In detail: do-it-yourself headlight chip repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.
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Service “Headlight glass repair” focused on repairing damage to headlights and foglights. Headlight glasses are made of tempered glass. The blow of a stone, as a rule, leads to a through hole, and a large fragment of glass breaks off from the inside. Through holes depressurize the headlight, and in addition to the fact that the headlight begins to “sweat”, dirt and moisture get there. Accumulating, dirt and dampness over time cause the reflector to "cloud" and peel off the glossy reflective coating, and the light of the headlight loses its brightness.
Headlight glass repair differs from the repair of windshields, primarily by the polymer used, but also purely technologically, since the headlight must be removed in order to carry out repairs on the inner surface of the glass.
On the repaired glass, the tightness is restored and there is no need to replace the headlight. On most cars, when it becomes necessary to replace the headlight glass, you have to purchase the entire headlight unit, since glasses that can be replaced are produced for single models.
To date, the headlights of almost all cars are equipped with impact-resistant plastic, damage to which is extremely rare. Over time, the outer surface of plastic headlights turns yellow and becomes dull. This defect is eliminated by polishing.
Shock-resistant, transparent film with a thickness of 0.5 - 1 mm, when glued, repeats the contours of glass, dampens the impact of an oncoming stone. There were cases when even when hitting an obstacle, the film kept the glass intact. The film pasted on the fog lamp eliminates the effect of "thermal shock", that is, a very heated glass of a small area does not burst when it hits water.
Video (click to play).
Below is the headlight glass repair technology.
Quite often, damaged optics are difficult to find on sale. You can make an individual request. However, this does not guarantee that it will be executed. Therefore, knowledge of how to repair car headlights on your own will be very useful. Before proceeding with this procedure, it is necessary to find out what material the damaged optic is made of. Consider what modern headlights are.
glass headlights. The most high-quality and efficient specialists are considered optics made of glass. It looks beautiful, stylish, perfectly transmits light, is used longer and does not become cloudy. At the same time, such headlights, in comparison with other analogues, are more fragile, highly susceptible to scratches and cracks. To protect the glass, a special film is used. It provides reliable protection against impacts with small stones, it can be wiped without fear of scratching the glass. However, the coating reduces the transmission capacity of the optics by 4-5%, but this can be neglected in order to save money on replacing damaged glass.
Polycarbonate opticsis cheaper and more practical. The material is highly resistant to mechanical damage, detergents and temperature extremes. However, there are significant disadvantages:
clouding under the influence of ultraviolet rays;
poor resistance to various alkalis, acids and other aggressive liquids;
relatively short service life.
acrylic lights,better known as plexiglass optics. Acrylic, compared to polycarbonate, is of higher quality and quickly takes on almost any shape when heated.In this case, after solidification, the degree of transparency decreases by 6-8%. These optics do not become cloudy, but are more prone to cracking with significant temperature fluctuations.
To repair the headlights, you will need the following tools:
soldering iron;
milling machine;
compressor;
injector;
drill;
UV lamp;
pliers;
tweezers;
files;
hacksaw for metal;
sandpaper, circles or other abrasive material;
Sander;
caliper, ruler, pencil;
plasticine;
heat-resistant vacuum bag;
wipes, protective equipment (gloves, glasses).
Depending on what the damaged optics was made of, we prepare the appropriate material. The best option are fragments of previously repaired headlights. If there are none, we prepare a similar plastic. Remember that polycarbonate and acrylic should not be interchanged. If they are welded to each other, then the connection will be fragile. Such optics will not last long, just a few days.
In addition, you will need plexiglass, solvent, adhesive tape and a special molecular adhesive. It can be replaced with dichloroethane. To restore the main headlights, it is necessary to prepare plexiglass with a thickness of about 6.0 mm, for sidelights (foglights) or rear lights, a thickness of 4.0-5.0 mm is sufficient.
The body and headlight are repaired with a hair dryer in the following sequence:
Arrange the fragments in the correct order. If some parts are lost or cannot be restored, use parts from previously repaired optics.
Each piece is alternately heated with a hair dryer and attached to its place.
We weld the resulting seams on both sides to ensure strength.
The irregularities resulting from welding are first removed with a file, and then with sandpaper.
After that, the restored optics are carefully ground and polished using a felt wheel.
Broken pieces of headlights can be glued together with special glue. The repair procedure is similar to the above sequence. If you lack the necessary parts, you can make them yourself from plexiglass. All seams must be treated with a hardener on both sides.
Sometimes glued headlights may not match the shape of the hubcap. In this case, adjustment is made using a technical hair dryer.
In case of damage to glass optics and the impossibility of replacing a new one, you can make a similar headlight from plexiglass:
Preparing a template. We fold the destroyed optics in parts, replace the lost elements with ordinary plasticine. Then we make a plaster matrix.
We cut a blank of the desired size from plexiglass.
On the tracing paper we draw a template of the internal glass pattern with a caliper.
With the help of a milling machine on a Plexiglas blank, we reproduce the optics pattern with maximum accuracy.
After that, the plexiglass is applied to the gypsum matrix and packed in a heat-resistant vacuum bag.
We heat the resulting package until the plexiglass is completely softened and with the help of a compressor we give it the shape of a gypsum matrix.
It should be noted that this procedure is rather complicated and time-consuming. It is difficult to cope with it without the necessary skills and special equipment. Therefore, it is easier to resort to the services of specialists.
Repair of rear lights is carried out in a similar manner. First, parts of the destroyed optics are laid out on the table. Then, in the desired sequence, we glue the existing elements with glue.
As a rule, some parts after an accident will be lost or destroyed beyond repair. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare spare parts from a similar lantern. First, we prepare a template for the missing element and, using it, we cut out a piece of the desired shape with the utmost precision. We glue it and prepare the next element in the same way. After gluing, all seams must be carefully sanded and polished.
Visual video on the restoration of rear optics
Headlight cracks are repaired using an adhesive:
We drill the edges of the cracks with a drill.
Rinse and dry the surface.
We install an injector strictly above the crack and apply glue.
After filling the crack with glue, remove the injector and control the absence of air bubbles in the polymer composition.
To make the glue harden faster, you can dry it with an ultraviolet lamp.
After the adhesive has completely dried, we remove the irregularities with a file, and then we grind and polish the lantern.
After sealing cracks, it is recommended to treat the seams with a hardener.
We wash the headlight first, then dry it thoroughly. First, rough grinding is performed in several stages with a gradual increase in the grain size of the circle. It is not recommended to press hard to avoid overheating of the plastic. The time of one procedure should not exceed 3-4 minutes.
After rough grinding, we proceed to polishing. To do this, apply napkins and polish. A small amount of the mixture is applied to the napkin and the surface is manually polished for 6-8 minutes. You can process plastic headlights using a grinder. In this case, low speeds should be used and the surface should not be overheated.
It is recommended to polish the optics every 2 years, as well as after repairs and when cracks or chips appear. This procedure takes about 20-30 minutes and is not difficult.