Hold my beer - I'm gonna try try something...

[aeroloose]

Appreciate the encouragement ... sometimes it's hard to judge how folks will respond in newsgroups these days ... it's a risk when you're not a regular.

So now I'm like a dog with a bone :). How about we keep the idea of the cladding on all four walls, let the cladding extend across the top to the edge (holding the glazing in place), and let it get enclosed in the supporting structure at the bottom of the box (non-removable). BUT, we leave one upper edge in the angle format (the angle you have now) so that edge could be removed and the glazing slid out (think a poster frame with one edge removed). Add some gasket design work, and you might avoid caulking & adhesives there, too.

I think the plasma or HCA treatments will address that concern pretty well (ref. General Magnaplate, Duralectra). Plus, they have lots of colors ...

... and a final thought to eliminate the penetrations. Keep the cladding full-length as above, but add tabs at the lower edge to bend over the wood frame and fasten the cladding in place (beating the poster frame analogy to death, think of those bend-down tabs that hold the cardboard backing in place). Then put a fastener through the tab to lock it. I think the heat-loss here would be small, and could be further reduced with an insulating layer along the tabbed edge.

Aero

[Father Haskell]

Needed a quick and easy reflective surface for a plywood lamp enclosure. Used foil duct tape, worked beautifully. Burnished it smooth with a paint paddle wrapped in cloth to prevent scratching. Only prob is slight blistering from heat, more cosmetic than disastrous. The tape would probably have adhered better if I primed the plywood with shellac or similar gloss finish.

Thicker gauge metal, riveted to the ply.

[Morris Dovey]

I received a lot of good suggestions on this covering alternative box construction materials, alternative metal choices, and adhesives.

The alternatives to wood didn't strike me as a good idea because of their lack of stability when subjected to heat. I liked the idea, but for now I think I'll stick with wood.

I received multiple adhesive suggestions, and so I think I may try all of the most attractive. I did rule out the aerosol and brush in favor of roller application in order to produce a thin, uniform coating.

Silicon bronze seemed like it might be a good idea until I tried to find suppliers of the stuff in foil form. As a general rule, I avoid single-source products - but I couldn't identify even a single source. I've just ordered a 20"x100' roll of the 0.002" stainless steel, and I'll see how well that works.

Actually, I guess it'd /better/ work out - my two most recent sales prospects liked the "full metal jacket" idea so well they ordered without even /seeing/ the final product!

Thanks to all who posted and e-mailed suggestions!

[Morris Dovey]

Well, the stainless arrived and it isn't much like I'd expected...

I ordered Type 321, which is a stainless/titanium alloy good for temperatures to 1800°F. I'd expected something pretty much like kitchen aluminum foil, and this stuff is more like armor plate! I don't think wrinkles are going to be a problem, and even at only 0.002" it feels almost structural.

Woodpeckers beware! :)

[Mark & Juanita]

Where did you get it? If it's that strong, I think you may be onto something with that woodpecker comment. My storage shed may just get a coat of armor. :-) At least some strategic locations on it.

[Morris Dovey]

Here's the page I ordered from:

you'd like a small (very small!) piece to check out, e-mail me your address and I'll send it off.

[John Grossbohlin]

So how many of these very small pieces are you distributing before you don't have enough left for your project? ;~)

John

[Morris Dovey]

I only offered one - but if anyone else wants a business card size sample they're invited to snail-mail a SASE with a (US) dollar bill tucked inside.

I have almost twice as much of the foil as I need to produce the solar panels now in the production queue, so I don't /think/ I'm creating a problem for myself...

[Markem]

Beware of chromed tools and titanium do not play well together. When I was in the Air Force, they shipped out all our tool kits to have the chrome removed before the F-16s or F-15s arrived.

Mark

[dpb]

Markem wrote: ...

[Markem]

Degraded the titanium is what we peons on the flight line were told. Maybe aircraft grade problem, do not know, ya do as told generally in the military.

Mark

[Robatoy]

Most peculiar, momma.... This has piqued my interest. I had heard of that before... a guy at Orenda who was rebuilding a 7 MW CTU for me was talking about that.

[CW]

I'm wondering if anybody really knows (and whether it really makes any difference). Some years ago, I was working in a shop that was making a laser for the military, the body of which was titanium. We were not to allow any steel to come in contact with the titanium. All cutters were carbide, vise jaws made from aluminum, deburr files were diamond and the parts were not even set on a steel worktable. They claimed degradation of the titanium. I have machined lots of titanium for commercial aircraft and no such precautions were taken (or specified by the buyer). I wonder what the military knows that Boeing doesn't. Hard to believe it's much.

[dpb]

Interesting -- a (very) quick google uncovered nothing interesting in that regard; generally both are pretty much considered relatively immune to trouble hence the question/wondering...

Youza' on that 'un fur shure...

--

[Scott Lurndal]

And you can recoup your cost by just selling just 9 linear feet of the foil at 2"x4" for USD1 :-)

scott

[Morris Dovey]

I hadn't done any arithmetic - I just figured that the hassle factor of sending off a SASE plus "not free" would hold the amount of cutting to a minimum. :)

I suspect I might use up more than one pair of scissors if I needed to cut 9' of this stuff into small pieces...

...and it'll probably horrify the metalheads to hear that I plan to bandsaw the roll into thirds as the first step. :->

[Markem]

Well in the land of $600 hammers and really expensive toilets who really knows.

Mark

[Martin H. Eastburn]

[Martin H. Eastburn]

[Morris Dovey]

Horizontal bandsaw to cut the (wrapped in tape) 20" roll into thirds, then I'll going to try cutting those strips to length with shop scissors. If that doesn't work, I'll use aircraft snips.