[wbassett]

My friend and I have been experimenting with Black Widow, trying to find the mix that looks best for our prospective projectors (Mine's a Sharp XV-Z3100, his is a Panasonic AE2000u).

I'm a little confused, because several forums say that it is acceptable to make Black Widow in either a 4:1 ratio in un-tinted Ultra White Flat base, or as a 5:1 ratio in Valspar tinted to Bermuda Beige.

The small batches I have made, seem to show much better sparkle in the 4:1 un-tinted version. Its almost like the tint substantially masks the aluminum flakes. Not to mention that there are physically fewer flakes in the 5:1 mix.

What was the definitive decision on which version performs better? Is the addition of Bermuda Beige tint that crucial... or can calibration overcome any push that the 4:1 ratio in pure white base might exhibit?

I ask this, because I'm wondering why no one has mixed Black Widow in a 6:1, 7:1, or even 8:1 ratio (in pure white) to acheive a lighter gray mix? I've been fooling around with Craft Smart Silver Metallic... and it just doesn't seem to pack the punch of Black Jack aluminum. At least not to my eyes. Just wondering what the photo spectrometer has to say about it. Anybody ever analyzed it before?

Mech pretty much answered you...

The official and only recommended Black Widow mix is the 4:1. That was noted in the Black Widow Sticky thread which is the official thread for BW. All the other threads were testing threads, that's probably what confused you.

I tried ratios from 3:1 up to 7:1 and I know mech made a zillion mixes himself and the 4:1 is optimal. Another option you might like is the Scorpion mix.

And yes, the aluminum is very potent stuff.

 

[wbassett]

Definitely not a loss... I have 17 gallons of Black Jack!

Same mix/ratio as AAA-F. Use Bermudia Beige and BJ in a 4:1 ratio.

 

[wbassett]

I personally have no preference between Black Jack and AAA-F, in my opinion and testing they both work and perform the same. AAA-F is more expensive, but Black Jack 5160 is hard to find and depending on who you talk to at Gardner Gibson, one person will say it's been discontinued, another will say it's still being made. Either way it can be hard to find, so AAA-F is the recommended aluminum, but if you can get your hands on BJ 5160, that works just fine too.