Vacu-formed headlights

[BigTallDad]

THE BUCK. I glued three layers of coffee-stirrer wood together and sanded it to shape. I made it extra deep because the plastic tends to curl up at the base of the buck, so this gave me room to sand the drawn plastic to shape.

THE SETUP. Rather than use a whole lot of plastic for one tiny object and to avoid having to make multiple bucks, I resorted to aluminum foil to seal off the area surrounding the piece to be drawn.

THE RESULT. Using scrap plastic (from a blister pack), I made about six of these, then selected the best of the lot. I found that the heat gun needs to orbit the plastic around the buck; otherwise one side will draw down farther than the other.

SANDING TO SHAPE. After using fingernail clippers to get the rough shape, sandpaper came into play for the final portion. I held the backer with a surgical clamp to avoid the “pling, I wonder where it went” disaster.

BMF. I laid the first piece of BMF on the inside of the backer, placing it slightly over the center of the diagonal, then burnished it down. The second piece was applied in the same manner and overlaps the first piece just a little bit. The finished product is actually smoother than it appears in the picture.

THE LENS. Using more of the blister pack plastic, I created a straight edge, measured, and cut to size (in this case the height of the lens opening). After scoring the horizontal and vertical lines, the plastic was cut roughly in half. The two pieces were then placed side-by-side and cut to the proper length (actually the width of the lens opening). The white stuff you see is double-sided masking tape, which held the plastic firmly and allowed a certain amount of precision for scoring and cutting.

FINAL RESULTS. Five minute epoxy was used to glue the backer to the lens. The part on the left is an ’85 SVO assembly.

[426-Hemi]

Ray NICE work but I have to know, WHAT glue did you use to adhere the lens to the model car? I've tried everything from Plastruct Weld, to Pro-Weld from Ambroid to Tenax-7R and NOTHING has bonded the blister pack plastic very well........ so I have to ask what glue you use for this task?

(I've tried using blister pack plastic for interior courtesy lights, and dome lights and nothing held the lens I made in place for very long....)

So I been wondering what glue you and or anyone else uses for such things......

Edited June 1, 2015 by 426-Hemi

[BigTallDad]

I used five minute epoxy.

[426-Hemi]

Did it work as if it was glue, and how well did it hold?

[BigTallDad]

It's been holding up well. After all, it's a headlight that never gets touched.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've tried everything from Plastruct Weld, to Pro-Weld from Ambroid to Tenax-7R and NOTHING has bonded the blister pack plastic very well........ so I have to ask what glue you use for this task?

These are all solvent-type glues for styrene. The clear blister-pack (or soda-bottle) plastic is highly solvent-resistant, so the solvent glues don't work well.

BTD's epoxy is a reliable way to go when adhering parts made from materials unaffected by solvents.

You might also try CAA, or PVA-based glues, which have worked well for me where the clear parts fit well.

[Russell C]

Fabulous! Courtesy of your earlier "Build a Poor man's vacu-form" thread, and now this tip, I'm ever more prompted to put together one of those and solve some of my various complex curve vintage windshield replacement problems. All looks reasonably easy.

Should have guessed there was a “'pling, I wonder where it went' disaster” label to that problem. My carpet is full of teensy car parts, you (and I) just can't see 'em.

[BigTallDad]

Fabulous! Courtesy of your earlier "Build a Poor man's vacu-form" thread, and now this tip, I'm ever more prompted to put together one of those and solve some of my various complex curve vintage windshield replacement problems. All looks reasonably easy.

Should have guessed there was a “'pling, I wonder where it went' disaster” label to that problem. My carpet is full of teensy car parts, you (and I) just can't see 'em.

I use a shop vac to find (usually) them. I tape the top of a sock (the thinner the better, but no holes) over the outside of the hose end and turn the vac on. The sock gets sucked inside the hose and becomes a filter to catch parts that are ingested.

Turn off the vac, remove the sock, and hopefully the part will be there. If not, repeat as necessary.

Edited June 2, 2015 by BigTallDad

[vintagercr]

Ray, another great tutorial! Thanks