Removing tail light lens from housing... - Exterior Forum

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Removing tail light lens from housing...
Monday, August 08, 2005 7:39 PM
Not sure if this has been tried, but has anyone had any success removing the tail light lens from the housing and have the lens be intact with no warping?

Before the question is asked why, I'm needing the lens for a custom project, non-auto related. The oven trick doesn't work. The lens is of a different type of plastic than the headlight and is not designed to be exposed to high temps.

Tail light is from a 95 Sunfire Coupe.












Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Tuesday, August 09, 2005 3:38 AM
are you saying that the lens warps before the glue/silicone is able to loosen up in the oven? that sucks. i dont have any other ideas, except maybe a dremel? good luck and let us know what works best for you if the oven did not work.



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Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Tuesday, August 09, 2005 8:16 PM
Yeah, it warps pretty good. I'll try a couple other things this weekend. Dremel is the last resort...









Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Tuesday, August 09, 2005 8:43 PM
i tried this... i wanted to tint my tails by painting the inside so it looked cleaner than painting the outside. i knew the oven wouldnt work, so tried putting one in a pot on a slow boil for a few minutes and it warped pretty bad... and even after it got super hot and warped ,the glue and sealant still wouldnt budge.



Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Wednesday, August 10, 2005 3:35 AM
WOW!!! no oven, no steam, hopefully on dremel, i have no other idea. ya know, jon with the beautiful sliver sunfire has made some led tails. maybe he could help you out. i can remember his last name, but it starts with a "p". im sure you could find a post of his somewhere. good luck man.



-Www.IznTrbl.Com-
Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Wednesday, August 10, 2005 6:15 AM
ask REDECOCAV he has a project going on now thats simlar



Sinister Ambitions
when your girl is getting on your last nerve f*#k her dont fight her
Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Wednesday, August 10, 2005 4:40 PM
When I made my LED tails on the 03 fire I tried the oven trick but it didn't work. The lens didn't warp but the plastic around it did - at only 150 degrees F

I used a dremel to get them off - smothed everything out and then clear siliconed them back on. They are tinted though so you might be able to see silicone on the untinted lenses.

Pics are here.





Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Wednesday, August 10, 2005 5:06 PM
hey blk_fire, i clicked your link, but after 3 minutes, it still wouldnt load. i checked out you site. its cool as hell, but i cant seem to find the pictures. could you show us on here? that would be great. thanks man, and great website.



-Www.IznTrbl.Com-
Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Thursday, August 11, 2005 4:00 PM
Thanks for the advice everyone. Looks like I get to recharge my dremel for this weekend.

blk_fire, gotta say, innovative use of CD-R's

Now, I have an LED tail in process styled off of the Toyo Cav, sorta. Custom lens design as well, glassed into the housing, overall matched to the size of the stock lens for proper fitment.
(sorry, no pics yet -- still waiting on some parts)

Ok, I take that back, the only pic that I have at the moment is just a really quick 'chop of what the design layout is:



The lens I was needing for some other household project... but now that I have a direction to go...











Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Thursday, August 11, 2005 4:12 PM
blk_fire wrote:When I made my LED tails on the 03 fire I tried the oven trick but it didn't work. The lens didn't warp but the plastic around it did - at only 150 degrees F

I used a dremel to get them off - smothed everything out and then clear siliconed them back on. They are tinted though so you might be able to see silicone on the untinted lenses.

Pics are here.


you gave an project!!!

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AIM & Y!: COGcaviZ24
Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Thursday, August 11, 2005 4:14 PM
damn typo: you gave me a project!!

_______________________________________________________
J-body.org Join date: Monday, January 21, 2002

AIM & Y!: COGcaviZ24

Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Thursday, August 11, 2005 5:25 PM
Kardain wrote:

blk_fire, gotta say, innovative use of CD-R's



I have to say that they are not staying that way. It was an easy way to test out a few ideas I had though....

As far as the site goes, it seems to be working alright now. The gallery is located at

http://blkfire.sasktelwebsite.net/gallery





Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Saturday, August 20, 2005 5:12 PM
Update of sorts...

Well, the Dremel idea is not quite working as planned either. The shape of the lens compared to the shape of the housing is making things quite difficult. Main issue is that there is not the amount of space necessary to squeeze the cutting wheel in.

The outer rim of the lens has cracked and broken in a couple of different spots. So, plan C is jump on eBay (again) get another tail that has not broken and fiberglass a mold from the intact lens.

Once that is accomplished, I'll just continue breaking out the one that is currently busted up and go from there.











Re: Removing tail light lens from housing...
Saturday, August 20, 2005 5:17 PM
thanks for the update man. sorry it isnt going as planed. good luck and continue keeping us updated.



-Www.IznTrbl.Com-
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