MV lenses?

[nkalanaga]

"I've found that if I taper the front surface of these with a larger, sharp drill bit...the curved backside of the MV lens will nestle down pretty good into this, even if the lens won't actually insert inside the tube"

I didn't light mine, but on the locos with small headlights, I did the same thing.  That includes most of my older narrow gauge diesels.

[Albert in N]

  Which glue works to attach MV aluminum backing to plastic?  Seems like the little buggers eventually drop off.

[peteski]

Which glue works to attach MV aluminum backing to plastic?  Seems like the little buggers eventually drop off.

Make sure the back of the lens (aluminum) is clean. I usually wipe it with alcohol and try no tto touch it afterwards.   Then either epoxy (5-minute type should work ok), or CA glue should do the trick.

[robert3985]

Which glue works to attach MV aluminum backing to plastic?  Seems like the little buggers eventually drop off.

I use 5 min. clear epoxy.  I don't want to take a chance that the out-gassing that CA sometimes does would cloud the nice, clear lens on the front of the MV lens.  Maybe, it wouldn't be a problem...but...maybe it would.

And besides, epoxy is going to keep it glued for-ever, and allows you to get the lens aligned before the epoxy starts setting up.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[nkalanaga]

I used Seal-All, a hardware store contact cement/gas tank repair that will stick to almost anything.  It sticks well to aluminum, and does fine with plastic, as long as you don't use so much that it attacks the plastic.  It works on styrene, but if it stays "wet" too long, it will warp thin pieces.  I never had any trouble with lenses i n headlights.

The joints didn't look good, but in the early 70s, I managed to glue KD MT-5s (now 1025s) to Con-Cor passenger car trucks with that stuff - and  they held for years.