I'm trying to separate the lens from the housing and it's not happening. Using a heat gun, I'm just warping the lens without it separating. Trying to pry them apart without the heat just cracks the lens.

Has anyone taken these apart without wrecking them?

Talk to Josh (IZN TRBL), I'm pretty sure he has.





I work on Wall Street, but didn't force you to take out a loan you couldn't afford.

The way that I did it was a little bit, well, destructive, but yes... I have. I'm not planning on reusing the lens, so that's why I went this route:

http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=46&i=163374&t=163374#163374
http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=46&i=169776&t=169776#169776

I found that using a battery powered dremel wasn't cutting it (I know, bad play on words)... there was not enough juice to sustain the cutting speed. An AC powered one may work better, and as long as you take your time, it should cut right off. Just use a thin cutting wheel.

That's kinda what I was afraid of. Looks like I'm gonna need another set of doner lights.

I'm thinking of making something similar to what you're doing but keeping the red lens on the outside. To do this though, I'm gonna need to save both the lens and the housing and it doesn't look like both can be saved from any one unit. Either I cut the lens off the housing, or cut the housing off the lens.

Ah well. I'll be quite interested in seeing what sort of troubles you run into throughout this process. Hopefully you can provide more valuable pointers as you go.

Nice work so far!!

so what youre saying weas is that youre gonna need 2 sets of donor lights, one which you use the housings and cut up the cover, and the other where you do the opposite?
that sounds like what youre gonna run into...correct me if i'm wrong?

They can be opened with some patience and an oven. Don't use a heat gun because they will heat the plastic too quick. You want lower temperature, and a longer heating time, so that the glue gets hot. I haven't tired 'fire lenses, but I've opened others before. Heating slower is better.

But yeah, talk to Josh. He is very good with it.

I have another a Sunfire tail that I still need to remove the lens from... I'll test the oven removal method tomorrow.

250 degrees for about 15-20 minutes


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Hrothgar wrote:250 degrees for about 15-20 minutes

Check this thread.... Didn't quite work as planned.

Kardain wrote:I have another a Sunfire tail that I still need to remove the lens from... I'll test the oven removal method tomorrow.

Definitely let me know how this goes!!

Pork Chop Sandwiches!!! wrote:SEARCH

heh. I did. Didn't find anything about anyone taking them apart cleanly.

Yeah, mine didn't come out so well (or clean for that matter)... There's a post in photos/media.