- Dec 4, 2011
- 568
I've been wanting to streamline my roof lights, and thought it would be nice to mount them inside an oval-shaped bar. My lights are nothing special, but they do help when needed. I have the extra criteria that I want to mount the sensor for my radar detector inside the bar, so metal is out of the question. Fiberglass would be nice, but I have no experience working with it, so my next option is PVC pipe.
My biggest concern with plastic is the heat generated by the lights, so I did a test today... I dropped one of the lights inside a scrap piece of pipe, and let it run for awhile. Even though the light itself was too hot to touch, the PVC was still only warm to the touch, and nowhere near warm enough to start deforming. Since I plan on opening up the front of the pipe and covering it with a metal mesh, thre should be no danger of it getting too hot.
My next obstacle was that I wanted to make the bar into a smooth curve, so that the lights on the outside would face at an angle... Too bad I don't have the equipment to heat up and form such a large piece of pipe at one time. Oh well, I came up with another solution last night -- I made some 5 degree cuts in the pipe pieces, so the ends are sitting at 10 degree angles. I made up some pieces today, and this actually looks pretty good. It is angled, without looking too industrial.
So the overall concept is to start with some 4" PVC, heated and shaped into a 3x5 oval. This gives move than enough room for my lights, and the finished item will sit at the same height as the existing lightbar. I have pieces cut from thinwall PVC, and was thinking of using wood blocks inside to maintain the shape and seal off the area where the radar sensor will be. I have space for six lights -- 2 forward and 2 to each side, and the whole unit will mount to the luggage rails.
I'm debating changing over to thickwall PVC for the added rigidity, but it will also make it harder to work with. I've seen some nice aluminum mesh available on ebay to finish off the front face after cutting the openings for the lights, and of course I'll have to drill some drain holes... but overall it seems like I should be able to fit all the components and make a fairly strong unit. The worst problem is that it will require disassembly to change a bulb, but that doesn't happen often anyway. Any other thoughts on this idea?
My biggest concern with plastic is the heat generated by the lights, so I did a test today... I dropped one of the lights inside a scrap piece of pipe, and let it run for awhile. Even though the light itself was too hot to touch, the PVC was still only warm to the touch, and nowhere near warm enough to start deforming. Since I plan on opening up the front of the pipe and covering it with a metal mesh, thre should be no danger of it getting too hot.
My next obstacle was that I wanted to make the bar into a smooth curve, so that the lights on the outside would face at an angle... Too bad I don't have the equipment to heat up and form such a large piece of pipe at one time. Oh well, I came up with another solution last night -- I made some 5 degree cuts in the pipe pieces, so the ends are sitting at 10 degree angles. I made up some pieces today, and this actually looks pretty good. It is angled, without looking too industrial.
So the overall concept is to start with some 4" PVC, heated and shaped into a 3x5 oval. This gives move than enough room for my lights, and the finished item will sit at the same height as the existing lightbar. I have pieces cut from thinwall PVC, and was thinking of using wood blocks inside to maintain the shape and seal off the area where the radar sensor will be. I have space for six lights -- 2 forward and 2 to each side, and the whole unit will mount to the luggage rails.
I'm debating changing over to thickwall PVC for the added rigidity, but it will also make it harder to work with. I've seen some nice aluminum mesh available on ebay to finish off the front face after cutting the openings for the lights, and of course I'll have to drill some drain holes... but overall it seems like I should be able to fit all the components and make a fairly strong unit. The worst problem is that it will require disassembly to change a bulb, but that doesn't happen often anyway. Any other thoughts on this idea?