Karl Townsend wrote:

"The Kid" is working on his super modified Mustang. He needs to make custom
tail light covers or lens (donno what to call them) Anybody know how this is
done?

Karl


Vacuum form perspex (plexiglass). I suggested this to a guy I know that
is fitting new rear lights to his Marcos and he tracked down a guy that
does vacuum forming and has made a mould for £50 and each lense is £10.

"The Kid" is working on his super modified Mustang. He needs to make custom
tail light covers or lens (donno what to call them) Anybody know how this is
done?

Karl

Hey Karl,

Called a "reflex lens". A company in Windsor, Ontario, ITL Reflex
Division, was a forerunner in mold production of these for many years.
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=How+is+a+reflex+lens+for+tail-lights+made%3F&btnG=Search&meta=

I do know that the injection mold used to make an automotive lens is
VERY VERY highly polished on the "visible side", while the inside is
not so much. I don't know how you would achieve that same polished
surface any other way. Maybe someone from the "art world" would know
about that part.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


On Sun, 26 Aug 2007 08:31:49 -0500, "Karl Townsend"
wrote:

"The Kid" is working on his super modified Mustang. He needs to make custom
tail light covers or lens (donno what to call them) Anybody know how this is
done?

Karl

"Brian Lawson" wrote: (clip) highly polished on the "visible side", while
the inside is not so much. I don't know how you would achieve that same
polished surface any other way.(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'm sure the highly polished female mold is used to avoid having to polish
each lens on a production run. If you're making only a pair, it seems that
you could do the polishing on the lenses themselves with a buffing wheel.

Karl Townsend wrote:

"The Kid" is working on his super modified Mustang. He needs to make
custom tail light covers or lens (donno what to call them) Anybody know
how this is done?

Glass?
I've seen one make small lights for a model. It really was just a brass
punch and die (CNC-milled). A drop of molten glass (honey-like consistency)
into it and some pressing. Looked very easy. No polishing. Surface-tension
and velocity (or lack thereof) made a good enough surface for that small
run.


HTH,
Nick
--
The lowcost-DRO:
http://www.yadro.de

Karl Townsend wrote:
"The Kid" is working on his super modified Mustang. He needs to make custom
tail light covers or lens (donno what to call them) Anybody know how this is
done?

Karl


There's a kit you can buy to cast your own. You'd need an original as a
pattern or create one. Kit then uses some kind of rubber to make the
mold, then some kind of clear plastic two part casting resin, with some
red dye added. I think you can get these from some of the car
restoration mail order companies, heck maybe even JC Witneys. I saw
the results, looked very good, some polishing was required to make the
finished side look 'factory', but it definitely didn't look homemade.

As I recall the kits were somewhat pricey, but with a bit of research
one should be able to come up with suitable mold and casting medium.
Probably the hardest thing would be getting the right tint for the red
color additive.

Regards
Paul


--
-----------------------------------------
It's a Linux world....well, it oughta be.
-----------------------------------------