I am looking to find out if anyone knows of anyplace that can re-silver a headlight reflector. This is part of "project Return to Glory ACL 1504 cosmetic restoration. The reflector is not broken but most of the silver is gone. I started looking for someone in the Southeast who can do this but am finding that re-silvering is not being done much at all anyplace.

Mark A. Frazier
Project Manager

Search the old posts, I think we covered that.

If it doesn't trun up, let me know and I'll find it in my notes.

I looked up the old thread the place in Canada is no longer in business. I also have talked with the places on-line I can find that re-silver mirrors and have not found any that will do a reflector.

Thanks
Mark

Try a telescope mirror re-silvering company. They re-coat large diameter mirrors.
Keith

We've had one re-silvered for Southern 401's backup light, a 14" pyle. We had ours done at "A Moment in Time" in Wellington, KS.;

http://mirrorrepair.com/index.htm




You'll note the "ring" around the edge in the finished shots. That corresponds with the felt cushion that was behind the reflector. It had, over the years out in the weather, caused some etching of the glass where the felt had been. They were unable to make that any better than shown due to the problem being in the glass itself. Just like painting, if the underlying surface isn't perfectly smooth, the imperfections will be "telegraphed" though the finish. Other than this ring, which doesn't seem to affect the light's performance at night, they did a beautiful job of bringing this reflector back.

I can't remember exactly what we paid for the work, but I believe it was between $400 and $500, plus freight both ways.

Kent

There is a place in Elkhart Indiana that does silver plating to lots of applications. I know music instrument and military use them all the time. Check out Andersons Plating. They may be able to do what you need.

Joe

Mirrors are not silver plated, they actually use aluminum as silver will tarnish over time. Mirrors that have been coated with silver will require re-coating at regular intervals.
Also electro-plating will not work on glass.
Keith

Some options:

There are companies that will vacuum deposit aluminum on objects. Cost will vary on the size of the object and the type of coating (for example, you don't need an additional coating to increase the reflectivity). Aluminum coatings are very durable and behind a cover will last a long time. There are a few smaller companies that have the coating machines that do amateur astronomical mirrors that are up to about the 30-inch range around the country. This could be an interesting challenge for them. You don't need to care about a coating that will maintain the shape of the mirror to several tens of a wave lengths of white light.

Another option is to chemically silver coat yourself. You can get the materials for a reasonable cost is http://angelgilding.com/AngelGildingChemicals.html.

Here you either pour or spray chemicals on the surface that then form a silver coating. If on the front surface, you will have to coat with some clear over coat to avoid tarnish. I can't imagine that was the way it was done originally, as it would be very fragile and would need to be cleaned carefully. It will also need to be redone more often.

If you coat on the back surface, you can paint over the silver like they did for old mirrors. For such a large piece, spraying will likely work better, but there is skill and experience to doing this, so expect to try a few times before you get it (really the cleaning) right. The website has plenty of videos and there are more on the web.

PM me if you want some hints/ideas. I silver astronomical mirrors as a hobby.

Bob Bunge
Bowie, MD