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Slider2
Samba Member
Joined: December 22, 2016
Posts: 5
Location: Uk
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 Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 4:11 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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| ohhorob wrote: |
| Keep an eye on the raw ABS printed part.. folks report deterioration... |
I've heard the same.... Perhaps unibagel here can tell us how the ones he printed two years ago are holding up? Maybe we'll ask again in 2019 or just run off a new set once the materials & technology have evolved a bit further. Either way, on a cracked & faded grille there is not much to lose!
Moving on to a 'fine adjust' lamp mounting frame next. Plasma cut in stainless probably. CAD to follow in a week or two! |
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Zeitgeist 13
Samba Member
Joined: March 05, 2009
Posts: 12115
Location: Port Manteau
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 4:35 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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Once you get the light mount design nailed down, I think there could be a sizeable market out there for those of us with round headlights dreaming of an inner light assembly that looks exactly like that. Well done.
_________________
Casey--
'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik? |
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thatvwbusguy
Samba Member
Joined: April 18, 2007
Posts: 1712
Location: Newmarket, New Hampshire
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 8:39 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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My original concept was to make a perfect cut into the stock grill. Years of heat, cold and UV exposure made the trim rings a necessary evil. Sometimes you gotta play the cards you're dealt..
_________________
Jay Brown
'85 Zetec Westfalia
Newmarket, NH
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion. |
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RainierSyncro
Samba Member
Joined: February 26, 2013
Posts: 809
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2016 9:37 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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For my Syncro, I wanted quad headlights using a second set of stock 7's. The bump in the sheetmetal behind the driver's side headlight made it impossible to get a stock unit mounted properly. It was then decided to use Hella 500FF's which are much thinner. They managed to fit great. I contacted Unibagel about designing a trim ring for it. The item on the right is the first prototype. The cutout was to clear the mounting bracket. After cutting the grill, I realized that grill has a slight curve vertically and another slight curve on the horizontal. Adjustments were made to include the curves and Unibagel produced the item on the left. It looks deformed, but it fits pretty good. There was an extra 1/2" of material added to the ring to cover the gap that appeared because of the horizontal curve of the grill. That's why one side is higher than the other. Also no cut-out for the mounting bracket was added because you have to turn the ring upside down for the pass side. Cut-outs for the mounting brackets will have to be done to get it to fit all the way in. I have not mounted these rings yet since my van is in the middle of a paint job.
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3dig
Samba Member
Joined: October 20, 2012
Posts: 142
Location: Bellingham, Wa
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| Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 8:34 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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Can we get more pics of this setup?
| kryptkat wrote: |
I made mine out of sheet metal.
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Slider2
Samba Member
Joined: December 22, 2016
Posts: 5
Location: Uk
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| Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2017 2:29 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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As a follow up for those with facilities...
Golf spotlight mounting brackets are all together and tested. Fit is good and adjustability has allowed for mm perfect positioning on mine.
CAD for the mounts is now on GrabCAD.
Angle adjustors use M8 bolts running through rivnuts on the steel brackets.
I've made the brackets universal so you can use them on either side.
I used a plasma cutter but no doubt a laser would do a much better job.
The positional adjustor is fitted using x4 M4 machine screws.
Any questions just ask.
All CAD & photos https://grabcad.com/library/vw-t3-t25-vanagon-spotlight-rings-1 |
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modmatt
Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2012
Posts: 15
Location: Hamburg, Germany
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 9:34 am Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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| Slider2 wrote: |
| Any questions just ask. |
First of all: thank you so much for doing this! One thing is providing a handy pencil sketch with the proper measures, but delivering a complete ready for production file format to quickly share around the globe is a whole lotta different story.
(I feel somebody will abuse this and do a production of these for big money. :/)
Technically this is the solution I'm striving for:
- bolt on, not a hack job (which I would definetly create should I go the DIY route)
- OEM appearance including VW emblems on the lights themselves
- OEM brand and quality lights, which are not too spendy to replace and readily available (at least here in Germany)
- even cheaper Aftermarket options available in different styles (black, clear, cross-hair, halos, iron cross, whatever floats your boat)
- full precise vertical and horizontal adjustment possibilities (better than bending above mentioned hackjob roughly into place or having up-and-down only)
- solid mount
I still undecided whether I should run downstairs and over the court into our production hall asking the laser guys to make me a batch of those or run upstairs to the R&D guys with the 3D printer 
In all seriousness while the laser guys would probably do it, I'd rather ask some local laser shop to do a pair for me officially.
However the question I have is: Are the Golf lights worth the hassle? I am looking for a highbeam upgrade as well. Main reason is the gain in light, not so much the esthetics or the SA look. Would you say, the Golf lights rock the night away? I guess when going with OEM Hellas, with proper glass and metal they should last a while with 100W inserts... not so much with those el-cheapo ebay specials with halos.
