Split Dome Beacons

dmathieu

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 20, 2010
8,766
S.W. New Hampshire, USA
Adding a


Amber/Red Whelen CORPORAL.


Blue / Red Whelen DMS Strobe.


Clear / Red Whelen / Austin Electronics PO-12 Incandescent flasher

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Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Crownfire said:
A while back there was a seller on ebay that would take two domes, cut them in half, and create a split dome. Haven't seen the listing for this service recently; does anyone on here have any experience with this and know this person or if the service still available?

I have a blue beacon ray dome that is cracked, and a red beacon ray dome with a flat spot that I would love to have someone make one good one out of. These are both the early, smaller version of the BR dome.


Thanks,


Don

I mentioned on anothe thread recently that a friend of mine many years ago in Lubbock bought a TwinSonic at the local city auction. It came with red and blue domes. He had an old Sears van that he used for a small roadside assitance business. He couldn't run red to the front, but blue was fine. He took the lightbar to a local plastics factory and they were able to cut the domes and put them back together where he had all blue up front and red to the rear. Worked just fine.
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
toon80 said:
Are those custom or factory filters? I like them and would like some myself :)

Someone just mentioned on another thread that Tri-Lite/Mars still has those inserts available for $5 each. I had a Skybolt bar years ago with twin beacons and alternating red and blue inserts on each light.
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Mars Light said:
Here is my Mod.14 amber/red split dome. Finished last weekend.

These remind me of the split-dome 184s I saw on a Caddy ambulance in SoCal a few years ago. They were red to the front and amber to the rear.
 

Tristar

Member
May 24, 2010
899
MA
Skip Goulet said:
These remind me of the split-dome 184s I saw on a Caddy ambulance in SoCal a few years ago. They were red to the front and amber to the rear.

I think I remember seeing (here, maybe?) what you're talking about, but it wasn't a standard 184 - it was for CA...it didn't rotate - the lamps were fixed, and the front / red lamp was steady burn, and the rear / amber flashed.
 

Skip Goulet

Member
Feb 23, 2011
4,241
Midland, TX
Tristar said:
I think I remember seeing (here, maybe?) what you're talking about, but it wasn't a standard 184 - it was for CA...it didn't rotate - the lamps were fixed, and the front / red lamp was steady burn, and the rear / amber flashed.

Not the same one. This one had both beacons rotating and had a red spotlight on the driver's side for the "steady burn red" CA requirement.
 

ryan

Member
May 20, 2010
2,996
Massillon, Ohio
I was making them. But the Cnc machine I used has been changed out to a 5 way and hasn't done as nice of a job. But a cracked dome does not boad well with the Cnc machines and usually cracks more.
 

Windycity411

Member
Jan 20, 2014
480
Illinois
I picked up a split dome Whelen Responder today. The domes are rough, but the price was right. Now I have a restoration project. I'm guessing it was blue/clear, then someone did a sloppy job turning it blue/red. Any Whelen experts know if this is factory, or somebody just did a good job on the cut n paste??? 

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dmathieu

Lifetime VIP Donor
May 20, 2010
8,766
S.W. New Hampshire, USA
This was a factory option. In New England, the blue was typically forward facing, and red to the rear.

Hard to say if this one is factory or not. the glue joints were usually not great.

The red may just be faded???
 
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Windycity411

Member
Jan 20, 2014
480
Illinois
Up close and under light, there's runoff onto the blue side and both sides have an opaque look. Maybe someone tried to "re-red" the faded dome? It will need a clean up and proper glass or plastic paint to restore.
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
This was a factory option. In New England, the blue was typically forward facing, and red to the rear.

Hard to say if this one is factory or not. the glue joints were usually not great.

The red may just be faded???
While it can be hard to tell a factory from a Whelen split dome on older models, this particular one doesn't look right for other reasons.  I agree though that  factory split domes tend to have damage present or otherwise not age well, especially in older items.
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
What reasons would that be, John?
 Just overall signs of modification.  The split is less dubious than the coloring.

Up close and under light, there's runoff onto the blue side and both sides have an opaque look.
Yeah, on the Whelen made splits, they definitely used red and blue plastic domes to make red and blue split. They did not color clear Rseponder domes.
Basically many little quaily factors make this light almost certianly modified.  Whether the dome started life as a factory split, that could go wither way.  Could have been a split blue/clear or blue (faded red)  that someone applied paint to.  It's been altered, heavily, possibly catastrophically.
 

Windycity411

Member
Jan 20, 2014
480
Illinois
The investment was minimal. I'm hoping I can remove the sprayed in paint and do something to restore color to the dome. If not, I'll just buy a new dome. The light works great, so it'll just be a new project for me.
 

72stormer

Member
Sep 1, 2011
71
British Columbia Canada
Does anyone have the tooling & experience to "split dome" a Federal Vector dome or insert?  I have a Vector build that has a front "wobble" light, that I would like to encase with a split red/blue dome or insert.



Cheers and thanks
 

JohnMarcson

Administrator
May 7, 2010
10,971
Northwest Ohio
Does anyone have the tooling & experience to "split dome" a Federal Vector dome or insert?  I have a Vector build that has a front "wobble" light, that I would like to encase with a split red/blue dome or insert.



Cheers and thanks
You can split these yourself, they don't need gluing, they snap in fine in two pieces.  Measure off slightly more than half, draw a line, tape it off with 5 layers of painters tape on the good side.  Use a super fine hacksaw or jewelers saw.  Take your time, it's an hour per insert.  Sand edges with super fine sandpaper, remove tape, clan and polish.  You end up with one split insert and two 47% throw aways.
 
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Phil

Member
Jun 2, 2010
128
New England
I just acquired a Beacon ray with a red amber split. Its in great shape however the two sides have come apart. what is the best method and adhesive to glue them back together?
 
I just acquired a Beacon ray with a red amber split. Its in great shape however the two sides have come apart. what is the best method and adhesive to glue them back together?
-
Loctite has a new adhesive designed for plastic and it works very well. Available in hardware stores, it's a 2-step process with a clear primer that goes on like a magic marker followed by a super glue. Clean and very easy to use without making a mess. I used it to repair my OtterBox phone clip and it held up to constant use, so a split dome for display (or regular duty) should be a piece of cake!
 

tsquale

Lifetime VIP Donor
Oct 12, 2010
10,511
Minnesota, USA
-


Loctite has a new adhesive designed for plastic and it works very well. Available in hardware stores, it's a 2-step process with a clear primer that goes on like a magic marker followed by a super glue. Clean and very easy to use without making a mess. I used it to repair my OtterBox phone clip and it held up to constant use, so a split dome for display (or regular duty) should be a piece of cake!
Does it leave a white residue when dry like other adhesives?
 
Does it leave a white residue when dry like other adhesives?
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Doesn't seem to...I used it on black plastic, though. I have a damaged Amber dome, so I'll give it a try and report the results.

And here it is...There is NO residue!


Damaged dome:


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Loctite system...


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First apply the "primer" (it's clear and goes on easily with a marker tip) and wait 60 seconds. Next apply the glue and hold in place for 30 seconds. Then, done!


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Since its been a few months since I last used it, my tube of glue had hardened in the tip, so had to cut the tube at the bottom--made for a sloppy application, but it is a strong bond and no residue.
 

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