First run of cast euro turn signal lenses what do you think?

[lunarkingdom]

Hey,

I bought some euro turn signals a while ago and the chrome parts were trashed. I had a set of USA style bubble turn signals with nice quality chrome so I decided to try and do a swap. About 15 minutes into this I realized the lenses were cast over the chrome part of the turn signal so given that my chrome pieces were trash I decided to spend a few hours with a dremal, some files, sand paper and some careful work and I extracted my lenses by cutting the frame into pieces while also slowly removing the inner lip of the cast in lenses. The result was I got a set of lenses I could take to a shop to have them cast. This is the first run and while they are not perfect in any way I am pleased with how they came out. The original lenses were brittle and died during extraction from the molds but the purpose was to make decent ones to re-cast for a larger run which I think these will work well for. I have to talk to them about quantity/new mold/cost per pair as well as what colors I can have made but check it out below and tell me what you think. I forgot what material he used but it is UV resistant like regular taillights. Please do not ask about price I have no idea yet but my goal was to make an easy to use kit to turn your USA bubble turn signals into Euro ones. I also want clear lenses made. I am toying with having the round taillights made in clear and possibly some other colors but that's a whole other ball of wax and would only be if these work out. I have worked out a way to put in new barrel rivets but I still have to test the tooling for the kits to make sure it works good and easy enough for anyone to do it.

How do they look?

😉

Edited March 9 by lunarkingdom

[HobieDog]

Whoa!  
 

Awesome and a really smart idea!  You’re going to kill the used market value on these 😂.  I have a set of pretty tired euro lenses and would love to get replacements.  Great work!

[lunarkingdom]

Just now, HobieDog said:

Whoa!  
 

Awesome and a really smart idea!  You’re going to kill the used market value on these 😂.  I have a set of pretty tired euro lenses and would love to get replacements.  Great work!

I doubt I will kill the market these are not perfect BUT they are good enough and hopefully cheap enough for hobbyists to fix and swap out their own for very decent looking ones on a budget. Thats the goal anyways, thanks for the kind words! I was originally going to just do this for mine but I found a local shop that seems reasonable and they did an awesome job so far, crossing my fingers.

[Pdxguy]

They look great!

[popovm]

Love this. I love any solution that refurbs original parts. Any idea if they can do multiple colors in the same lens, i.e. the Italian 2002 turn signals that are part orange, part clear? 

[lunarkingdom]

Just now, popovm said:

Love this. I love any solution that refurbs original parts. Any idea if they can do multiple colors in the same lens, i.e. the Italian 2002 turn signals that are part orange, part clear? 

I will inquire but I kind of doubt it. They made everything by hand for the first run. When I asked about volume the answers they gave me kind of made me think they would continue to make everything by hand and just throw away any ones that did not turn out ok. I really want to stick to yellow, clear and maybe smoked but I still have to find out what they are willing to do. 

[popovm]

Just now, lunarkingdom said:

I will inquire but I kind of doubt it. They made everything by hand for the first run. When I asked about volume the answers they gave me kind of made me think they would continue to make everything by hand and just throw away any ones that did not turn out ok. I really want to stick to yellow, clear and maybe smoked but I still have to find out what they are willing to do. 

Yup, makes sense! Was just curious how flexible the casting process was. I think making any of those three color options available would be awesome. 

[stephers]

Very nice, I would be up for a couple of sets          How hard to put in the barrel rivets?

 

Thanks, Rick

[kbmb02]

They’d certainly work for my race cars (‘turn signals’ take a beating) - I’d take a few sets, even samples. -KB

[JQ02]

Nice work!

I traded a pair of euro turn signals for a head in the 80s. I'd love to 'replace' them:) 

[Mike Self]

5 hours ago, lunarkingdom said:

I have worked out a way to put in new barrel rivets

If you haven't already discovered them, the ferrules used to cover the ends of rigid small diameter plastic tubing that's used to adapt the tubing to compression fittings.  Your hardware store should have 5/16 compression fitting kits for plastic tubing.  They have brass sleeves (meant to internally reinforce the plastic tubing) that work perfectly.  You should be able to buy those sleeves in bulk from a supplier like Grainger--and you'll also need the little steel spacers that keep the lenses from cracking when you tighten the screws.  I made new ones from small slices of ¼” OD, 3/16 ID copper tubing.

