Talk Composites - The Forum for Advanced Composites

Quad headlight project - MDF plugs for vacuum forming

http://www.talkcomposites.com/Topic19297.aspx

By TURK - 9/23/2015 12:07:24 PM





Hi folks,



Just a quick explanation of my current project. And a chance for me practice my skills at uploading pictures  Smile

This is what I'm trying to make. The rough shape of the quad headlight cover was vacuum formed using my DIY vacuum former.





I'm still a long way away from creating the final product, I know. But a lot of things have changed since then. Namely the mounting brackets. The new design is a modular system, these plugs are made of MDF, I've had to use body filler to shape the draft angles, as I'll be using my newly acquired Formech 508DT vacuum forming machine.

Here are my MDF plugs for the headlight brackets >>







My first question to you guys would be, now that I've purchased some 'Pattern-Coat Primer' to cover the plugs with, is how to measure out ( or weigh ) how much pattern-coat primer I need the cover the plugs ?

Would I calculate the volume of the plug ? say, L x W x H ........ then what  ?








TURK
By TURK - 12/14/2016 8:12:52 AM

Thanks Billy,  glad you approve !  Smile

Ah, yes ........  BMW E30 units,  I see the high beam also has the black cross-hairs in them as well,  very nice.
I did look at using those units for my build in the beginning, but I found them to be slightly underpowered,  they were first conceived back in the early eighties.  So I decided to use the Hella modular units instead,  and the Hella's are only 90mm in diameter so I could just about install two headlight units side-by-side in an aperture originally designed for only one headlight unit.

Yeah,  I do like my VW Transporter T4's ..........  so much so,  I've got two of them !   BigGrin   >>

 


Most VW's suffer from major voltage drop on the headlights,  making the headlight illumination very poor at night,  to the point of being dangerous.  I decided I would remedy that and design a quad headlight system with a upgraded wiring loom.  The T4 needed a bit of a face lift anyway,  automotive headlight and bulb design technology has moved on in the last 20 years,  but the T4 hasn't.  I'm currently inundated with orders,  and I haven't even finished the prototype yet !  >>

 


Unlike most guys on this forum,  I'm not fibre glassing or vacuum bagging carbon fibre ............  I'll be vacuum forming my headlight parts.  So I've got the headlight mounting brackets to make and the headlight covers.  Here's one of my latest headlight mounting bracket prototypes  >>


 




I'm currently using the 96Kg/m3 PU foam,  and just in the process of applying Pattern-Coat Primer to the plug blanks.  My intentions are to create some silicon moulds out of the plugs,  so then I can cast Vac-Cast Epoxy resin into the silicone mould leaving me with a solid vacuum forming tooling plug.  This is where I may need some help,  as I'm now learning the characteristics of the materials.  You could say that I've had many failures in the past,  but I would see it as,  I've found hundreds of ways of how not to do it !   Whistling



Here's where I am at the moment with the Pattern-Coat Primer application >  T4 Quad Headlight Project




TURK