When I was a kid, I thought that those old English cars with their semaphore turn signal stalks were just goofy and that if I ever had one, I would fill in the holes. Now I'm old and realize that they stopped making those things by 1961 and I have one; so maybe I should keep them. Unfortunately, I only have about half of one so I will try to make them from scratch. Original ones are activated by a solenoid. I figured that I could probably use a pop up headlight motor to flip the arm out and to switch it on by using a turn signal switch from a 70's Cadillac that activated a cornering lamp along with the flashing turn signal. I located a pair of pop up headlight actuators from an old Toyota Corolla. There are five wires coming from there and I haven't a clue as to what they do so I attempt to take off the plastic cover and of course, I manage to snap off the head of the screws. On a more positive note, I now have a better idea as to how to wire this up now. These are very small screws seized in an aluminum housing. While the screws are above the surface of the housing, they are too small to grip onto with visegrips. After dousing them for a few days with PB Blaster, it was time to get serious. I cut little strips of sheet metal to weld onto the remains of the screw and drill an 11/64" hole for the screw to poke through. Then I carefully aimed my mig at the top of the screw and zapped it. The first one came out but the trick is to very carefully turn the sheet metal lever slowly back and forth a little at a time because the weld is probably not that good. The second one took bout 4 or 5 tries and with every try, the top of the screw gets a bit shorter, with the hope that maybe the screw came out a little bit further before it snapped off. My pictures are not too sharp but that is what you get with a "point and shoot" camera that you can't focus. It worked, but I still hate doing this stuff.
Don't know exactly what camera you're using, but even most basic point & shoot cameras have a "macro" or "close up" setting that's usually indicated with a pictogram of a flower. You may find that you can make this setting with the camera's mode dial, or you may have to search thru the menu screens to find it. As far as your wig-wag turn signals go, a headlamp door actuator seems like a bit of overkill to me. A solenoid, like from an older power door lock setup would be a lot simpler I would think. Power to the solenoid would deploy the lamp; gravity would restore it to the stowed position when the power was cut off. Though I might be oversimplifying the process. If in fact you do need a motorized linear actuator I wonder if something like this would work. https://www.amazon.com/Eaarliyam-Ac...2+volt+linear+actuator&qid=1622655610&sr=8-14
most OEM power door lock actuators are also motors with a screw to turn it into linear motion. At least the ones I've seen are. Aftermarket door popper solenoids are kind of huge for this application. Neat trick for removing broken screws.
I wasn't really after input as to how to make these things since I'm probably the only one out there who wants to do it. Mainly, I was trying to show that it is possible to remove really stubborn small seized screws. Anyhow, I haven't seen ANY working semaphores since I was a kid and the ones I remember generally were sticking out when they weren't supposed to be. Pop up headlights, on the other hand, seem to pop up when you turn them on and retract when you shut them off. Seems like a workable solution. Originally, I think they just stuck out when you indicated a turn and didn't flash. If they did that today, someone would probably hit my car when I'm turning.
Semaphores are cool If you want to see different ways to get them to work the old vw bug guys are crazy for cars with semaphores and have getting them working down to an art. your screw removal trick is the cats pyjamas!! Gonna remember this for next time as I seem to always be futzing around with small motors and actuators that are all seized and can’t come apart at work amd after about an hour I toss it in the bin and just order nee parts as “ **** it it’s not my uncles forklift , scrubber or whatever !!” But now I might have a work around Thanks !
Here is info on VW semaphores: https://www.google.com/search?q=vw+...movil-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 No need to reinvent the wheel, or semaphores.
My Austin has the semiphores also, and I found out VW bugs used them earlier also, and you can still buy all the pieces for a VW to repair them. As for stuck small screws. I've found that using my Weller soldering gun to put pinpoint heat on the screw, and then a drop of Kroil that gets ****ed into the hot screw, will often allow them to break free. https://www.google.com/search?q=VW+...UCt54KHfVbDxkQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1366&bih=625
I have had some luck using a vibrating engraving tool on small screws. Just like a hammer and punch, but on a smaller scale. Gary
That's a good trick. I've had decent success with my Vampliers. https://www.vampiretools.com/shop/products/pliers/vampliers-6-25-screw-extraction-pliers/
The Jalopy Journal
