While white may be the best surface for a shadow the glare of the sun can be quite painful to some folks. At one of the Newbury BSS meetings (the next one is on 13 September 2003 - send me an email for details ) someone brought along a black sundial and to my surprise the shadow was clearly visible with no glare. I have seen stainless steel information tablets outdoors which were almost impossible to read due to glare and reflection of the sky. > > From: "Chris Lusby Taylor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Sun 22/Jun/2003 11:12 CEST > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: how to fix a sundial surface?? > > "Mike Cowham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > To: "SUNDIAL" <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2003 5:42 PM > Subject: Re: how to fix a sundial surface?? > > > > Dear Don, > > A shadow is always best on a matt white surface, giving the best > > contrast. Shiny surfaces are useless - as you have found out. How about > > painting it white? You may need a special primer for stainless. A more > > permanent solution could be to remove the shine with some abrasive > material. > > Try it first on a spare piece of stainless! It certainly works with > silver. > > Regards > > Mike Cowham > > Cambridge UK > > > > I agree that a matt white surface is best. That's why John Davis's anodised > aluminium sundials are so practical. Unfortunately, as he has found, the > world prefers an almost unreadable polished brass ornament to a very > readable (and, in my opinion, beautifully silky) matt aluminium one. So I > very much doubt if painting matt white over stainless steel would be > acceptable. > As I recall, the dial in question is a large horizontal with a polar gnomon. > Therefore it only needs a narrow circular strip to be made legible. Abrading > or etching a ring, while leaving the rest of the dial shiny, might keep > everyone happy. > > Chris Lusby Taylor > Newbury > 51.4N 1.3W > > > - >
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