was gonna post this in the windshield shaping air thread.. but then it grew!!
and heres another idea for all you budding plastic molding E model owners... (I did this for an old paddock basher that happened to have a round headlight .. useful for when the paddock was bashed past sunset and i needed to see my way back to the farmhouse)...
remove round headlight from housing...
get a piece of 1" thick pine board thats about 14" square (yeah trust me the extra size will come in handy.. but 12" will do) ...
place your headlight glass down on the board and trace around it .. making a circle .. (about 1/4" to 3/8 bigger than the headlight 'ideally' depending on your sheeting thickness) ...
cut out the hole however but nice and neat please!....
get your sheet of clear/coloured/solid perspex/lexan/whatever .. about 10" square .. and heat it in a low oven till its nice and floppy..
with gloves or strong tongs (cos it will blister your fingers!) lay the sheet over the now upwards facing light (hopefully you have a couple 'legs' on the rear of it to provide stability!) ..
take your pine board with hole and place it above the light and sheet .. then gently/smoothly push the board down/over the whole lot... molding the sheet tight around the rim of the light..
let it cool till you can comfortably touch your lips to it (no!! dont just try it!! put your hand neraby first till you KNOW its not radiating much heat) ... this is an example!!
before it gets completely cold gently prise the headlight out of the sheeting .. it might be tricky but its possible with some heat left .. or you can hot air gun it to flex a little...
now this is the other careful bit .. you will see where the sheet has clung slightly around the back edge of the light.. its best with a steady hand and bandsaw but whatever you have that is suitable ..
mark and cut the extra sheeting away so the cut edge is 'just' over the back edge of the light .. and neaten the OUTSIDE edge up with a file or whatever fine grit paper you have ...
if all this works right .. you have now made a form fitting lexan stoneguard for your headlight .. and with some slight fiddling .. it will still clip over your headlight when mounted back on the bike again... it'll probably 'bite' into the groove between housing and light..
........
yes you can get light covers from sport driving lights etc ... and they usually not very expensive .. but do they come in clear yellow (for fog) , purple/blue/red (for fun and bling and confusing car drivers) .. or slotted or half and half .. ... with some fiddling around i made one that was clear bottom and yellow top for foggy farm paddocks .. then made a yellow slotted (cut outs) one as a comparison ..
just thought i'd mention it .. lotsa folks around here seem to enjoy projects a lot.. :thumb: ... plus you get to make your own custom covers... and if your artistically inclined you can also make a coloured one with a solid shape around the edge (star? .. snowflake?) .. or a smiley face or lettering on it!
now for the worriers .. in all the time i used one on the paddock basher .. i got sticks and rocks and a small kangaroo head once .. bash against the perspex, rode through scrub that was probably not meant for bikes .. no damage to it or light ... i suppose half a brick at 80km might be different but that means you riding in the wrong paddock! ... and heat wise .. yeah sure the light housing was warmer than usual .. but never overheated or caused the cover to distort .. with normal 55/60w h4 globe .. and you can still cut slots in a clear one if you want extra 'cooling'
cheers people!! :thumb:
Interesting idea. What kind of plastic are you using and what temp do you heat it at?
This was ... Err ... 10 years back? ... But 3mm Perspex .. Heat. Hmmm.. I started the OLD SPARE OVEN!! (Not the shiny one in the kitchen or the Missus would have my balls in a sling) .. Or you can possibly use a toaster oven? ... But I put it at lowest heat setting which was 110c? ... Then used tongs to wiggle the edges to see if pliable enough.. Went up by 'small increments' till it was good and wiggly/floppy but not stretchy ... Sorry I don't recall the end temp now.... It does vary a little with clear/colours/solids and thickness a bit ... Main thing is to start minimum and just edge it up till ready... Then you have a baseline for next one... You can always let it cool off in oven a little if it goes a bit high... But don't just slam it in there full bore ... It doesn't take long really!