Ursan
Bored Member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2004
- Location
- Satan's Kingdom, Ma.
So I'm doing a Morimoto Mini H1 retrofit. I went with the "defluting" route as older Volvo headlamp's are, well, square and large and I thought that lens forming would be tricky at best and overly large lamps with clear lenses wouldn't look too good.
So, I'll start with the the the tools:
Drill press:
Belt sander:
Media:
80, 120, 240 grit.
320,500,800,1500 and 3000.
The before:
The after:
The lens:
Before:
Light output:
Marking off:
This is done because the entire lens doesn't need to be "defluted".
The process is to start off with the 80 grit on a 3" rolock adapter on the drill press. It could be done with a hand drill, but the press is much easier to sand into the lens fresnels.
I used plenty of water so as not to burn into the plastic and to keep it cool as a cool pad cuts best.
After the 80 I move up to 120 and then 240 just to sand a circle.
Once all the fresnels are flattened, I switched over to 320 grit using a Griot's Garage 3" Random Orbital Polisher. Again, keeping it moist, but not wet, I slowly sand the swirl marks down. Followed by 500, 800 and 1500. Switching to the Meguire's 3000 grit sanding pad, things really change. It's almost polished:
Mind you, this is without polishing, just the Meguire's S3F3000 pads. (only one)
The output results:
(little fuzzy, sorry)
I also sanded smooth the front of the lens from 320 up to 3000. It was rather pitted so I sanded it smooth and removed the stock clear coat.
I compounded and clear coated it inside and out and:
I've done this same thing with my other Volvo that has glass lenses. Those take a WHOLE lot longer. Days actually instead of hours. I was a little nervous about getting these clear again, but the Meguires pads and the random orbital sander did the trick.
Once I clear coated it, it was virtually crystal clear.
I'll follow up in the next days and weeks with the projector mounting and completion of the lamps.
So, I'll start with the the the tools:
Drill press:
Belt sander:
Media:
The before:
The after:
The lens:
Before:
Light output:
Marking off:
This is done because the entire lens doesn't need to be "defluted".
The process is to start off with the 80 grit on a 3" rolock adapter on the drill press. It could be done with a hand drill, but the press is much easier to sand into the lens fresnels.
I used plenty of water so as not to burn into the plastic and to keep it cool as a cool pad cuts best.
After the 80 I move up to 120 and then 240 just to sand a circle.
Once all the fresnels are flattened, I switched over to 320 grit using a Griot's Garage 3" Random Orbital Polisher. Again, keeping it moist, but not wet, I slowly sand the swirl marks down. Followed by 500, 800 and 1500. Switching to the Meguire's 3000 grit sanding pad, things really change. It's almost polished:
Mind you, this is without polishing, just the Meguire's S3F3000 pads. (only one)
The output results:
(little fuzzy, sorry)
I also sanded smooth the front of the lens from 320 up to 3000. It was rather pitted so I sanded it smooth and removed the stock clear coat.
I compounded and clear coated it inside and out and:
I've done this same thing with my other Volvo that has glass lenses. Those take a WHOLE lot longer. Days actually instead of hours. I was a little nervous about getting these clear again, but the Meguires pads and the random orbital sander did the trick.
Once I clear coated it, it was virtually crystal clear.
I'll follow up in the next days and weeks with the projector mounting and completion of the lamps.
Last edited: