Has anyone here attempted to make their own taillight lenses? If so, I'm wondering what the best way to go about it would be. I'm not talking about just a flat lens.
IGOR,last month ,i believe,there was an article in the streedrodder mag,or rod and custom. they were making flush fitting lenses,but the theory was there,and some helpful tips as well. they were casting these lenses,and it gave the names of the resins they were using. not near my stack 'o' magazines right now(i am at work),or would look it up for ya'. later
[ QUOTE ] I'm not talking about just a flat lens. [/ QUOTE ] Given that you asked for something other than a flat lens, you may want to save your time and effort looking at CR. The flush-mounted lenses in that article are just that, flush (read flat) to the body. I have been working on fabricating some 54 DeSoto parking lamp lenses with polyester resin and tranluscent fibergl*** cloth but I haven't had the time to perfect the mold. Most of the resins that are used when doing fibergl*** lay-ups are very weak when not reinforced. Most tailight lenses are made up of complex curves and are difficult to layup with convention reinforcing cloth. I haven't seen too many aftermarket re-pops of lenses but there are a few out there for the more popular cars. Good luck...
There was an article in Rod and Custom a couple years ago where the guy built a buck out of wood and then heated red lexan in his oven to get it plyable. Then he formed the lexan over the buck and backed it up with the stuff they cover flourescent light fixtures in office buildings with. You know the stuff that's like a grid of plastic. He did this to reflect the light. Check out their website to see if it's in their tech library, if not I'll search through by magazine collection and scan the article for you.
First off... the guy who used the bent lexan is our very own shortbus. If you are looking to make your own lenses. there are a bunch of newer casting resins that are much stronger than the old stuff. one thing you should do is plan ahead to put a difuser to spread out the light and not just at the bulb... ok on with the links for casting resin Theys people have alot of products. one of them could work for you. Smooth-On heres another alumilite thats a start.. you can google casting resins to get more links... Garth
I believe a couple of years ago somebody did a howto on the HAMB. Believe it was one of the Scandinavian HAMBers. Here's what I seem to remember from it...He made a steel mold with an opening the size the lens should be. Then heated the lexan in the microwave (think about a minute, don't know the temp). On the mold there was also a fitting for air pressure and a gauge. Then he slowly applied verry little pressure, so the lens would make a nice bubble.
What about making a small stand with a ring the shape you want the outside of the lens, then heat unti it sags? I've seen gl*** formed this way for bowls.
Try a Greg Clauss in CA at www.claussstudios.com He can just about make anything you need out of plastic or rubber! I used him to reproduce a lens for my Vespa. A custom number, clear with flames. Its on his site!
ram..from rams rods and customs here in delaware has made a bunch...he gets this red plexi with a diamond pattern to the back of it,like a reflecter...he makes a male mold..with a larger female ring...almost what the trim ring would look like...it has a lip around the outside with nuts on it...he puts it together and uses a heat gun to heat the plexi and real slow he tightens the nuts...on opposite sides like torquing lug nuts...it's real slow,but they look like he bought them...i wish i had a picture for you,his jig looks like its aluminum...maybe an aluminum ring with a wood center hump?...
<font color="purple"> Vesparex, I've been wanting a place that makes rubber parts. I can't find any for my car. </font>
Burnup is right. Lots of great Lexan cooking stuff out there. It stands up to heat pretty well. As for vac forming plastic it's has to be thought out before trying complex forms. Also you has to run LEDs or you'll end up melting the lens. It can be don't but takes some practice to get the form right so the shape looks right. http://www.warmplastic.com/ http://www.studiocreations.com/stormtrooper/vacuumforming/
Here is couple of pics making lenses.One way to do it. http://photo.starblvd.net/B_49?st=album&pg=0&ro=1&co=3 Well,I don't get this picture thing.
here is what I did to make a set of lenses for the front parking lights of my 54 chevy. sorry no "how to" pic.s I got some plastic used for flourescent light fixtures and cut down a piece about 2" bigger then my bezel, I placed it upside down on the bezel into a 150 degree oven for about 15 min. it did not "flow", I removed it from the oven and with gloves on I pushed down on the plasic thru the bezel to create the bubble. you have to push on it fast as it cools fast. I have never done this before and I DON'T know what iam doing, but with little smarts and some time this is what I got!
