I have been doing work with plastics on and off for some time now. I made a couple of batches of skull shifter heads awhile back but since then I haven't been doing too much casting. Recently I attended a daylong seminar in No Hollywood at a plastics shop that supplies a lot of material to the movie industry. I learned a lot about the new materials on the market now and can see where many of these products would have applications in our hobby. That said, I thought that I would throw out a question regarding plastic lenses...if you could buy any lens for your car how much would you pay? I currently have a few DeSoto grilles (1952 & 1954) that need new parking light lenses so I am making up molds and will be casting the parts I need very soon. The silicone resin I use for these molds holds every detail of the original part, so much so that in some cases it will copy a fingerprint off the part. The casting epoxy that I will be using for the lens itself is crystal clear and has been designed specifically for use with automobiles. There is a variety of colors that can be added to the epoxy if desired, even some dayglow colors and glow in the dark stuff. I just recieved my first order for the materials for my lenses so I will be posting some pictures soon of the parts I make. The reason I asked about the price you would pay for a lens is that these materials are very pricey and I didn't want to get too far down this road on buying materials until I got a better feel for the market. I wouldn't mind building up a mold library if there was enough interest in the lenses.
I think i would pay $80-$100 for a set of lenses for my car, and i could send you one of my lenses to make a mold, and of course from that you would be able to make an endless amount
For a '48 Chevy, that are already being made: $40 For a '37 Cadillac Series 90 coupe, that presently can't be found: $400
I'm using '59 Buick taillights in my '63 Newport... I'd be willing to go around $200 or so for a new pair of lenses.
Had a local fellow make some new hood emblem inserts for my 46 Olds including a few friends with Olds. He also made the ivory winders for all my door and window handles. Not that expensive. He also makes taillight lenses. Dale McSHANE [email protected]
Whatever you do, do not forget to include UV stabilizer in your lens. I have some repop headlight lens where the guy forgot to include UV protection - they yellowed very quickly. I'd pay $200 for a properly repopped pair of headlight lens.
That was an issue I didn't think about, after reading your post I contacted the manufacturer and verified that UV is an issue with all epoxies and that there is no UV additive available. That said, there is a "UV resistant" polyurethane plastic that is water clear and has the same Shore durometer hardness scale rating (80D) as the epoxy. I have some of this material on order now and will do some testing on it as well as the epoxy. The manufacturer says that the epoxy can be made to better withstand the UV if it is tinted. I'll try some clear and some red lenses to see just how much better the tinted material works. Thanks for all the inputs, hopefully I can get the kinks out of this process without spending a ton of bucks.
I've been making molds and pouring all types of plastic parts for over twenty years. We made lenses over the years. You may want to offer two sets for the price of one. If you have a problem with the UV inhibitor and the parts start to go away over time. Your customers can't complain a hole hell of a lot if they have an extra set of lenses. Here are a few suppliers that you may want to check out, and the materials they sell for cold clear plastic molding. Smooth On: 202 Crystal clear series optically clear liquid plastic. Polytek.com Poly-optic 14 series Good luck with your project. If you need help with the selection of the type of molding materials drop me a line.
Thanks for the Polytek link Johnny, I know the Smooth-On line fairly well but I am very interested in others products as well. I use the platinum silicone line for virtually all of my molds these days, a little more costly but the precision of the castings and the durability of the molds are really worth the extra cost. I got started on this after taking some courses in FRP (fiber reinforced plastics) and learning that FRP may not be the best solution to every problem. This isn't really a business venture for me so much as it is a way for me to cover some of the costs of my hobbies. Hopefully I can provide a service for fellow HAMBers and get a little smarter while doing it. Thanks again for the inputs...
Hi Charlie: Your smart by using the platinum base silicone molds. Your probably not thinking about twenty years in the future. I wasn't twenty plus when I made molds of aluminum flat head cylinder heads. I built over fore hundred fiberglass copy's. The platinum molds are still as good today as when I made them. The urethane molds of the 4 x 2 , and 3x2 intakes only lasted a few years. I have been building reproduction display engines since 1988. I've built around five hundred in all. The Hemi is the most popular with the blower. I even make the blower belt out of rubber. I make all kinds of other things, but it's been great fun making these old engines. I like the Flathead engines having cut my teats on the 59 AB over fifty years ago. Some of the parts are made with the smooth cast 300 plastic. You can check out my picture albums to get an idea as to some of the things that can be made. Who knows you may get some ideas. I started out almost fifty years ago learning how to sculpture car bodies in clay at General Motors Institute. In 68 I got into fiberglass and got certified in 71. I've instructed hundreds of guys and girls on how to make molds and parts in both fiberglass, and plastics. My son is one of the renowned experts in the country developing and making different Carbon Fiber molds, and parts. I'm an old Hot Rod guy at hart, but I found out early on that there was so much more out there to do, and I could always come back to my first love, Hot Rods, and customs. There is another supplier in Chattanooga Tennessee. Ill find the name an info for you. Johnny Sweet
Looks like you have done it all Johnny...and been quite sucessful at it to boot! Very impressive resume and some nice looking side cars and boats. I have a set of 34 Ford 3W molds that I have been toying with building a CF body some day. I see that Smooth-On has a spray on liquid vacuum bag material now...sure would make laying up these irregular shaped parts much easier.
If your going to vacuum bag let me know. my son has a propritory process that he developed. he took one of the German systems and improved on it. It's not that bad price wise. If your talking CF remember that you need to heat the material. If your molds are not high temperature tooling they will break down quickly. But how about this. Room temperature epoxy resin that cures in 30 hrs. with the same properties that cooked epoxy has. That's another product that Boy Wonder developed. He learned how to cook the resin, and developed the resin formulation. They used it on the Tron project last year. It comes out of the Airospace industry. If you ever get to that point drop me a line. A few years ago I was ready to modify my Cobra molds to produces Carbon Fiber bodies. The economy went South, so that was the end of that.
I found the name and number of the company in Chattanooga Tennessee. It's Synair and you can reach them at synair.com . They also have a line of plastics. Another company I have used over the years is Plastic Tooling Supply co out of Pittsburgh. At (800) 328-8788 For Silicones get in touch with Silicones, Inc. High Point, NC (910) 886-5018 I hope this helps.
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