Well, I was driving out of the neighborhood yesterday when I spotted a busted 50 something inch TV sitting on the curb. Being a terrible dumpster diver I decided there must be something good I could salvage out of that beast.
I got it torn apart and pulled some small lenses and the main fresnel lens from the viewing screen. My buddy wanted the big mirror which was more like foam covered with mylar. I was kind of disappointed that this is a vinyl fresnel lens instead of the much better acrylic version. It's a bit cloudy looking but should still work, just not as well.
I knocked together a wooden frame and propped it up in my garage facing the sun. You could see immediately where the focal point was so I sat a 12oz bottle of water there while I was cleaning up my tools. The water boiled after several minutes but the sun kept ducking behind some random clouds. A bright stretch of sun allowed it to achieve a good rolling boil but since it was a glass bottle being heated from one side it eventually cracked. The side of the bottle blew out so I figured I was done.
Just for giggles I sat a steel can of water back in the same spot. It took quite a while but never quite came to a boil, just small bubbles everywhere. I figure the shiny outside was reflecting a lot of the energy away. Some flat black paint would help a lot.
I really wonder if this would put out enough heat on a nice sunny day to do any baking in my 10" dutch oven? Maybe I'll bring this rig along to to the FL hang next weekend.....
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