Who can cast automotive lenses in glass?

Need a couple small runs reproduced in glass from good lenses in hand. Resin/plastic is not an option. Heard there is someone in CA that can handle the task but searching hasn't turned contact up, nor has searching archives here. Any HAMBers capable or know someone that is? Thank you in advance.

 

Send 40StudeDude a PM. His son is listed as an Alliance Vendor but last I checked his site was not working. Does some really amazing stuff with glass.

 

They are are moulded. The melted glass is poured into the lower mould, usually the smooth outside and the inner mould (with refractor blocks, ribs, dots etc.) is then clamped down onto the lower mould. The temp and time spent in the mould determine the color of the lens. Clear first, yellow(amber) second and then orange and red, deeper red color the longer in the mould.

 

I was surprised to find old bottles were made in wooden moulds. This tells me melted glass is not as hot as melted metal. It might be possible to make a mould out of wood, plastic or silicone. I don't know how it could be done, this is just a suggestion. Might be worth looking into.

 

I think molten glass is about 2500 degrees?

 

Look for a small craft glass manufacturer or a local glass blower.
Pressed glass plates are made in a 2 part mold. The bottom mold has the design and the upper is dished. The molten glass is placed on the bottom mold and the upper is pressed on top.
Good luck

Nick

 

Here is one to talk to:
Blake Street Glass Studio

www.blakestreetglass.com/

Nick

 

This is good info. I need some new glass in a trafficator like this one.

 

Glass has a wide range where it can be worked. Maybe it doesn't have to be heated to the point where it is liquid. I wonder if it could be just heated until "soft" and then pressed.

 

You "work" it around 1600. The intial melting is done around 2500. Wood molds are used in blowing not sure about pouring though as I have only working in a glass blowing studio

 

So what does the lens look like that you need to reproduce ? Can,t you find them anywhere , used or NOS. ?

 

Randy Grubb out of Medford Oregon did art glass before becoming famous for the Blastolene specials. Just seen him on the Baileigh Tools site.

 

Technically, glass is always a liquid from a physics standpoint. Look at a really old sheet of window glass, you'll find it is thicker at the bottom after year sof flow.

 

While I agree they are molded, your statement makes no sense regarding time in the mold equaling the color. Glass color is dicated by adding pigments,typically metallic salts. Red is usually a gold salt while amber is manganese or sulfur-Here's a link to color :http://chemistry.about.com/cs/inorganic/a/aa032503a.htm

 

Actually the old windows were cut from big circular discs, the thick glass is where the glass were rolled out to and hardened. The centers of the discs can often be seen as small "bullets" or nipple shaped ornamental peices over the entrances on the same houses.
How i know is that i was present when the regional antique authority visited a friends farm from the 1600s which is close to the oldest glass hut in the country and we thought the same thing based on folklore but were very quickly corrected. His facts made a whole lot more sense.. it takes much more time to deform by age.
So our lenses are safe for a little more time.. Now back to cars..

 

Watching this with interest, I have some unique 32-34 Ford headlight lenses I'd like to have re-popped as well...

 

Appreciate responses so far. Thanks fellas.

One of the items needed is '59 Cadillac fog light lenses in different colors than standard clear. Colors from the factory exist, I have seen both broken and cracked originals in person (not Photoshopped images), but have not located any in over a year of actively searching. Additionally, having looked through every Cadillac master parts catalog from 1959-1967, can not even find matching parts numbers for them. Would like to have molds made from a set of clear originals.

The other lens needed is a slightly larger oval. Similar application. With dwindling second hand supplies and steadily rising prices over the last decade reproductions are now worthwhile.

I am familiar with hot shops having blown glass in college decades ago. Had thought about blowing into an exterior form before pressing inner form from opposite side. Then after kiln cooling, edge finishing and polishing in cold shop.

Figured someone smarter than me had a better answer and HAMB resourcefulness was a great place to ask.

 

You dont understand the definition of the word, 'unique'.

 

You could cast in resin.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=566437&highlight=resin+tail+lights

 

No interest whatsoever in resin as initially stated.

 

Yah he could but.... "Need a couple small runs reproduced in glass from good lenses in hand. Resin/plastic is not an option. ..."

 

Thats not how glass sets it's color. Glass gets it's color from a combination of minerals added to the clear glass. This was made with bule,black and gray then rolled in silver and gold leaf.

 

Wow, Elwood...Wow...I enlarged the disc, then lookin it, and saw stuff from somewhere else, wow... That's far out. Dude.....

 

OK so one more diversion. Those old windows with the center bull's eye were really made by gathering clear glass on the end of a blow pipe and spinning the pipe so the glass whirled out as a disk. The think center is where the gather of glass attached to the pipe. Another way it was done was to blow a cylinder of glass and then cut in once lengthwise and flatten it out. Keep in mind as well that glass was much harder to work with and cut before the advent of carbide wheels for glass cutters-which don't really cut, but score the glass, giving it a fracture line. If you want to cut glass, you'll need a water jet-or a diamond/carbide bandsaw.

 

While i fully understand the meaning, I happen to have more than one car that I'd like to run these lense's on and have only one set. But, thanks for your help!

 

Well, I've been a glassblower and glass worker for 20+ years, and its just not that easy to make lenses. I've done a few custom ones, but casting a copy of exactly what you want is gonna cost more than what anyone is going to want to pay, and its not going to be tempered or have any guarantee its going to hold up to all the vibrations and such. I get requests all the time, and wish I could find a cheaper way to do it!

 

hahhh

 

They used to GIVE AWAY pressed glass dishes during the depression at the local gas station. Detailed pattern clea and colored dishes, glasses, cups, and bowls. So, if it was cheap enough and easy enough for some gasoline company to do it during the depression, there's got to be somebody still around who could do it for a reasonable price.

 

gotta have quantity !!

 

I think steve's auto restoration had some E&J lenses remade. They look great. You might try contacting them and see who they went through.