I'm sure those other resources are a lot better, but I remember a little artical in I think the 3rd issue of Hop Up that had an artical from Barris about making your own taillight lenses. If you've got that First 15 Issues of Hop Up, you'll find it in there.
Looks like Mr Claus has got it down to a science, but I still need more information. What materials does it take and where do you get them? what is the process?
Go to http://www.diynet.com They have a whole step-bypstep on molding tailight lenses in their auto restoration section. Tey did it for a Packard Coupe.
I realize this is an old thread, but Kartsa had the best DIY tech for making your own taillite. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31981&&showall=1 Them Fins sure know how to keep kustoms alive. Reverend Jake
Do you want to make copies of an unobtainable taillight? Or just make a flat, or almost flat taillight? Or completely make one from scratch? For the flat, or slightly curved light, the HAMB fabricators have already given you good links, and advice, as usual. For a copy of a rare one, or one from scratch, I can help. If you want your own design, you'll have to carve one out of wood, foam, bondo, or, probably the best choice, Pro modeling clay (Chavant is probably the most popular with auto designers). Then the techniques are the same a copying a rare one, even if damaged. My friend Vic Collins, who builds award winning custom car models (1/24 scale), and even does resin kits of them, recently finished up a few copies of a Frazer taillight for custom car builder Donn Lowe. It's a pretty long drawn out process, and you need to buy some specific materials to do it. Vic uses Smooth-On, as he's been buying from them for years. They give good tech support, as well. First you have to polish up the original, even if it's your carving. The smoother the better. Then a silicone based mold resin is used to make a male and female mold oth the part. In Donn's case, the original lense was surface cracked, and had a chip or 2. So after makeing the first mold, Vic cast up a resin copy of the lense. He used the same resins he does with car models. We took the resin, and repaired it using standard auto body materials, bodo, glaze, and finished it in epoxy primer. Then sanded the epox primer to perfection, and polished it. A new mold was made with the perfected resin lense. The mold has to be baked for a few hours in a low temp oven to cure it and drive off the moisture. Now to make the real lense. Vic got Smooth-On's advice on the type of resin and hardener to use for the transparent lense, as well as the tint to color it. He made a couple trial runs with different amounts of red tint, as well as one with a drop or 2 of brown added to get the color right. It is important to use the real mold to do this, as the thickness of the lense can add to or take away from the darkness of the lense. When the color formula was correct, he did a real lense. First apply mold release to the mold. Mix the resin. You have to work quickly to mix it, and put the resin in the mold. It doesn't have a long window to work it. He then put the mold in a converted auto painting pressure pot, which drives out the bubbles in the resin. Some resins he uses need vacuum to do this, so check with the supplier. When the resin set up, he waited til the next day, and again, baked the mold, with the resin it it. In making thin transparent lenses, with this resin, you have to do this for strength. Doing it in the mold keeps the shape correct. He does remove the lense to check it for imperfection/bubbles before doing the baking. Now, it's done, he just gives it a quick polish with 3200 grit wet sandpaper, and then Wenol polish. I wish I still had my digital camera, I could post pics of the process, and the finished lense to give you a better idea of the process. In conclusion, though, it's a long process, and uses a lot of materials, and experimentation to get it right. As well as a bit of money! I think Vic had over $300 in materials to do about 6 lenses, one resin and the 2 molds, to get it right. He's probably going to just buy a bit more transparent resin, and do a few more pairs to try to recoupe his "research" money, selling them to the Frazer guys. Our next project using this technique will be repoping custom square Chrysler steering wheels, tinted/flaked/pearled (in the transparent area), to order. I will try to get pics for a HAMB how to on this project for you all!
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