A couple years back I posted some pics of some tail lights I made similar to these, but since there are a lot of new guys now I figured it would be ok to show a bit of how I made a new and improved pair of lights from some scrap castings and cheap parts from Napa. The original post is still out there, search my posts for trash treasure. Lets face it anyone can buy stuff for their car. There are very few components for a hot rod that cant be bought off the shelf somewhere, if you have the cash. Once that sorely needed part is located, any of us can work a few hours overtime, list a few items on Ebay, have a yard sale, or hook up with a rich widow to raise the funds. Problem is, if everyone did that we would be stuck with boring cookie-cutter cars that all look alike. Hot rods deserve better. When so much time and thought goes into something, it should stand out in the crowd. And when that crowd asks, Whered you get that? there is nothing more satisfying than being able to say, I made it. That is, of course, if it is something that the crowd covets. Back in the day most rodders didnt pick up a magazine, call a 1-800 number and read off a number from a plastic card to have their parts brought to their door in a big brown truck. It just didnt happen. Most of the special parts needed were handmade. Billet wasnt around and CNC wasnt even thought of yet. If you needed a piece made from aluminum, you went to the nearest creek bank, dug up some sand with good clay content and made a mold, melted some scrap washing machine parts or other scrap and poured it in. Then, if you were fortunate to have access to some machinery, you machined that raw casting into what you needed. If you werent fortunate, you whittled, filed, spit, and cussed until it fit. Most of the very early speed equipment was made that way and it sometimes worked, even at times it looked pretty good. Where do you think so many of the one-off flathead intakes and heads came from? Some guys even made some stuff so good that they started companies that are either still in business or we search swap meets and chicken coops for the vintage parts they made. Although I hate clichés, weve all heard the old adage one mans trash is another mans treasure and that one seems to fit the situation at hand. To sum it up, I needed some unique taillights and I had some chunks of aluminum. Makes sense to me somebodys trash, my treasure! The lights were made from round castings that were scrap from the process of die-casting lawn mower engines. Once machined and polished, they are easily mistaken for chromed pieces and could almost be mistaken for billet to the untrained eye. Thats right I said almost. Cast aluminum has one identifiable characteristic that sets it apart; porosity those tiny gas bubbles that form during casting and show up as pinholes in the surface. Imperfect? Yes but the end result was very inexpensive and will guarantee the opportunity to make the judges back up at a billet-proof gathering. Sure, the inside plate that the LED is mounted on is billet, but that is only because I wanted it strong enough to hold the studs in. Nobody but me will know its there. I could have used a piece of steel, but then you have the electrolysis factor that causes corrosion when aluminum and steel spend some intimate time together. Also, the aluminum was polished to add a bit of reflection. The LEDs are 1157 replacement bulbs that I disassembled and wired direct. The wires were then covered individually with heat-shrink, then grouped together and heat-shrinked again. The resistors were wired in as well. One has to be there or the LEDs will burn out in a couple second, while the second one is for the voltage drop to make the taillight. The brake light works when the taillight resistor is bypassed and a higher current is sent to the LEDs. The LED board was then insulated and epoxied to the plate. .An O-ring sits between the back of the lens and the plate to seal out the elements, then its all held together with an internal snap-ring. The groove for it was cut deep enough to hold the plate pressed hard against the lens in order to get a good seal. The total cost of the parts for two lights was about $26 and about 3 hours time. The most expensive part ($16 a pair) is the white LED lights. Lenses are about $3.50 each, O-rings about a buck, and the snap rings were $1.25 each. Thats without the blue dots. If you like the looks and want a more in-depth description with dimensions, etc., just ask. Ill send you the article that I did on these.
Thanks flt-blk...feels good to be back and nice to see you're still around. thanks nik, bigcheese, pete, and 52pickup. I got lots more little goddies that I've whipped up from castings for the ol' 31 that I'll be posting as time allows. It's a blast to look at this stuff and try to envision something I can make out of it
uh, wow.....thanks for sharing......i heard all lathes just went up in value.... i love diy parts....tools, well, just about anything....
