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Blue Helix
bold hand


Registered: 02/02/03
Posts: 1,565
Last seen: 10 months, 5 days
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Clear Mylar Window for a Mushroom Chamber
#5392997 - 03/12/06 07:01 PM (18 years, 2 months ago) |
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I am not sure if this is "advanced" but I am willing to bet most of you here have not seen this material, so I am posting it here.
Until a few days ago, the only material I knew for a chamber window that was cheap and workable (plexi and glass are neither in my book) was clear vinyl furniture cover like one can get at Wal-mart. That stuff works pretty well, but it's not as clear as this something new I found called clear mylar. Many of you may know mylar from its aluminized mirror version that is used in green houses and the like. This type is clear and can be found at some plastic stores! I like it because it's very cheap at a few dollars a foot per 48" roll, is easy to cut with scissors, is very light weight, and is super clear. On the down side, it does scratch very easily (even more so than vinyl), so you have to be careful while cleaning it but the clarity is... well WOW! It's a ton clearer and less distorting than vinyl.
Here is a chamber, not being used right now obviously, with a window made out of clear mylar. The widow was first just a square piece of mylar glued in place with a dabs of glue all around, then cut to size using scissors, and finally taped over with duct tape for air/water sealing. I do recommend the hot glue step because duct tape can, over time, lose its grip on stuff like this.
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Blue Helix
bold hand


Registered: 02/02/03
Posts: 1,565
Last seen: 10 months, 5 days
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Re: Clear Mylar Window for a Mushroom Chamber [Re: Blue Helix]
#5393064 - 03/12/06 07:26 PM (18 years, 2 months ago) |
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Just wanted to add that this stuff wasn't too expensive. Where I went it was $1.50 per foot of a 4' wide roll for the 2 mil and $2.50 for the 5 mil. You could use either just fine.
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RogerRabbit
Bans for Pleasure


Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 42,214
Loc: Seattle
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
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Re: Clear Mylar Window for a Mushroom Chamber [Re: Blue Helix]
#5394468 - 03/13/06 07:43 AM (18 years, 2 months ago) |
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Sounds like it would be awesome for a glovebox. Does it fog up from humidity the way plastic sheeting does? RR
-------------------- Download Let's Grow Mushrooms semper in excretia sumus solim profundum variat "I've never had a failed experiment. I've only discovered 10,000 methods which do not work." Thomas Edison
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Blue Helix
bold hand


Registered: 02/02/03
Posts: 1,565
Last seen: 10 months, 5 days
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Re: Clear Mylar Window for a Mushroom Chamber [Re: Blue Helix]
#5394667 - 03/13/06 09:58 AM (18 years, 2 months ago) |
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I don't know, RogerRabbit. Almost anything will fog up when it's cooler on the low-humidity side than the near-100%-humidity side and there is no anti-fogging coating on the high humidity side. The very best anti-condensation surfactant I know is Fog Tech (http://www.fogtech.com/), and I recommend it highly. I have used Fog Tech in applications varying from ski goggles to a live Reshi artistic display box. I would assume this stuff does fog up, though, without a proper coating.
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