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3D printing a Hornlite bezel

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rockabillyjay

Finally riding a big boys bike
I recently bought a 1938 Columbia that had its Hornlite sold off before I got it. I was able to find a replacement, but it was missing the bezel. I’m on the hunt for a real one but in the meantime I figured I'd make a placeholder.

I got some measurements off a real one, then drew it up and resin printed it
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Next was faking the chrome finish. Best thing I’ve found for that is silver nail dust believe it or not. I painted it gloss black, then when the paint gets tacky I applied the mail dust with a makeup sponge.once dry you brush it off with a makeup brush and polish. I wanted it to look old so I pressed hard in some spots to give it sone rust like texture. Then a little brown acrylic paint to dirty it up.

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Next I had a new repop lens that was way too new looking. Some yellow alcohol ink on the inside with a bit of brown paint, and a shot of matte outside did the trick
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And now the finished part on my original finish bike
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Ok so the 3D printed one was good, but a little off and thick. I was able to borrow a real bezel to work with (which I may 3D scan) so I first tried casting it but it’s a little too thin for that to work well

My next idea was to vacuum form it in plastic. This one is done with sone thin styrene I had in hand, but I’m going to try some out of a thicker ABS plastic..I think that should do the trick.

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