64 taillight lenses

[SASSY]

I removed all 3 chrome trim rings from the broken lense.
I will post pics and a drawing later. I used a heat gun to soften the lense and pryed the ring off. There is no glue it is a mechanical grip. The outside of the ring is curved under
and in production I think is pressed onto the lense with heat involved.
Overheating the lense is a problem, too hot the lense distorts, not hot enough the lense chiped where I pryed. The backup clear portion of the lense is more sensitive to heat and distorts quicker.
If the lense you want to put the ring on is really good with a bent ring I would cut the ring off rather than chance ruining it with heat. Pics to come.
Fred

[SASSY]

This broken lense was just what I needed discover how the trim rings were attached to the lense.
I used a heat gun to free the ring and then pry it off.
The crack was there but you can see how the heat distorted the edge of the crack.


On this ring mount I used less heat but the lense chiped easily when prying the ting off.

And the heat still distorted the lense a bit at the ridge on the rib.

This pic shows the retaining groove the ring rests in.

And here a drawing showing the ring cross section which convinces me it is pressed on in production, maybe with heat too.


The clear backup lense was even more susceptible to distortion from the heat. The clear lense is molded into the tailight in production and I wanted to see if I could remove it but not without destruction.

[lavron]

Cool thanks for the instructions, it looks like if you have a broken lens with good rings and a good taillight with bent rings you could get the good rings and cut the bad rings off and maybe end up with a good taillight. Have you tried reinstalling a ring yet?

See Ya,
Mike

[SASSY]

Well I sorta tried installing one. I pushed one back on and had a heck of a time to get it off again
Think I'll just use some good glue.
Redhotcomet is sending me a decent pair of standard lenses.
Guess they have bent rings but not broke so perfect.
Gonna order the flasher units this week too.
Fred

[Jims65cyclone]

I wonder if you could heat the ring in an oven to a temp below that of the melting point of the plastic, but hot enough to expand it to slip over the lip on the lens. As it cools, it would shrink onto the lip.

Jim

[SASSY]

Got the standard lenses from Redhotcomet yesterday.
That man knows how to ship!!
Waiting for the modules now, they're probably on a slow boat from China.

[SASSY]

Got the modules yesterday, they're tiny for some reason I thought they were bigger.
So gonna set up a lence and housing and do so bench testing.
Fred

[lavron]

Got the modules yesterday, they're tiny for some reason I thought they were bigger.

The biggest issue I ran into was getting the wire in the hole and finding small enough screws to mount them, I ended up just putting two screws in each module.

I have all the parts to build a second one just haven't gotten around to it yet, hopefully, will be a little better than the first because I have experience now

See Ya,
Mike

[redhotcomet]

Glad those lenses arrived safe Fred!

I also received my timer modules a week or so ago. Have yet to mess with them though.

[SASSY]

Glad those lenses arrived safe Fred!

I also received my timer modules a week or so ago. Have yet to mess with them though.

I think you should apply for Canadian distribution rights from Mike,,, could be your next million,,,
Fred
Ya havent touched mine either,, honey do list at the moment.

[lavron]

I think you should apply for Canadian distribution rights from Mike,,, could be your next million,,,
Fred
Ya havent touched mine either,, honey do list at the moment.

I think the Chinese should be giving me a commission on module sales

I have too much to do to put together my second one, guess it is not so important when I have a working set I have enough other things not working at the moment.

Good luck guys.

See Ya,
Mike