Blasphemy perhaps but WTH, I did it anyway 😬.

[Sovende]

I know (don't ask 🙁) that there's a general prohibition RE: even touching the shiny "silvered" reflectors in MagLites (and other lights too) and I've seen mention of staying away from doing much with the lens either (other than replacing it with tempered glass or polycarbonate). This post deals with the lens. A cursory GOOGLE search didn't give me much to go on so I went rogue 😎.
My relatively ancient Vari-Beam MagLite (garage sale find) had clearly seen better days but it cleaned up reasonably well. The lens, however, was a hot mess! Very dirty, a couple of chips, lots of scratches and a hazy build up on the exposed surface. My plan (eventually) is to upgrade the lens on a newer MagLite with glass or polycarbonate then donate the replaced lens back to the Vari-Beam. My motivation on that project has reached new lows 🙁.
Since the damaged lens in the Vari-Beam is in such poor condition (light transmisssion wise) if figured I have little to lose by attempting to rehabilitate it. If I ruin it, the motivation to get the glass or polycarbonate upgrade will increase 👍.
Anyway, out with the bad lens. I washed it with warm soapy water and again with some ammonia-free window cleaner. Minimal improvement but no worse. I've had some good results polishing automotive headlight lenses with headlight cleaning compounds so I thought that just might work on the MagLite lens. Again, I had little to lose.
As it turns out, I'm fairly impressed with the results after about 10 minutes of work! The haze is mostly removed as are most of the fine scratches. The chips and deeper scratches will most likely never be removed but to be sure the clarity of the lens is markedly improved. IDK if the MagLite lens had any special coating but if so, I'm sure that I've removed it 😳. I know many will want (demand) photos but I didn't do any before/ after shots. You'll have to take my word on it 😉!
Sovende

 

[bykfixer]

Blasphemy? Nah. Restoring an old lens tips is a good thing.

Ya know? The ultra fine scratches from a headlight restore kit may actually improve the beam by masking light bulb filament artifacts.

 

[Sovende]

Blasphemy? Nah. Restoring an old lens tips is a good thing.

Ya know? The ultra fine scratches from a headlight restore kit may actually improve the beam by masking light bulb filament artifacts.

Thanks bykfizer for the vote of confidence! I'm emboldened now 😉.
Again, since I have little to lose, I'd like to attempt a DIY "fix" for the reflector. I'm unsure of the cause (perhaps submersion in water?) but there are numerous round spots on the reflector surface where the "silvering" is gone leaving only the blue color of the plastic that is beneath. There are also some fine scratches left when "some knucklehead" 🙄 tried to clean the reflector.
I'm wondering if anyone has ever recoated a MagLite's reflector surface with glossy white paint? Another thought was using a Plasti-Kote brand acrylic enamel that's "metallic silver"? The can cap is almost like chrome but the actual result on plastic, is more of a dull silver. I do have a couple of cheapo LED lights that utilize a white reflector behind an aspheric lens, so I suppose it's not beyond the realm of possibility 🤔.
Does anyone have experience with recoating/painting a reflector?
Sovende

 

[bykfixer]

There is no home made re-chrome available. Best thing I found was a product for respraying the inside of headlights called "almost chrome" from a company called Eastwood. Click on auto paints and equipment, then chrome and plating.

Or you can check out eBay for new Maglite reflectors. I like "zbattery" for Maglite parts and they have some in stock for around $7. They have genuine Maglite parts.

I have an old LA Screw reflector that also fit D sized B-Lites by Bianchi where leather holster maker John Bianchi collaborated with Don Keller to make some really nice cop lights in the mid 70's. Anyway the coating on B-Lite reflectors came off in time leaving a clear plastic frustrom inside the light. A very floody beam resulted. Anyway before I found that metal LA Screw reflectors built for halogen bulbs would fit a B-Lite I tried white paint with a clear coat on that de-chromed reflector. Eh, the beam was still pretty floody but better and tossing light forward a few more feet. Next was almost chrome which also gave slightly improved results over the white paint.

In the old days they used nickel silver over brass. Then Don Keller began using chromed plastic in the late 1960's. LA Screw tried it but with the advent of halogen bulbs offered metal reflectors as an upgrade. Tony Maglica stayed with coated plastic but a special setup is needed for it to stick.

In my VareBeam is a new C/D head reflector from zbattery.