how to light a headlight casting?

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davejt
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2009 10:40 am

how to light a headlight casting?

Post by davejt »

Looking for any techniques or suggestions for lighting a metal headlight casting.

I'm thinking of using fiberoptic to get the light into the casting, but what to use for the lens? I've been toying with MV lenses, drilling out the rear for a fiber, but it is very easy to delaminate the reflective backing from the plastic lens.

I've also tried filling the metal casting with kristal klear, but results seem unsatisfactory.

Anyone have a sure fire technique? Plastic Resin? paint the rear with a metalic or white paint? melt the end of the fiber into a blob?

TIA.

Garthah
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:11 am
Location: Niaqgara Falls Canada
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Re: how to light a headlight casting?

Post by Garthah »

davejt wrote:Looking for any techniques or suggestions for lighting a metal headlight casting.

I'm thinking of using fiberoptic to get the light into the casting, but what to use for the lens? I've been toying with MV lenses, drilling out the rear for a fiber, but it is very easy to delaminate the reflective backing from the plastic lens.

I've also tried filling the metal casting with kristal klear, but results seem unsatisfactory.

Anyone have a sure fire technique? Plastic Resin? paint the rear with a metalic or white paint? melt the end of the fiber into a blob?

TIA.
I use Micro LED's which actually fit inside the head light casting and create a lens from fibre optic and the heat from a soldering iron. For the fibre optic I use the head from a soldering iron to heat the end of the fibre optic causing it to mushroom and you heat it a bit at a time until you have the required diameter and then I cut it off fibre optic a bit behind the lens and again heat the back of the lens to smooth the fibre optic but no to create as big a lens.
I place the Micro Led with magnet wire leads into the back of the head light casting using Bullfrog snot as insulation in the back of the socket but don't over do it. If you get too much of that stuff in the back and push your LED into it too far, it will mushroom out around the LED and your Headlight will have a green tint to it. If that happens I use a micro brush and bit of black paint to kill it. When the lens is placed in front you get a very bright light in either halogen white or incandescent light yellow/orange light. Just be sure you hook it up correctly to your track power with the correct corresponding resistor.
Cheers Garth

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