Fast Help!

[Johnny Pneumatic]

I've been searching madly for those $70 "solar furnace" parabolic dish mirror things in online catalogs, the big ones. Nothing....Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Have these things stopped being made or something? Help as fast as you can, I need to link to them tonight(within an hour of now or so)!:)

[Ducky]

Originally posted by SkepticJ
I've been searching madly for those $70 "solar furnace" parabolic dish mirror things in online catalogs, the big ones. Nothing....Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Have these things stopped being made or something? Help as fast as you can, I need to link to them tonight(within an hour of now or so)!:)

http://www.amasci.com/amateur/mirror.html

http://xenotechresearch.com/?NewLoc=solfurn1.htm

http://www.solorb.com/elect/solarcirc/solarfurn/

http://www.imp.cnrs.fr/foursol/index_en.shtml

http://www.imp.cnrs.fr/foursol/1000_en.shtml


What are you linking to them for? maybe that can narrow it down? I think the closest one is the second or third link.

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Originally posted by fowlsound
http://www.amasci.com/amateur/mirror.html

http://xenotechresearch.com/?NewLoc=solfurn1.htm

http://www.solorb.com/elect/solarcirc/solarfurn/

http://www.imp.cnrs.fr/foursol/index_en.shtml

http://www.imp.cnrs.fr/foursol/1000_en.shtml


What are you linking to them for? maybe that can narrow it down? I think the closest one is the second or third link.


Sorry, none of those. The thing is around 10'' in diameter. Looks like a(and is) mirror dish on a blue plastic base. I saw on in a science catalog not that many years ago. If they are no longer made(which I fear), then damn those safety freaks. I want my explosive chemistry set from WARD'S Natural Science dammit!

[Ducky]

Originally posted by SkepticJ
Sorry, none of those. The thing is around 10'' in diameter. Looks like a(and is) mirror dish on a blue plastic base. I saw on in a science catalog not that many years ago. If they are no longer made(which I fear), then damn those safety freaks. I want my explosive chemistry set from WARD'S Natural Science dammit!

:D

It could be they don't make them anymore because everyone stopped being "green" and just bought a space heater.

I don't remember the solar heaters you describe, though. I'll do some digging for you (even if it goes past the deadline.)

I agree about the exploding chemistry set. Nothing is more funny than seeing your kid come up from the basement in a cartoon-like black cloud, covered in soot.

Then again, I don't have kids.

Probably for the best, I'd get them blown up...;)

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Originally posted by fowlsound
:D

It could be they don't make them anymore because everyone stopped being "green" and just bought a space heater.

I don't remember the solar heaters you describe, though. I'll do some digging for you (even if it goes past the deadline.)

I agree about the exploding chemistry set. Nothing is more funny than seeing your kid come up from the basement in a cartoon-like black cloud, covered in soot.

Then again, I don't have kids.

Probably for the best, I'd get them blown up...;)


Note '' means inches, not feet! Feet is a '. We Americans really need to get with the times!:)

[Ducky]

Originally posted by SkepticJ
Note '' means inches, not feet! Feet is a '. We Americans really need to get with the times!:)

I got that. And yes we do need to get with the times. ;)

(Do I sound/read english?):D

[CaveDave]

Originally posted by SkepticJ
I've been searching madly for those $70 "solar furnace" parabolic dish mirror things in online catalogs, the big ones. Nothing....Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Have these things stopped being made or something? Help as fast as you can, I need to link to them tonight(within an hour of now or so)!:)
Have you tried:
http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3053875 ?
Good luck.

Dave

[Chris Haynes]

Originally posted by SkepticJ
.... I want my explosive chemistry set from WARD'S Natural Science dammit!

In our family we are blaming my big brother for the demise of the chemistry sets with cool stuff. He was the one who made actual bombs with them. He liked blowing things up. While I appreciate that he did make my 7th birthday party interesting with his "magic chemistry show"... he was the reason that my ongoing Christmas wish for a chemistry set went unfulfilled (he is also the reason why my mother pulled me aside and told me to PLEASE not ask my dad for driving lessons --- but that is another story).

In the mean time... have you heard about this stuff we call aluminum foil? You can cover lots of things with it. If you make a parabolic frame, you can perhaps use the foil to reflect the sunlight.

[Donks]

How about one of these (http://solarcooking.org/manufacture.htm) ?

[TjW]

Originally posted by Hydrogen Cyanide
(snip)
In the mean time... have you heard about this stuff we call aluminum foil? You can cover lots of things with it. If you make a parabolic frame, you can perhaps use the foil to reflect the sunlight.

And of course, one practical way to lay out a parabola is to first lay out a line, then pound in a nail some distance away, where you want the focus to be.
Then take a carpenter's square, and put one arm of it on the focus poiint, and the corner somewhere on the line. Mark a line using the arm that isn't on the focus.
If you drew an infinite number of those lines, you'd get a perfect parabola, but it would take a long time. A few lines in the right place, though, and you can get a pretty respectable approximation.
You can make a pretty good hot dog cooker from a cardboard box and aluminum foil.
It might work pretty well as a Wi-Fi reflector, too.

[Johnny Pneumatic]

Originally posted by CaveDave
Have you tried:
http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3053875 ?
Good luck.

Dave




That's the closest of all the links so far. The one I'm talking about is already made, but those mirror are cheaper than a complete one. Thanks.

[Art Vandelay]

Originally posted by TjW
And of course, one practical way to lay out a parabola is to first lay out a line, then pound in a nail some distance away, where you want the focus to be.
...
Or one could just shine a flashlight. Depending on how you do it, you'll get either an ellipse, hyperbola, or parabola.

[TjW]

Originally posted by Art Vandelay
Or one could just shine a flashlight. Depending on how you do it, you'll get either an ellipse, hyperbola, or parabola.

Ahh, but where's the focus of the parabola you get?

[Art Vandelay]

I believe that it would be wherever the center of the flashlight is pointing. But you once you've got your mirror, you can check by shining parallel beams at it. If they always meet a certain point, that's the focus.