There are alot of low quality irons out there. Most of them is intended for educational use where quality of solder job is not an issue. When u solder on a vehicles light systems, you have to make high quality solder joint of cables. Safety is very often at stake here. It can be done with a low quality (=cheap) iron, but it takes alot more skill and time to do it. A good quality iron is the way to go and Weller makes them. Herman recommends Weller W60P3, which will be the last soldering iron you buy in your entire life. It should be $60-75, which is not terrifying at all. Element is 60W with thermostat, so it will do up medium size (around 9AWG) wires. They are avail at well stocked electronic parts stores and online. For heavy duty wiring larger than 8AWG, there is 100W version available: Weller W100P3.
Plastic coatings has lately taken over a lot of uses where electrical
tape traditionally
where used. Liquid plastic coating get a more custom look and will last longer.
Typical uses would be soldered cables, transistion to terminals,
steel retention springs and HID ballast weather proofing.
| Brand Name and model | Max temp: | Scratch resistant | Moisture, Weather resistant | Acid resistant: | Cure time: | Colours: | Fume Strength: | Found at: | Comments: | ||||
| PDI Inc: "Plasti-Dip" | 200F | Excellent | Excellent | Yes | 24h at 75F | Red, Black, blue, white. | Retched | Home Depot or local plastic shop | Can be diluted with toluene or naphta to be used with brush. | ||||
| Star Brite: "Liquid electrical tape" | 124C or 255F | Good | Excellent | - | 4h at 75F | Black | Retched | Walmart | Easy on - Brush in cap. |
Sealant:
"Butyl Rubberized Caulking" is what OEM manufacturers use to seal
front glass and headlamp. Jets accidently found the product at Canadian Tire.
Its for sealing up windows, doors, in masonary surfaces, metal flashing, and roofs.
As a funny sidenote, butyl rubber is used in chewing gum. Unfortunatly, the
Canadian Tire product is probably not suitable for headlights. It is simply
too flexible. Below is a product test of what Herman found. It does give a pretty
good indication of properties of headlamp Butyl sealant. I have a feeling its
not a shelf product, but manufacturer mix up a few hundred gallons
when needed.
Cure time: 24h - 500h depending on temperature and thickness of bead.
Bonding to Acrylic/lexan: Good
Bonding to Silicone (and probably other "fat" plastics): None
Temperature range: max 90-100C.
Paintable: Yes
Remains flexible: Yes, flexible like a 2 minutes old chewing gum.. Curing in higher
temperatures might make it a little less flexible (untested).
Water/UV resistant: Yes
Color: Grey or white (white will look tacky on a headlight)
Silicones in general
Most silicones will use water vapor in the air to cure. Unfortunatly some acetic acid will be created as well as a bi-product. Most silicone sealants are of the corrosive type, and when used, will attack the aluminized reflector, even if it has protective coatings. There are silicones that do not create these harsh fumes, but they are unknown.
"GE Silicone II"
Cure time: 24h - 36h.
Max temp: 225C or 400F, which means that you can not use heat to
release adehiesing to headlamp. Headlamp will melt first!
Paintable: No
Remains flexible: Yes, its more flexible than "high temp RTV" - see below.
Water/UV resistant: Yes
Bonds well to glass, plastic, metals and other silicone
Colors: black, clear, grey
"Hotmelt" products from Loctite
Should cover up any seals. Downside is that this is not really for the DIY guy:
Dispensing gun is $1500, and sealant comes in bags of 25lbs (10kg).
Here is a direct link to the headlamp section to Loctite.
| Brand Name and Model | Max. temp. | Tensile Bonding Strength | Putty qualities | Grade of elasticity when hardend | Necessity of gloves | Fume strength | Paintable? | Details: |
| Mod Bond | - | - | No | ? | - | - | Yes | Belongs to the plastic welder category - avail from mordernplastics.com. Minimum order is 1 quart. |
| JB Weld JB Quick | 300°F (141°C) | ? | Excellent | ? | Yes | Moderate | Yes | Good all purpose. Sets in 4h. |
| JB Weld Automotive & Industrial | 572°F (300°C) | ? | Excellent | As a rock | Yes | Moderate | Yes | Excellent all purpose. Grey color. Sets in 24h. Long term effects if used on bulbs is unknown. Consider it as a electrical isolator. |
| POR15 Por Patch | 600°F (315°C) | Very strong, 3200lbs/sq.in. | Excellent | Very high polyurathene content. "POR15 Por Patch" is the same as "POR-15 Rust Preventive Paint". It is just pre hardend so it has a consistency equal to chockolate pudding when you squeeze content from tube. Adeheres to metal and hard plastic | ||||
| POR15 Epoxy Putty | 300°F (141C) | Very strong, 4000lbs/sq.in. | Excellent | As a rock | No | None | Yes | For all kinds of hard materials. |
| Devcon Plastic Welder | 200°F (93°C) | Very strong, 3500lbs/sq.in. | Excellent | Equal to polycarbonate | Yes | Retched | Yes | The ultimate in plastic to plastic bonding. Very good for plastic to metal as well. Not for bulbs. |
| CarGo QuikSteel | 500°F (260°C) | 5,950 psi. | - | As a rock | Yes | Almost none | Yes | Found at "Checker" (auto parts store). Color of glue will be black. Consider it as a electrical isolator. |
| Permatex Sensor Safe ULTRA BLACK. OEM HI TEMP RTV | 625°F intermittant | Assuming ~10 lbs/sq.in | Excellent | Soft | No | Mild | No | Easy on, easy off - excellent for experimenting in conjunction with adding small pieces of aluminum to optimize projector shields. |
| Generic glue rod (melted with glue gun) | 135-143°F (58-62°C) | Assuming ~200 lbs/sq.in | Excellent | Rubbery | No (maybe heat gloves) | Mild | Yes. Ideally, use rubberized paint | Needs heating to ~350F before applying. Dries within minutes |
| Hi temp glue rod (melted with glue gun) | 255°F (99°C) | Assuming ~200 lbs/sq.in | Excellent | Rubbery | No (maybe heat gloves) | Mild | Yes. Ideally, use rubberized paint | Needs heating to 400F before applying. Dries within minutes |
High temperature glue/isolator/sealant: http://www.cotronics.com for
up to 5000°F. They can set you up right with the right product for glueing
any high temperature application. Yes, they sell to the public (confirmed
fall 2001).
