Vintage Battery Cycle Lamps Restoration Modification

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Survivor Bikes

Senior Member
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Evening team. So I’ve assembled this motley crew of lamps to see what can be done with them. Previously, I’ve had a go at dismantling the one in the foreground; but I think instead of grinding off the small rivet heads, it may be preferable to drill them out using teeny-tiny drill bits.
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This selection includes brands such as Ever Ready, Berec (which I believe was a UK subsidiary of Ever Ready), Vesta and erm, the black one. Which I can‘t quite decipher; possibly ‘Lanlite’?

Tomorrow I’ll aim to get one dismantled, blasted and straightened. I would have done so today, but I made an unplanned purchase, and then ended up going to collect a... 1976 Puch Pirate! Yeah, me neither 🤣. It turns out to be an Austrian version of a Raleigh Commando, complete with dimpled chain guard etc. It’s gone straight into my boneyard for now, but this is what it looks like:-
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See you tomorrow 😊
 
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Survivor Bikes

Survivor Bikes

Senior Member
Ah, the uniquely satisfying process of media blasting...
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Location
Cheshire
I love the way bike lights look 'of their period'. I rember having a very 60s looking dynamo set, chrome elliptical front light and all that space-age stuff, little fins here and there, updated by the modular plastc 70s lamps from Ever Ready.
Great to see some old lamps being brought back to life though :okay:
 
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Survivor Bikes

Survivor Bikes

Senior Member
Ok, back at the ranch now. I’m going to experiment with a ‘chrome’ effect on this first lamp; just to see if it’s a viable finish. It’s no substitute for real chrome of course, but it’s worth a try.
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The Media-blasted parts are ‘out-gassing’ in the curing oven. At around 180°C, any contaminants should be baked out.
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We’ll need the oven up to around 200°C in order to cure the chrome effect coat. After that, it will require a gloss clear coat to protect the finish. The chrome effect powder coat, doesn’t have the resilience of regular colours. Sadly, the extra coat of clear reduces the lustre a bit too. I guess you can’t have everything.
 
Location
Cheshire
Ok, back at the ranch now. I’m going to experiment with a ‘chrome’ effect on this first lamp; just to see if it’s a viable finish. It’s no substitute for real chrome of course, but it’s worth a try.
View attachment 536120
The Media-blasted parts are ‘out-gassing’ in the curing oven. At around 180°C, any contaminants should be baked out.
View attachment 536121
We’ll need the oven up to around 200°C in order to cure the chrome effect coat. After that, it will require a gloss clear coat to protect the finish. The chrome effect powder coat, doesn’t have the resilience of regular colours. Sadly, the extra coat of clear reduces the lustre a bit too. I guess you can’t have everything.
Can you do my frame if it comes out ok :laugh:
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
Ok, back at the ranch now. I’m going to experiment with a ‘chrome’ effect on this first lamp; just to see if it’s a viable finish. It’s no substitute for real chrome of course, but it’s worth a try.
View attachment 536120
The Media-blasted parts are ‘out-gassing’ in the curing oven. At around 180°C, any contaminants should be baked out.
View attachment 536121
We’ll need the oven up to around 200°C in order to cure the chrome effect coat. After that, it will require a gloss clear coat to protect the finish. The chrome effect powder coat, doesn’t have the resilience of regular colours. Sadly, the extra coat of clear reduces the lustre a bit too. I guess you can’t have everything.
Were those lights chromed originally, I seem to remember most were painted a matt grey (almost a 'hammerite' finish but smaller 'dimples')
 
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Survivor Bikes

Survivor Bikes

Senior Member
Well I finished one of those lamps in high chrome effect powder yesterday... and it was, quite frankly, rubbish! :laugh:

Those chrome effect coatings are fine for candy finishes (like the Raleigh Eighteen I did recently), but no good on their own.

Never mind; I've got oodles of lamps and an entire spectrum of coloured powders to throw at them. Including, a silver hammered finish, which @raleighnut quite rightly identifies as the authentic aesthetic.

It's a bit off topic I know, but I've also picked up a couple of cool retro torches ('flashlights' for our colonial cousins); a Pifco Superbeam and an Ever Ready Space Beam. They're made largely of pressed steel, and should freshen up a treat.
 
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