What Glue?

[dogcop]

Ladies and Gents,

I have managed to acquire some abstract futurescans, but, on a couple of them, the mirrors are broken. This in itself is not a problem.

 

On examining the fixture I note that the mirrors are glued on.

 

My question is what glue to use to fix my new mirrors onto the fixtures, bearing in mind heat, movement etc and where I can get the glue from

 

The lamps are 150w halogens.

 

many thanks

 

andy

[david.elsbury]

I have seen both double sided foam tape, and hi-temp sillicone adhesive used. Although I'm not UK based, I'm sure RS Components stocks these, though there are likely better/cheaper suppliers.

[Liam FitzG]

AFAIR the last time we bought mirrors (they were for ClayPaky I think) the double sided foam pads came with them; then we took the belt and braces attitude and put a bead of silicone adhesive around the mount, after the pad had set.

Check with your mirror supplier if they have a mounting with the mirror.

 

Liam

[ben.suffolk]

I also used the double sided foam tape when replacing a broken mirror. One of the was for a golden scan, and like Liam said it actually came with the tape anyway.

 

The important thing it to get a proper mirror, if you are tempted to cut a regular mirror to shape you will find its not effective because it will be mirrored behind the glass. This means you can get a double reflection (one from the glass surface, and one from the mirror surface behind the glass). So make sure you get a front surface mirror.

 

Ben

[niclights]

FWIW I will also recommend double-sided tape. The tape used by Clay Paky is 3M and works perfectly. Make sure it is something extremely sticky like this. From experience I can tell you even double-sided car number plate stickers are not good enough

[Liam FitzG]

Something worth mentioning is the alignment, if the mirror is not placed on the mount in the correct place (or if the mirror is the wrong size), it will most likely collide with the housing around the mirror mount. A lot of the mirrors you can get from the manufacturers have the position marked on the back, or at least a paper template supplied with it. It can often be a matter of millimetres either way. Always do a dry run with a tape you can remove to confirm your mounting.

 

Liam

 

Edit:

Oh yeh.... and usual rules apply to stripping all the old glue and mirror off the mount. And in case I was too vague above if the mirror collides with the housing, it will most likely smash. Have scene this a few times.

[Ynot]

AFAIR the last time we bought mirrors (they were for ClayPaky I think) the double sided foam pads came with them; then we took the belt and braces attitude and put a bead of silicone adhesive around the mount, after the pad had set.

Yep - if you buy pukka mirrors (for theatre style lanterns at least) then they should come with sticky pads as standard.

However, I'd be careful about what you use as belt & brace - after all, remember that you may have to replace a mirror again at some time, which means whatever goes on has to be scraped off again.....

 

[david.elsbury]

Just remembered- at work (Dick Smiths) we use such stickers made by 3M. We call them Rokan stickers, used for stock control. Highly sticky! I'll try and get a part # when I'm in later.

[Jivemaster]

The correct mirror is your best friend! and it should come with adhesive as necessary. The glass is thin 1.5 or 2 mm and the adhesive is critical to the glass staying in place, as is working cleanly and removing ALL the trash before refixing the new mirror.

 

Can you order a manufacturers mirror with manufacturers adhesive pad ?

 

Easy mirror from the local glass shop may well be 3 or 4 mm thick and being thick the face and rear reflections are more destinct and the moving mass rips the glue.

[david.elsbury]

We have 3M "VHB" stickers.

[niclights]

That's the stuff! 3M make even stickier stuff for automotive.

 

I think people are getting a bit unnecessarily technical here. Genuine mirror, alignment etc. may certainly be important for higher-end precision fixtures, but the old Futurescans are not the most advanced unit. Simple servo motor, 150W halogen, 1 wheel combined gobo/colour and shut. I would be surprised if one can obtain a spare mirror from Abstract! A basic mirror that is approximately the correct size will probably do the job just fine

[dogcop]

Thanks for all the replies gents, much appreciated.

 

I have to agree with niclights here. Like he says the old futurescans are not the most advanced fixture in the world and as they are being used in a church hall for a youth club then precision optics is not really required.

 

Bearing in mind abstract charge 11 quid + 3 quid PP per mirror, I toddled off to my local glazer who cut me a mirror for a quid.

 

Fitted them using the double sided cushion tape and job done.

 

thanks again

 

Andy