I'm going to have to MAKE some headlight lenses...HOW?

try snow mobile headlights

 

How about looking for someone who grinds telescope lenses? Or a supply house that has low-grade convex lens blanks?

 

I think you will need matched reflectors and lenses to get good results. How about making a template of what you need and doing some trolling in a big parking lot for a late model with a configuration that can be cut to fit?
If there isn't a combination that can be adapted, widen your field of view--start eyeballing street lights and other big commercial lamps. I think most modern stuff may be lexan or something cuttable.
I think glass lenses will not be workable--old ones will be brittle, new ones will be tempered and you will just be creating expensive gravel.
And what have you got that a trip to Hershey won't find? Issotta-Fraschinei? Bugatti Royale? F-117 landing light? Depression ware salad bowl?

 

I use a diamond blade bandsaw to cut glass. Look at the Arts and Crafts folks

 

Some of our traffic lights have hard plastic, chrome plated reflectors that could be cut or heated into an oval shape. Some others were metal, chrome plated. You could make a mold to cast your own lenses from clear resin in any shape you wish. Be inventive!
Hey, I just came in from the garage where I have a pair of new reflectors from old discontinued traffic lights. They measure 10.5" across and have a bulb-hole in the center about 1.25" in diameter or so....forgot to measure the hole. These are made from metal but I don't know what metal. They're chrome plated and yours if you think you might wanna cut 'em down with a sabre/jig saw. I clicked a digital photo of one but there's not enough juice in my camera batteries to conect to my computer, damn it!
I have a pair of 36 chevy pickup lenses..convex and fluted but they're round, glass and not for sale right now.
E-mail me if you want the reflectors, Kevin.

 

Grim,
A friend of mine who is Mr. Science was talking about making lenses for large telescopes with a dremel tool and carbide bit suspended on a swinging pendelum. Of course that only takes care of the concave side. Would be a butt load of work as well. Never mind, forget I mentioned it.

 

Alot of NEW CAR headlights are made of PLASTIC....
Take, for instance, the NEW beetles,
(ugly as they are),
Shoot, for that matter, the whole FRONT END of those things are plastic-

As for plain (non-safety) flat glass I would say
"what year car?"
And then I would tell you that-
Cops around here don't know about anything older than 1982...
("yea, these ARE stock lenses, officer")

I would look at a few different headlight BULBS,
because there must be a few out there that are "no-or-low-heat",
Which would be a necessity for plastic headlights...

 

dude, do you have some of those wild ass tear drop headlights that look likr those weird horns?

 

I put a post on here a while back trying to ID some lamps i bought that had no lenses, well they turned out to be '39 Packard & measure 9" by 16" long.....found some perfect original curved lenses & trims on Egay! there were others on there too just do a search on lenses.
I'm using reflectors from some Bosch halogen units i picked up cheap & just smashed the lenses off, it will all go together fairly easy.
hope that helps.

 

If the lense you are trying to create is flat, you may want to check out a smaller hardware store. They can cut tempered glass as long as it is flat. Another alternative, although it is not glass, is to check out a "home improvement whorehouse." They sell flat sheets of plexi-glass that you can cut to any shape you would like. Stuff is rather easy to work with. I made a table top out of two pieces with pictures and what-not sam-iched between them. Again as long as it is something flat. You may, May, MAY be able to SLIGHTLY heat that plastic stuff from the whore house to create a contour. But I would be concerned with discoloration.

 

One more thing that I just remembered, that works real well with older tail lights. Paint the buckets gloss white or silver. Believe it or not it makes a big difference. It makes a tremendous difference on a vehicle where the tail lights are not perpendicular to the road (i.e. 40 ford) Something like that may help disipation on the headlight.

 

i'm with bruce and rocky kev, i was thinking traffic light. gotta be other applications that you could pirate along the pock marked roads of missouri...how bout those huge orange low polluting street lights.. might be something weird looking. or old billboard lighting. they cant be glass. they ARE big, could cut down... then once you figure it out, POST A GODDAMN PICTURE!

 

The newly defunct Indian motorcycle had a teardrop lens (headlight) Found one pic on ebay. Not that good.


I know they are sold aftermarket. I'll see how much and if I can get a size.
(my spellllllling sucks

 

Check this stuff out..

http://www.alumilite.com/applications.cfm?Action=view&ID=4

 

Grim,

I made (larger) 36 Ford dommed lenses fit my (smaller) 40 Chevy bezels by taking them to a glass shop and having them grind them down to fit using their water-cooled belt sander. They charged $15 to cut about 1/2" off the edge of the two flutted glass '36 lenses I supplied.

Find something similar and grind down to fit?

 

If you gotta set of these, I'll just fall down..

 

thats the lights i was thinkin of rocky!

 

Disregarding legalities and specifications you might easily build some from 3/16 or 1/4" plex. Domed and trimmed like you know what you're doing. Start by tracing the where the flat of the lens sits under the bezel and cut that exact shape out of 1/2" plywood. Build a little box under it and drill a hole for your vacuum cleaner hose to fit. Make a frame out of plywood that will fit over the vacuum box. Clamp or screw an oversized piece of plex in the frame and "soak" it in your oven at 350F until the plex sags. This might take an hour... maybe less, depending on the type of plex. When flexible, remove from oven, place over vacuum box and suck. Control the depth of the "dome" by adding or removing vacuum. Have your helper blow cool air over the desired shape to cool. Remove from frame. Trim on bandsaw. Have another piece of plex ready to repeat. You could have two identical lenses, clear, to mount in under 3 hours with any luck. You could mask and sandblast the back for "frosting" or whatever. Good luck. himmelberg

 

Were the original factory lenes flat?How about getting some glass like this cut? Reeded Fluted.
If necessary,the edges could be beveled.You could even have it slumped if you made a mold.

 

Yes, headlites can be cut down. They are just glass. Cut down easily if they have smoothe shiney side, harder if rippled. Can be ground with a wet sander. I can do it if ya can't get it done near you......OLDBEET

 

Kevin, If you go with plastic, check out Fantastic Plastic's across from the El Torreon. They do some real good custom stuff.

 

Grimlock: You got those new lenses made yet?

 

i was at my buddies rod shop the other day and he was making tail light lenses...he made a metal male mold and a female ring with hole around it..he had like gridded plexi and was heating it with a heat gun and tightening bolts through the holes REAL slow like...they looked factory...would the lenses have to be curved..you could find some huge lights and cut them down