off topic- sewed my own tail lights

[phil]

being very stubborn and cheap, I decided to fix my own tail lights. one problem was that volvo uses this silly idea with a printed circuit board to connect to the bulb holders. then the tail lights keep failing because of bad contact with the silly circuit board.

so I made plastic washers, mounted normal bulb holders to them and used twist ties to connect the two wafers together. to change bulbs I just need to undo the twist ties.

I found a source for unused LED stop signal lights so I robbed one of the covers for the red plastic.

I attempted to bend the stuff, my first attempt with a blowtorch got it a little too hot, it bent too abruptly and it sort of made the plastic white where it got a bit too hot.

on my second attempt I held it over my toaster until it got warm enough, that worked pretty well.

I made some cardboard patterns and found I can cut the stuff pretty easily with a hacksaw.
i made a new light lens by gluing 4 pieces together. I used super glue.

I learned that that type of glue leaves a white residue. what happens is that the fumes from it fog the lens. Its a weird problem but evidently it is caused by dampness and the fumes or something ..

the white haze was mostly on the inside, the car is my winter beater so Im not getting super fussy. I glued the lens back in with white silicone.

I found a little terminal strip to use to make all the connections neat. then I can put it back...

I might convert it to LED's I found some single filament bulbs that fit. the volvo has a bulb failure light. it comes on if the amperage draw to the lights is abnormal so I might have to cu tthe wire to make the indicator go out if I use the LED bulbs.

the reflectors arent' perfect but I think itll work. It just looks a little less ghetto than red tape lol..

I know its way off topic but I thought I'd share anyway.. it probably wasn't worth the time if I counted the hours, but at least I didn't really spend much.. so I guess I sort of won. lol..
here's some pics, I included my first attempt at bending the stuff. I had to glue a little piece on the end. it didnt' fit perfect but if the car was a real gem I could probably do better. Im not sure how super glue fares in the wet but Ill find out when and if it falls apart I guess

[Manalto]

Phil, it's always interesting to see your resourceful projects. As far as being off-topic, I could see how this technique might apply in a situation where somebody's doing a lighting project in a mid-century modern house, rounding a corner in a kitchen or a bar, for example - so it never hurts to learn something new. Who knew my toaster wore so many hats?

[phil]

Phil, it's always interesting to see your resourceful projects. As far as being off-topic, I could see how this technique might apply in a situation where somebody's doing a lighting project in a mid-century modern house, rounding a corner in a kitchen or a bar, for example - so it never hurts to learn something new. Who knew my toaster wore so many hats?

I figured the tail lights themselves were off topic for sure but I learned a little in trying to bend the plastic and I wasn't aware of this issue of crazy glue causing the whitish fog from it's fumes. There is lots to know about different glues and materials like plastic. some stuff isn't compatible, some is. learning about that isn't so far off topic because others may want o glue things that break.

when i researched the fog effect, one video showed a guy heating jewellery that was fogged and somehow that got rid of the fog. I tried putting my lens that was fogged over my toaster to see if it got rid of the fog but it really didn't work for me. to avoid it ventilation would help. It was worst when I used the rest of the assembly to align it and clamped it and put crazy glue on , then the fumes got inside the lens. the fog could be avoided with masking tape perhaps.

I tried an experiment with JB weld to see how well it stuck and how well it would stick if it was sanded. It let go fairly easily. a glue that does work is transition glue used for joining the white plastic pipe to the black plastic pipe. they are different types of plastic. that glue is white though so it would look too messy. I've found that in cases where you really cant' see the repair it works well. I did hear of other plastic glues that dont have the white fog effect. I also noticed they have clear gorilla glue now, not sure if it works on plastic. I tried airplane glue but it was the type for balsa wood and it did not work at all on plastic but I think the old type we used as kids for polystyrene toy models would work. people used to "huff"it and I think they might have changed the formula. epoxies usually dont work well on plastic but there are different types of plastic. I used silicone to mount it because it would fill the gaps and its pretty forgivable. If I wanted to get it apart I probably could although it's hard to clean off.

one repair that works well is to drill tiny holes with a tiny drill bit and then sew parts with fine wire then to use glue to encapsulate the joint and the wire into the joint. That can make a strong repair and then the wire works like tiny re-bar. adds a mechanical component to the joint.

phil

[1918ColonialRevival]

As far as I'm concerned, it's on-topic

There's quite a few of us left who do all of our own vehicle repairs. Plus, there are projects around the house that involve working with plastics, thin circuit boards, and the like.