QuestionOctavio, In restoring older cars, it is sometimes difficult to find good used lens. I have seen some reproduction lens available for some models. Could you explain how most taillight lens are made? And is there a process where a small number could be reproduced as a reasonable price? I hope this is not too broad a question. Thank you for your time and expertise.
dave
AnswerHi Dave,Taillights and headlights are made by the injection molding process, a technique where you heat-melt plastic pellets and force them into expensive steel molds under very high pressures. The transparent part (lens )& the housing, where the lamps are installed,are made separately and joined with a glue.Besides moldings you need a machine which only justifies itself to produce long series.
lenses are normally made of Polymethylmetacrylate and housings of either ABS polymer in older models and Polypropylene in newer cars.
Unfortunately, The only alternative way to produce a lens afford ably, is something that is not dealt with in the International Plastics repair manual.However we are making arrangements to include this info. in the E-book.
The procedure is not easy to explain through this channel because it requires a lot of pictures and maybe some videos to be understood. If you are patient, I will inform you as soon as this is done. Please let me know your E-mail. Mention the words polymer lens ,so I can know is not spam. Mail to: manual@bumper2bumperplasticsrepair.com
Meanwhile, visit the Tap plastics site, where you can see how to work with acrylics, learn how to bend and glue. I hope you will find this useful. Thanks