 

Lenses look very good, BTW--a little fine rubbing compound or the mild abrasive that comes in those headlight lens polishing kits and the outer side of the lens will look perfect.

 

Keep us posted on the project's progress.

 

mike

 

PS--you do know that the round tail lights are made from a half dozen separate plastic pieces...a much more complicated process to reproduce.

[lunarkingdom]

3 hours ago, stephers said:

Very nice, I would be up for a couple of sets          How hard to put in the barrel rivets?

 

Thanks, Rick

TBD I have some barrel rivets in hand that I ordered that need to be tested, they are flared/crimped on one side and just need the other side flared so I need to go to my local fasteners shop and get a few different sized flathead screws with washers and nuts to test it out. The flathead screw is flat on top and tapered from the top to the threads and they sell a couple different angles. If it turns out like I think it will you will need an Allen wrench and a small nut driver or socket to crimp the flanges in. When taking the old lenses off of the USA style bulbous turn signals you have to drill the old rivets out so you can remove the inner light mount and gain access to cut the old lens out around the rivet holes so you don't damage the housing when removing it. I will figure this out later though I need to focus on working out the cost and lead time for the lenses. Honestly you don't have to rivet the inner light frame back in, the screws and spacers will hold it together but I thought it would be a nice touch to be able to put them back in.

Edited March 9 by lunarkingdom

[lunarkingdom]

1 hour ago, kbmb02 said:

They’d certainly work for my race cars (‘turn signals’ take a beating) - I’d take a few sets, even samples. -KB

This is why I am doing them, I am hoping they are cheap enough that if one of them falls off for whatever reason you can slap another one on when you get home type of thing. These will need to be glued in, I have to research what kind of glue to use it has to be clear so it will not make a colored ring on the back of the light. Silicone would probably work but I want to find something more permeant probably from the marine world (I live on my boat) so it will be a stronger bond. 

[lunarkingdom]

46 minutes ago, Mike Self said:

If you haven't already discovered them, the ferrules used to cover the ends of rigid small diameter plastic tubing that's used to adapt the tubing to compression fittings.  Your hardware store should have 5/16 compression fitting kits for plastic tubing.  They have brass sleeves (meant to internally reinforce the plastic tubing) that work perfectly.  You should be able to buy those sleeves in bulk from a supplier like Grainger--and you'll also need the little steel spacers that keep the lenses from cracking when you tighten the screws.  I made new ones from small slices of ¼” OD, 3/16 ID copper tubing.

 

Lenses look very good, BTW--a little fine rubbing compound or the mild abrasive that comes in those headlight lens polishing kits and the outer side of the lens will look perfect.

 

Keep us posted on the project's progress.

 

mike

 

PS--you do know that the round tail lights are made from a half dozen separate plastic pieces...a much more complicated process to reproduce.

The ones I bought are for making Kydex holsters and are black oxide coated brass (pictures below) and are 3/16 OD, I am going to see if I can get some O rings (to test I won't know if they work until I try it) to put on the side with the flange on it behind the lens to act as a stand off for the light frame while the now crimped rivet will then act as the spacer for the screw when screwed in (again if it works). Two of the 6 pieces I have now are blemished and I will use them for the preliminary testing and tooling. If not I will buy or make some spacers although those spacers can be salvaged when you disassemble your turn signals too.

The reason I suggested doing round taillights whole is for that very reason. They also have that little chrome piece around the center light which I will probably not have on the final product if I ever get that far as to mess with them, I happen to have 3 sets of lenses for my car as I came upon some great deals I could not pass up (thanks guys) so I have 2 extra sets to play with. Might not be possible. I might opt to leave out the inner diffusers and just add some diffusion material and maybe make a PCB for an LED array or something fun lol.

Thanks for the tips, it is good to hear my 10 dollar calipers gave me the same measurement you got on the first try. I appreciate your insight, thank you!

Edited March 9 by lunarkingdom

[Henning]

7 hours ago, lunarkingdom said:

 

 

I am amazed that you need such gigantic turn signals for a boat.

 

No, seriously, that's great work. And so are your magnified very detailed pics.

 

henn