Summary of Infinity Mirror – Tony Stark Arc-Reactor thing using arduino
This article details a step in building an Infinity Mirror, focusing on preparing materials. The author removes the silver coating from a compact mirror using a Dremel to create a two-way mirror with window tint. They also cast a translucent plastic separator ring for housing lights, emphasizing the importance of using non-sulfur clay and fresh epoxy to avoid curing failures. The process involves creating molds from silicone and using mold release agents to ensure success.
Parts used in the Infinity Mirror:
- Lady's compact mirror
- Dremel buffing attachment
- Automotive mirror finish window tint
- Mineral oil based modeling clay
- Epoxy
- Silicone body-double
- Mold release agent
I’m creating a robot, but am finding that it’s better if I break the build down into smaller projects. This is one of those projects, and it seems to have a look that could be used for other things as well.
Step 1: Destroy a lady’s compact mirror.
I took the mirrors out of their plastic housing and used a dremel buffing attachment to buff the silver off the magnifying mirror. This was a horribly tedious task, and was really difficult to keep from chipping the glass. It took about an hour or so to remove the enamel paint and silver coating from the back of the mirror.
In the future if I ever decide to do this type of thing again, I may invest in a dental lathe with proper buffing attachments.
After the silver coating was off and the glass was perfectly smooth, I added some automotive mirror finish window tint, effectively making a 2 way mirror
Step 2: Cast a separator ring
In this step I created the plastic ring that separates the two mirrors and houses the peripheral lights that will illuminate the interior of the Infinity Mirror. First I sculpted the ring out of mineral oil based modeling clay. Make sure you don’t use plasticine or sulfer clay as the sulfer interferes with the epoxy’s reaction and will prevent it from setting up properly.
MISTAKE ALERT!
Then I screwed up and made a plaster mold of the clay ring. This was a screw up because plaster is very porous and the epoxy will stick to it like nobody’s business. I also used old epoxy I had laying around since the summer and the reaction went badly, turning into a kind of foamy plastic as it cured.
TRAGEDY AVERTED:
After kicking myself for not thinking the process through properly, and cleaning the gummy crappy foam rubber cast from the plaster, I recast a silicone ring to take the place of the clay one I destroyed when I made the plaster cast.
Using a lot of mold release on the silicone ring I then made a mold of the ring using flexible silicone body-double from SmoothOn. I then used some fresh epoxy and cast a translucent plastic separator ring. It was a thing of beauty.
Where do I get epoxy, silicone and sculptural supplies?
http://www.sculpturesupply.com/
For more detail: Infinity Mirror – Tony Stark Arc-Reactor thing
- How can I remove the silver coating from a mirror?
Use a dremel buffing attachment to buff the silver off the magnifying mirror. - What type of clay should I use for sculpting the ring?
Use mineral oil based modeling clay because sulfur clay interferes with the epoxy reaction. - Why did my first epoxy cast fail?
The failure was caused by using plaster which is porous and sticky, along with old epoxy that turned into foamy plastic. - What material was used to make the final separator ring?
A translucent plastic separator ring was cast using fresh epoxy. - How do I make a two-way mirror?
Add automotive mirror finish window tint after removing the silver coating from the glass. - Where can I get supplies like epoxy and silicone?
Supplies can be found at http://www.sculpturesupply.com.
