So I'm down to my last quarter at Cal Poly Pomona and the last thing I have to do to get my degree is finish one class and complete a Senior design project. Therefore over the next 12 weeks I'll be building a Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) machine which will be capable of creating a very high vacuum, heating & vaporizing aluminum, and depositing it as a super shiny/reflective coating on a substrate.

In order to recoup some of my project cost (I've spent almost $2k already, damn this school thing is expensive! ) I'm hoping to redo some fog light reflectors, front turn signal buckets, and maybe even some tail/brake/reverse light reflectors (Note: there may be a heat transfer issue on the rear reflectors since they're plastic, so I may not be able to coat them).

So the question for you guys:

Would you be interested in freshly coated reflectors for your lights and if so would $75-$100 for a reconditioned set seem reasonable? Keep in mind this will be dependent on being able to recreate a 98%-100% factory finish and that there will be a fair amount of material cost & prep time associated with each set of 2 reflectors done. Also, this will most likely have to be based on an "exchange" basis. To be honest I don't even know if I'll mess with this endevour yet or if I'll just sell the PVD machine when I'm done, so as of right now this is just a feeler.


Thanks in advance for the input!
Mike

if you find that you are able to do the rear reflectors then I would definately be interested.

Share some pictures here of your PVD when done (no design specs for your protection), I'm interested in seeing her run on The Tube later as well

I too would be interested at that cost point...

Mike make sure you put a clear over these. They will last much longer. You can use a PPG automotive clear coat. Otherwise, the finish will dull down much faster. A HVLP gun from Eastwood would run you about $99 and give you the ability to lay down a good finish with minimal waste. As far as heat transfer tell me about it.

I'd plan to make fixtures, this occurred using a fixture, before we switched to a higher temp resin.Click to view attachment

Hey Mike, that is a great project . Hope you get it working. If so, I would be in for front buckets, rear reflectors and fog light reflectors in yellow .

O.T. We need to get on Lew's car...talk to you soon.

Al

Depending on price...front buckets and rear

I'll definitely post a Youtube video because I have to present the project as a Power Point presentation at our Spring engineering symposium. Also, because I can't drag the machine to the school I'm hoping to find a large glass Pyrex bell jar for my vacuum chamber. That way the process can be seen 1st hand in real time.
The boring part will be watching the system in person as it pumps down for 3,4,6 or maybe even 24 hrs, I figure it'll be like watching grass grow, or paint dry, LOL!

Mike

Good luck with the project! Make the most of this experience, as you will miss this part of life. I miss my Cal Poly years!

I have a large Pyrex jar if you need to borrow one. It's about 14" across and 16 depth. I can double check tomorrow if your interested. I work in Fullerton, so not to far out of the way.

Smitty

So after 250-300 hrs of work I finally have my PVD system up and going for my senior project.

Link to the Picasa album build thread

https://picasaweb.google.com/11660191837549...gCJavv_KzkOeHag

The entire thing was built from used vacuum pumps, kitchen parts, aquarium parts, old car parts, scrap steel, clock parts, stuff from Home Depot, oh yeah,... and a little bit of putty.

What's funny is that the finished product matched my initial design specs to a tee, and I ended up achieving an High Vacuum (HV) level of .000005 Torr which is only one order of magnitude less than what a lot of Aerospace firms test satellites in,... (so I've been told).

I also had a 1st run deposition attempt on a fog light reflector and surprisingly I was able to make it look like new again!

I'm going to keep playing around with this and see what else I can coat, maybe with some luck I'll be able to do front turn signal buckets and rear reflectors!

All I know is now it's beer thirty time!

Wow - that looks incredible. You might have some business here.

That's not funny. Take that glass orb back to the "Forbidden Planet" history museum and put it back on Robbie's head...



BTW - awesome A+....

Mike, is that project here at CPP? If so, we've got to meet up some time! This project looks awesome. I'd live to see it in action.

That's cooler than an Eskimo fart. I hope it works on tail lights. Love it!

Where does the line start? I would love to have some tail light buckets done. Just a hunch, but I bet the winter months you will have a higher demand.....(non driving months for most areas)

I am most definitely interested in some 'new' reflectors. BTW my senior project at Cal Poly SLO was a BREWERY! Dry campus but my adviser and I made several hundred gallons of beer in our lab on the weekend.

Boy I got to say....seems to be a bunch of you Cal Poly and 914 cats.

Hot Damn!

Sounds good to me!

Awesome

you need a DeLorean to mount that in...

I'm in!

I'm also in please let us know what you have in mind for $

David

Mike!

1. I would want one set of rear light buckets done. I have an extra donor set. You can have 2 sets to redo and one to sell if you do my Orangina set. If you do not need donor sets, I would just bring my set from Orangina and pay you.

2. I would want a set of front fog grilles. I can provide 2 donor sets, one from Orangina, or just pay you for a new set or two if you use Mark's black sets. I can ping him and buy a set of new castings are best.

3. I want my 911 Carrera rear tail light buckets done as well.

Thanks!

John

Hey Ethan.

Actually no, but I do have it setup at my place in Riverside. I talked to my SP adviser about bringing it to the campus and he said "don't worry about bringing it down, just shoot me a Youtube video", so that's what I'm doing.
Overall the pumping process is like watching paint dry, but once I hit my 10-6 Torr mark and fire off the evaporation system I have a pretty cool reaction for about 45 seconds.

By the way how are your classes going? I know for me it was pretty easy, then it sucked, then it got easy again, and then it sucked again, LOL! All I know is that it will sure be nice to finally finish and walk on June 9th!

Thanks for all the interest guys!

Even though I've been able to achieve a mirror finish I'm still not 100% happy with my substrate preparation yet, so I'm going to have to keep playing around with the pre-coating chemistry before I'll be ready to start doing these. The original base material seems to be a "proprietary" organic based lacquer blend, so finding what matches it will have to be a trial and error process.

I also have to decide if I'm going to leave the reflectors coated or un-coated. If I don't coat them they will be 100% identical to the factory finish and will be completely fine if sealed with good lens gaskets, but if the gaskets leak the reflectors will be susceptible to oxidation and the coating will disintegrate if scrubbed clean (this is because the aluminum coating is only about 600 Angstroms thick). If I do top coat them with a clear coat the durability will increase, but the trade off is that the reflectivity properties may decrease.

I'll keep the post updated and when I have the process dialed in I'll make a note and start throwing some sets up for sale.

Thanks,
Mike

Hey how'd you know that's where I got it from! Just don't tell Robbie where I'm at, he's pretty pissed about me stealing his head!

Love to see some rear reflectors done! Great project & I'll be in for multiple set of both front & rears

This year, classes were fairly easy. Next year, I'm hitting the ground running now that all the pre-reqs are done for my ARO classes, so I'm thinking things are going to be significantly tougher starting in the Fall.

I'm sure you're not going to miss the battle for classes...It's almost a joke how stressful it is..I say this now, because I enroll this morning for fall classes...haha

I'm interested as well.

Just saw this thread. Looks promising, Mike


Robbie the Robot was the first thought that came to mind here as well

I'm also interested.

I have to say...compared to the amount of reflectivity that a majority of us have RIGHT NOW, the reduced with a clear coat and the durability gained would be a monumental increase. I've got two sets and niether are much to jump up and down for joy. I would offer a set of donors to be done and understand that a clear over them would reduce. However, I also look at it as getting a set of "limited edition" models or 1st editions.

Let me know if you need donors or volunteers as you work on experimental sets. I'll ship you my extra set. Knowing that it might not be up to final specs.
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU