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  #1231  
Old 04-23-2019, 07:48 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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Making the lenses for the tail lights is pretty simple. I started by making a plug from wood and Bondo. Shape it to fit the housing minus 3/16" in height and width

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Next, I made an upper plate by cutting a hole to actual size of the housing opening. Sand a radius into the bottom edges around the opening so the plexiglass can slide past rather than scrape or tear as it is being stretched into shape.

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I glued a piece of 1/2" plywood to the bottom of the plug to raise it above the level of the upper plate when it's pushed down over the lense.

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This is the plug glued to the base plate with the upper plate laid over the top. You can see the 3/16" gap around the perimeter of the plug.

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Next, sand the plexiglass with 1000grit on a DA at low speed.

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Last edited by Jack 1957; 04-23-2019 at 09:05 PM.
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  #1232  
Old 04-23-2019, 08:01 PM
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Loosely screw the lense to the upper plate with 4 screws near the corners.

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WARNING! This is the part that can get you killed. Go to your wife's brand new kitchen and put the upper plate and lense blank in the oven at 350 degrees till it starts to sag a little. (Be careful with the heat. If you get it too hot it will start to boil. There will be bubbles trapped in the plastic that won't come out. If you choose to use 1/8" thick rather than 3/16" bring the temperature down to about 330 degrees). Pull it out and press it over the plug pushing downward. It cools pretty quickly so you need to be quick. If it goes mostly down by hand, use clamps to bring it the rest of the way down. If you don't get where you need to be, just put it back in the oven and start again. You can reheat this stuff. By the way, if this thread ends abruptly, call the perimedics for me.

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Next, trim the flash off and fit it to the housing. Then stuff the guts back into the housing and install the lense. One down, one to go.

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Last edited by Jack 1957; 05-17-2019 at 10:07 PM.
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  #1233  
Old 04-23-2019, 08:21 PM
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Kerry Pinkerton Kerry Pinkerton is offline
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Wow. Just wow!
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  #1234  
Old 04-23-2019, 08:50 PM
steve.murphy steve.murphy is offline
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Nice work Jack,
What is the purpose of the sanding? Goes on the inside I am guessing.
Thanks
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  #1235  
Old 04-23-2019, 09:03 PM
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Jack 1957 Jack 1957 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steve.murphy View Post
Nice work Jack,
What is the purpose of the sanding? Goes on the inside I am guessing.
Thanks

It frosts the inside surface so you can't see the guts from the outside. It also serves as a difuser to soften the multiple light sources and make them appear to be one large light source.
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  #1236  
Old 04-23-2019, 09:08 PM
Don Papenburg Don Papenburg is offline
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Wow here also , that looks good .
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  #1237  
Old 04-23-2019, 09:42 PM
onya onya is offline
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I always learn something from this Thread, thanks Jack.
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  #1238  
Old 04-24-2019, 04:33 AM
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Awesome Jack.
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  #1239  
Old 04-24-2019, 06:19 AM
cliffrod cliffrod is offline
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Very cool, Jack. Those look great.

Ive been searching through earlier pages and found pics of taillights with led internals on page 110. did you do any assembly or modifications to the LED lamp array (reconfigure, rewire, ??) other than remove them from the original assembly to install in yours?
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  #1240  
Old 04-24-2019, 07:48 AM
jpony645 jpony645 is offline
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This could be the best, most informative thread in the history of the internet!

Great work, Jack.
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