OMG I am too excited I found this. |
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unibagel
Samba Member
Joined: December 02, 2004
Posts: 529
Location: Bflo, NY
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 10:26 am Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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Like! 
| RainierSyncro wrote: |
For my Syncro, I wanted quad headlights using a second set of stock 7's. The bump in the sheetmetal behind the driver's side headlight made it impossible to get a stock unit mounted properly. It was then decided to use Hella 500FF's which are much thinner. They managed to fit great. I contacted Unibagel about designing a trim ring for it. The item on the right is the first prototype. The cutout was to clear the mounting bracket. After cutting the grill, I realized that grill has a slight curve vertically and another slight curve on the horizontal. Adjustments were made to include the curves and Unibagel produced the item on the left. It looks deformed, but it fits pretty good. There was an extra 1/2" of material added to the ring to cover the gap that appeared because of the horizontal curve of the grill. That's why one side is higher than the other. Also no cut-out for the mounting bracket was added because you have to turn the ring upside down for the pass side. Cut-outs for the mounting brackets will have to be done to get it to fit all the way in. I have not mounted these rings yet since my van is in the middle of a paint job.
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Slider2
Samba Member
Joined: December 22, 2016
Posts: 5
Location: Uk
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:15 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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| modmatt wrote: |
First of all: thank you so much for doing this! |
You're welcome. It was quite a few hours work so I'd be very happy to see a few more sets on the road!
Although these exact plans worked fine on mine, I think there will always be a degree of fettling to do on individual vans. Mine are at the limits of vertical travel and the bends need to be done carefully to fit between the flanges.... But it is good enough for 'non-commercial use!'
Re your question - how good are the golf lights.... I'm embarrassed to say I don't know! I havent had the van all that long and I didnt really drive it at night before.... And I haven't yet driven with the new lamps. Sorry I can't help on that one! Mine has a KR gti engine fitted so the project was a bit of a homage to that! |
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modmatt
Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2012
Posts: 15
Location: Hamburg, Germany
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| Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 10:49 am Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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Thanks for the quick answer!
| Slider2 wrote: |
| Mine are at the limits of vertical travel |
what do you mean? the fitting of the bracket within the front of the van? or are you at limit of the adjuster-screws for aiming the light vertically? |
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Slider2
Samba Member
Joined: December 22, 2016
Posts: 5
Location: Uk
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| Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 1:06 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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| modmatt wrote: |
what do you mean? the fitting of the bracket within the front of the van? or are you at limit of the adjuster-screws for aiming the light vertically? |
Headlight aim adjusting is fine - plenty of adjustment there.
It is the vertical / horizontal alignment adjustor designed to get the light central within the trim ring. It uses an M4 bolt inside a 10mm hole - I had hoped that would give me +\- 3mm of travel. But I forgot the fact that the flange for e rivnut (7mm flange) is also inside that 10mm hole.... Therefore the adjustment is actually only +\- 1.5mm..... All quite tight tolerances for a trim ring glued into place! Mine works but is at full adjustment in the high left position. A photo will no doubt be clearer! Not a big problem but the kind of thing that might annoy people if someone 'commercialised' the plans! I would enlarge the 10mm holes in the CAD but there isn't much need for me at this point! Cheers, |
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modmatt
Samba Member
Joined: June 02, 2012
Posts: 15
Location: Hamburg, Germany
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| Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 11:48 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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| Thank you. No photo needed, I got what you mean! |
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Bransdead
Samba Member
Joined: May 15, 2017
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Fri May 19, 2017 4:35 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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So I'm right in the middle of doing the South African install and just realized there's no room at all for my drivers side inner light due to this firewall. Im guessing it is the firewall for the steering column....why have I not read of anyone else running into this problem? Solutions?
I have my 5.75" h4 lights siliconed in place with tabs bent in rear of bracket to hold in place. I went back and saw where the Hella HL00243 kit was used in this thread and it included the adjustable mounting ring which is what I am currently missing which would space the light off of the bracket more and allow to clear the steering column. Problem is this Hella kit is discontinued and I cannot find a 5.75" headlight ring to save my life.  |
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nemobuscaptain
Samba Member
Joined: March 07, 2002
Posts: 3874
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Bransdead
Samba Member
Joined: May 15, 2017
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Sat May 20, 2017 7:55 am Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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Homemade brackets following the dimensions previously listed in this thread.
Octane lighting 5 3/4" h4 lights off amazon. They have no mounting rings. The link you sent has only a mounting sheet and would not offset any more from the bracket and not clear the firewall. |
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RainierSyncro
Samba Member
Joined: February 26, 2013
Posts: 809
Location: Seattle
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Italjohn
Samba Member
Joined: October 29, 2016
Posts: 193
Location: Molde, Norway
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newerwesty1987
Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2010
Posts: 407
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| Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 7:28 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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I much prefer the smaller SA inner light look. Looks more factory and professional to me. Also being able to adjust is critical. LED lights are much better too, for those if you who havent changed over to them, you are really missing out and wasting money on the 100 year old versions
I'd love to see more of the kryptkat build!! |
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puchfinnland
Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2005
Posts: 279
Location: Deale Maryland
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Stevied84westy
Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2014
Posts: 18
Location: Stagecoach, America
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| Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2021 2:13 pm Post subject: Re: Lowbuck SA grille |
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Howdy Camper.
I like the Hella 500 option but wanted to make certain that the light comes out of the bucket before pulling the trigger. Seems like $80 and some DIY work is worth it!
Thanks, Steve. |
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