy me new reflectors when I want them and say clean them, so I had come up with my own way of doing so. Crap, hate it when she figures out the brilliant stuff I later need to learn. One can bet I’ll never let forget such a thing.
 
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