Direct links:
Hi temp epoxy: http://www.cotronics.com/vo/cotr/ea_ultratemp.htm
Hi temp fibre mats: http://cotronics.com/vo/cotr/fc_blankets.htm
Polycarbonate (also known as Lexan sheets). Max operating temperature
is 121°C (250°F). Neglectible temprature expansion: 0.00004 inch per degree
Fahrenheit. Form temperature: 177-204°C (350-400°F). Standard sheets can be ordered in 8 different thicknesses and down
to 1x1 feet. Special order and u can
get 100 different thicknesses. For headlamp use, 3 and 5.5mm is very usable.
It can be heat bent into almost any shape. Herman
used apropane tourch, heat air gun is probably a better tool.
Note that heat bending of sheets with special coating (anti scratch/mirror/etc.),
is not recommended. The heating will destroy the coating.
Sheets can be ordered with many finishes; most useful for headlamps
are:
Acrylic (also known as plexiglass, Acrylte and Lucite) sheets are much more available,
and is much cheaper than polycarbonate, but do not
get tempted to use them anywhere hot. They are not
recommended for headlight use, due to its lower maximum
operating temprature (70-90C), lower strength (tensile 10 000 psi), higher thermo expansion
(around 0.00008 inches per Fahrenheit), optical resistance (around 8%) and lower scratch resistance.
Acrylic does not degrade because of UV rays (typically from the sun and lightbulb).
See http://www.modernplastics.com/ for more info.
Plastics are available from your local plastic store (See yellow pages).
Example of store is Plastic World in Toronto.
They have great service!
The number one factor that will limit you is that cutting is a lot of friction. Friction creates heat. Too much heat makes plastic boil and deform.
If you are cutting straight, the best and fastest result is with a small jigsaw.
For the best looking circular looking holes, use holesaw. For random shape, use routing bits
on your dremel:
(C) is a typical cutting bit.
(A) and (B) is for for carving, shaping and trimming
No doubt that circular cutting blades works too, its just that they are relatively limited usage compared to a generic routing (C) bit on a dremel.
For sheets thicker than 5mm, a dremel might be too weak. A RotoZip would be more powerful.
Materials of varoious kinds:
Stainless steel bolts, nuts and accessories. Headlamps are continuesly exposed to heat, salt, water, UV rays, so any other material would be rediculus.
Thin aluminum foil is easily obtainable from
a pop can. Note that paint have to be sanded down if used above 80°C (180°F)
degrees.
Thicker aluminum is used in air vent ducts, and
can be found in your hardware store in the form of sheets, pipes, and bends.
Detailed info on many materials can be found on the Material web
All sorts of general finishing info can be found on finishing.com
Tools:
Paint:
Generic high quality automotive paint like Dupli
Color. Use on evrywhere but warm areas.
Brake Caliper paint can be used on projector
shields. Black or silver is recommended.
The "VHT Brake Caliper drum and rotor" are available in several
colors. It withstands temprature up to 900°F (490°C).
Barbeque (BBQ) paint is also known to withstand
high tempratures like 1200F. Its usually located in the BBQ section of
an HW store. A very positive property of BBQ paint is that it has to be
low on fumes over time: remember, BBQ is to make food on.
UV resistant paint:
Dura Tuff: A very hard urethane clear with lots of UV inhibitors,
used in marine work to protect epoxy, etc.
Du Pont's Imron
polyurethane top coat clear: may work well as it is also very hard.
Awl-Grip: may work as well. Awl-Grip is made by U.S. Paint Corporation, which has retailers all over US/Canada.
UV resistant polyurethane coatings are a typical boating supply article, so if you do not have a big lake or the sea nearby, chances are very slim that you will find it in the local hardware store.
Here is a few big online boat retailers:
http://www.camdenboatstore.com/
http://www.epoxyproducts.com/
Thanks to Dave Ladely, WA
Paint, sealants and glue that are going to be used inside a headlight assembly must be preburned before assembling. During preburning, the temperature must at least reach the maximum a headlight will see during a extremely hot summer day, with all lights on and cooking hot engine. A typical item that needs preburning is optical shields or shrouds. Use an oven and set it to ~280F (~150C), without exceeding maximum temperature according to the paint, the sealant or the glues. First heat oven to desired temperature, then turn overn off. Wait 2-3 minutes for the elements to turn from red hot to black. A typical preburn time is 20-30 minutes. Because oven is off, uou may have to do a second round by repeating the procedure. In general, this applies to all kinds of glue, paint and sealants. If this is not done properly, fumes will fog up lenses and reflectors. It is not recommended to have this happening to your headlights. The only liquid that will attack condensed fumes are 90% rubbing alchohol or paint thinner. Many surfaces cannot take such harsh fluid. Reflectors is the worst. It can be difficult or impossible. You may actually find that it also removes reflective material.
Note that they dont make headlights, they make plastics or plastics parts
thta you want: http://www.copeplastics.com/ - They even take orders from private parties.
Thanks to Paul Nimz
