Building a new hood for my 90

[finaddictfred]

I'm designing a basic hood for my 90 that'll house 6 to possibly 8 t5's. I've been debating this for a few weeks now and want some input if any of you know. I'm either going to paint the inside of the lid flat white or maybe put in some mirrored acrylic sheet. No..I'm not spending the money for parabolic reflectors.
Which of the two options would you go with and why?
Thanks,
Fred

[Fat Tony]

Can't that i would do wither personally. T5's are meant to be used with reflectors otherwise you have no benefit over using them over PC's (as far as usable light, bulb cost is a different story)

[finaddictfred]

Guess I'll just leave it the way it is then.

[mxracer19]

Between the two options that you asked about, I would say paint the box gloss white, unless you can use an extremely thin sheet of acrylic. Remember, for mirrors to work, the light must pass through the material, reflect off the backing, and pass through the material on its way out. Effectively, double the thickness of your mirror and that is the distance the light must travel through the acrylic, discounting angles. You can begin to see why mirrors arent incredibly effective. Parabolic reflectors are extremely efficient, but if you dont have the cash, well hey...you dont have it.

My DIY side would make a suggestion to you. Buy a sheet of aluminum from Home Depot for like $10, and polish it yourself. A grinding wheel, buffer, or my fav...a cordless drill will all work. For the drill, buy a polishing pad and some aluminum polishing compound. Go to town till it shines, get some Mother's polish and finish it off. give it a THIN coat of clear lacquer, bend it to form, and rock on.

-Matt

[finaddictfred]

I've been tossing around ideas for diy reflectors in the past week or so. My only real debate with myself is at what angle to brake the material. I was thinking about a 1.25" base with 20 degree brakes @ 1.5" long. I'd have to do the math to figure out how wide that would make it overall but I should have plenty of room. So i'd need around 5" of stock per reflector. I do a 4 bulb fixture with a stock 48 x 24 sheet of material. I'd have to make a form as I have no access to a brake at this time but no big deal there.
Thanks for answering my actual question Matt. Its appreciated.
Fred