Awesome post - absolutely love the tailights!!! Have you ever considered Metal Spinning? I've only tinkered with it - it's really neat.
As a matter of fact...yes. 3-4 months ago I turned some pieces that would fit the head and tail stocks to hold an oak form. That's all I've done to this point. I've intended on chuckin a piece of oak up in the wood lathe and making something just to see how it will work, but I haven't done it yet. I've neither seen it done nor do I know anyone that knows anything about it (until now!) so I have been trying to figure it out on my own. Now...it's your turn to share your tricks! That's some awesome-lookin work. Ray
Now if you could just vacuum seal them to cards and sell millions of them to everyone so they can all look the same... Oh wait, that already happened. Cool pieces! You can't beat one-off stuff.
c'mon Hemirambler...you brought the subject up. Don't keep us waiting.I'm always open to see how somebody else does something!
Sorry Guys, I didn't mean to leave you hanging!!! First let me say I ended up teaching myself on how to do this - so I didn't do it "right" but I learned a bunch - mostly by screwing up a bunch. Here's what I did/learned: The first thign I did was to make a "buck" or pattern that I chucked up. I then cut a disc out of aluminum (in this case) and then made a spacer that I put inbetween the part and the tailstock. The "real" spinners use a series of tools similar to what wood turners use except they are BLUNT - and shaped in various curves. I was anxious so I just grabbed an old handle with a ball end and chucked it up in my tool post and used the dials to manuever it - this of course is ass backwards , but it worked nonetheless. The idea is to basically deform your part (while spinning) - the buck serves two purposes - first it SUPPORTS your spun part. In my case the parts had LOTS of shape - if I tried to just sneak up on the shape it would crack the part at the support. SO what I had to do was to get the part to quickly start to conform around the BUCK - this way you're not constantly flexing the part while trying to form it. The buck also serves as your form for a perfectly shaped part. Next I learned that it is (in a way) just like a metalshaping - in the sense that nothing happens for free - you are stretching metal and if you don't think about it you will stretch it so much so that it thins too much and cracks. Given this keep this in mind - stroking TOWARDS the headstock THINS the metal - STROKING towards the tailstock THICKENS the metal. Next I learned that while messy a sulfur based oil works in a pinch - you are generating a bunch of friction and the soft aluminum will gall quickly if some form of lube isnt used. I meant to make a tool with a roller bearing but haven't gotten around to it - I'm told they work great and I suspect it's a TON better than my Mickey Mouse setup. I also hear that there are waxes that work well too - I just used what I had laying around. Lastly you can also spin "free form" or without a buck. I took a piece of copper tubing (anneal first) and made a funky vase out of it - no bucks involved but i did cut a plug to slip in the tube so I could really CRANK the chuck down on it. I will dig up some better pics, but here's a starter....
I really enjoyed your post. You have imagination, skill and the ability to write clearly so an old busted knuckle like me can understand it. I'm right there with you on the concept of making it yourself and originality. That is the hallmark of hot rodding and where we seperate ourselves from muscle cars, street racing, tuning, street rodding, etc... That polished aluminum is beautiful! Those would look good on a shoebox or similar vehicle. The addition of the blue dot is classic too....
Here's a few little galleries on metal spinning. Might help a little. Its a pretty cool process. Edit ~ Helps to put the link in... http://allshops.org/cgi-bin/community/communityalbumdirectory.cgi?categoryid=9990083970781
thanks man...that's really good info. I think that's the best way to learn anything..try till you get it right. Of course it always helps to have the info from someone that has already tried and figured it out so we can learn from your mistakes and successes . I had read about using rolling tools and I figured that would work well. I made several dies for my English wheel and some others for my bead roller, so I figured when I do get started playing around with spinning I'll try it with a roller too. I had been trying to work out casting a couple E&J type headlight housings and thought trying to spin a couple headlight rings would be an interesting project. thanks again, and thanks to everyone with all the positive comments. it keeps the wheels turnin in our heads to know that others like what we're doing!
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