At an auction today I heard them get down to $2 on a "headlight aimer" so I waved my hand because there were a couple sets in the little room they were working through, both decent ones, figured either one was worth that. After they cleared out I found I bought a "headlight ****yzer" ... it has some kind of gl*** magnifyer in a metal case about 15" tall and maybe 5" square that's mounted on a shaft and raised up and down with hand wheels, from low to the ground to about 4 1/2 feet in the air. It's all metal on wheels, two casters and two regular wheels, heavy enough even a fat slob like me could kind of use it as a scooter to wheel it to my truck. If nothing else I probably have $2 worth of s**** metal there. Anyone know just WTF I bought? I never heard of such a thing before. Either your lights work or they don't, either they point in the right way or they don't, I thought, what's to ****yze? Ask the high-beams how they feel about being used less often? I can post pictures if need be, just not right away, it's buried under a bunch of other **** in my truck yet. Why auctions are fun: I buy one oddball lot of car parts for $5, a guy offers me $10 for two ****py 80's Olds taillights before I've even paid for the lot. SOLD! ...
pics, but i have a meter that checks light brightness or it could be an early headlight optical aimer. does it have a place to look inside of the box (besides where they headlight goes).
I used to work at an auto electric warehouse and they sold Bosch, Hella, SEV Marchall and Lucas lights. They used that to correctly aim head lights after installation. It's more critical on high intensity lights because you get this beacon pointing out in space, or in the opposite lane (blinding people). It measures the brightest part of the beam and you correct the angle until it's right according to the tool. I'd pay $2 for one. Been wanting to adjust my Jeep lights correctly for some time because they are bright and highly mounted.
sounds like a headlight aimer....its useful sometimes....helps get your bright spots pointed where they should be...but so does a garage door or wall
It is used to aim headlights.....you first square it with a center point of the vehicle and move it side to side and check the headlights.....that is why you tilt it back and it rolls on the rear perpendicular wheels ....it should have a round "screen" with a cross hair in it....you aim for the lower left quadrant....I think....it been a while I forgot, there should be a fold up stinger at the front of the machine, fold it down to find the center of the bulb and fold it up to aim.
If you're running a shop, you can charge more for the job if you use highly technical equipment. A measuring tape and a piece of chalk just don't look professional to most folks.
New Jersey State inspection stations used to have them. The inspector would roll it out in front of you, get the readings and dimentions, then fail you for them not being lined up/aimed. resulting in another trip back to get it rechecked by a different guy. They also had an intensity meter. I think these were a throwback to before the sealed beams came out in 39-40. The old lights used to not be bright and then you needed to replace or shine the reflectors.
Butch's wrecker service still has one ,and it was used on sealed beams in fact he still uses it to aim modern head lights with it.
Yep, It is an aimer, also has an intensity scale inside.. You would have two metal strips with a raised bead running across the floor that it rode on.. You roll it to the center of the car and sight down the center line of the hood and use the knob on the side to align the machine to the car. Then roll it down in front of the headlites to set the lite in the grid that shows thru the window..Like others said. marks on the wall are quicker, but the state police made sure you knew how to use one to do inspections..
Its an aimer. Used to, TuV in Germany (the vehicle inspection people) would not allow sealed beams, so we replaced them with Hella round headlights and the halogen insert, and then had to aim it. And, the inspectors checked it too. Cool find!
I got some kind of a targeting thing on a stand with it, too, but it's not adjustable. When I pull it out of the truck in the morning I'll take some photos, I was just too tired when I got home tonight. Ad soon not to be seen on Craigslist: Your headlights, professionally adjusted with pro-grade tools, duals $10, quads $15...
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