Headlamp covers

Had to make new covers for the headlamps because the hole spacings didnt suit me for the alloy body.
I had not done this before but was not that hard, thought I would put it up as it may help others.

I decided on PVC as it is easier to play with ,less brittle and has moderate UV stability.

Firstly I made 4 dies they are 1.6 alloy ,I just wheeled them and did some bending and tweaking till they fitted.

This is a shot of one lower lamp cover die.
 

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As the dies are radiused you need a pattern, I just use paper this gives a true indication of the correct shape to cut out.

I only made them about 5 mm larger as to much is your enemy , bit like shaping metal.
 

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I tried this with a hot air gun it does not work well as the heat is isolated.
I used the oven at home on 250, I preheated for about 15 minutes.

The sheet came with a plastic film on it you need to leave this on as it stops any imprinting of your die.
I poped the die and the plastic in and I just watched it till it started to slump , when I felt it was time I just pulled it out and applied very light pressure so it would sit on the outside edges.

The last pic is a headlamp cover the photo is of the top corner ,it will not slump under its own weight ,when I pulled it from the oven I put a towel on the R/H side and with a gloved hand kept pressure on it till it started to cool.

All these where test pieces made out of scrap, once I had it worked out I made another set.
 

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The sheet metal dies are my cutting template but you still need to do final tweaking , I use the belt sander to work the edges and it gives a very clean edge.

I marked out and drilled the mounting holes, I have seen posts about the way the plastic grabs and cracks the hole, guys all you do it grind the back rake of the drill tip. the back rake is the sharp cutting edge on the flute at the tip, just whip it of a lot like a missionary drill.
And just go slow.

End result

Hope this is useful to those who want to give it a go

Jim
 

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awesome work Jim......you truly are the Master Craftsman.
Are you going to do the side windows as well?
 
awesome work Jim......you truly are the Master Craftsman.
Are you going to do the side windows as well?

Thanks guys.

Already done Dave, I made them and the rear screen out of no scratch polycarbonate, very expensive.
Its indestructible but I found it hard to get it to slump ,The PVC is similar in nature where you can bend it over on itself and it does not break like acrylic.

Jim
 

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Jim:
Really good on the covers and side screens...did you need to heat the polycarbonate appreciably? I have tried a bit of this work and seem to get my material to blister or go cloudy so obviously my heat is incorrect but I do have a lab oven at my shop that will go to 300c so its a matter of just getting it correct.
Great work
Phil
 
Phil

I found the policarb to difficult ,I found the same thing it required to much heat and still would not form.
Poli has a fire rating, good for a back window in that respect

I used poli on the windows (flater areas) but the lamp covers I used PVC as it was a peice of cake to heat and form.
It has reasonble UV,once you make the die it get new ones every few years if they look average.
The PVC had similar flex properties to the poli in that you can roll it into a curcle and it does not snap, safer if you nail someone.

Jim
 

Pat

Supporter
Someone could make a profitable hobby in producing these for the more popular replicas such as CAV, Superformance, etc.
 
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