Miniature 1100lm XP-G triple helmet light project.
 

Well...I have been talking about it for a while now, but I've made quite a bit of progress this week.

I'm building a very small triple XP-G R5 helmet mount light with Carlco optics. The driver, emitters, and optics are all integrated for a super-compact setup. Basically just provide your own custom housing and go.

I started with a piece of 1" hex bar cut to 2":
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...exbarstock.jpg

I don't have any machine tools, so I had to be creative. I had a machine shop bore the flat-bottom hole to mount the PCB to. I needed a 20mm x 11mm hole. This was the only "precision" thing that I couldn't do with my wobbly drill press and dremel:lol:
PCB with optics - 8mm
20mm lens from flashlightlens.com - 1.84mm
GITD O-Ring - 1.5mm uncompressed

I then cut a face cap out of a sheet of aluminum "freehand" with a 19mm hole to fit on top and hold it all together. I now have a lip to retain the guts. It will compress the O-ring down and should in theory seal everything off.

Here's the project pic's so far:
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...nityfinned.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...hts/hexbar.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h28/chelboed/hex2.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h28/chelboed/hex5.jpg

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...oed/L331_1.jpghttp://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...oed/L331_2.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...oed/L331_4.jpghttp://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...oed/L331_3.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2770.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2774.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2773.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2775.jpg

The "prototype" electronics will be OTW soon. I'm trying to get some quotes on anodizing. Should be a great little P7 killer. Estimated ~25% more output than an SSC P7.


I needed around 8-9 square inches of surface area to adequately cool it. With only 3 fins cut on only 3 sides, it's estimated at ~15 sq. in. I think cooling will be ample.








This is my first ground up build.

Sweet!

You seem to be having all the fun these days. Ya gotta have some great tools in your shed. Great lookin project.

I have a dremel and a cheap Harbor Freight drill press.

Important tools:
Patience


:lol:



I got the 2mm screws / drill bit / tap from a local hobby shop for R/C stuff. I did also buy a cross-slide vice for the drill press in an "attempt" to be a little more precise.

What kind of battery?

I'm planning on a 2 x 18650 series. It should give it ~ 1.5hrs runtime. I may build a 4x 18650 2s/2p for a 3hr runtime at some point, but for now...I just want to keep it really small.

Sweet. Have you thought about putting this on instructables or are you planning on going commercial?

I need more light. I have lots of ideas, but so far I have yet to do anything.

The issue I am having is most of my ideas involve 12v power. I converted my boat to all LED, but the boat has two huge 50+ pound marine batteries and an engine - power is not an issue. I can get cheap bulbs that work in any marine fixture designed to take automotive #90 bulbs, and coastalnightlights.com (a small time guy who makes bad ass 100% sealed LED lights rated for use below the waterline, on boats in a wet slip. He is in Fort Lauderdale FL) makes some ass kicking spreader lights (1/2 amp draw, flood beam, bright as a 55 watt car headlight) - but the issue is how do I power such a beast without adding 20 pounds of batteries?

Sigh

I have just recently discovered "Instructables". It's a very cool site. I guess when this is finished, I'll look into it.

As far as commercial...I may do small stuff locally, but I am not yet equipped to handle any volume. I'm quite anal when it comes to little things like this. If it's not as perfect as I think I can possibly make it...I'm not comfortable sending it out with anyone. If I can eventually get my hands on a lathe and a mill...I may be able to turn out some projects for people though. That would be my dream hobby. I love this stuff.


A far as power for your lights...there are some really nice boost boards that will boost your power supply to be able to run the pretty high-powered lights. There are plenty of nice 12v power supply's out there though. You could do a 2.6Ah 4 x 18650 LiIon pack in series and it'd be the same size as the MagicShine battery. You'd need a buckpuck type circuit if you want to keep it right at 12v so you don't burn anything up.


Batteryspace.com has a ton of great stuff for batteries and chargers too. Heck...they even have supercapacitors!

I guess it's okay to reveal my source for the electronics. It'll be on the market soon. I'm getting the light engine from www.lux-rc.com

Thanks to Quazzle at _TBR for all the R & D and for the single mode prototype. His work is incredible. I'm pretty sure the guy is a genius.

phburns over at _TBR did the CAD design just as an experiment to see how much surface area my design would yield. Thanks to that guy...I can breathe a little easier. Very comprehensive schematic.

And another guy that's been a wealth of knowledge over there is "troutie". Just punch "troutie" or "trout light" into Google and prepare to be amazed at the creativity and practical application that this guy has come up with.

I rounded three of the edges. I think I'm going to leave it this way instead of doing all 6. I like this.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...ts/Trinity.jpg

Dremels are wonderful tools lol.

Uh, you take DIY to a new level!

Looks sharp.

I thought about wiring 4 of those lithium cells in series, but as voltage is added up amprage us decreased. Even with two sets wired in parallel then in series, burn time would be low. Remember, 12v really means 13.8v. So at 75% charge voltage would start to drop, and so would intensity.

Basically, 12v sucks for bicycle lights :)

When I did 12v halogen...I used an 18v lithium ryobi drill battery. (21v full charge) It was soooooo bright:lol: but lasted like 1/2hr at most.

I could get two 6v German dyno hubs, and rig them to give me 12v as long as I am going 6 or so mph. But that would cost more than HID!

I'll figure something out, and when I do I'll post it here.

Alrighty!

Got my wire exit out the back drilled per my perception of the schematics. Got my strain relief figured out. Kinda like jMitchell's (_TBR)...but smaller and metal. It's really a "Tim Taylor" strain relief. I got a 1/4 - 20 socket head machine screw, drilled a hole down the axis, and put a grommet on it. When I get the wire run through it...I'll put a tiny bit of HS tubing in front of it (inside) and then a larger piece of HS tubing that wraps around the head of the socket head screw and down the exit wire a bit. Then I'll butt the grommet up to the shrunk tubing and tighten it down. Water tight and completely serviceable!


Over the top again. I know I could have just gone with some silicone, but I wanted to do it the "hard way".
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2776.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2777.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2779.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2778.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2780.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2781.jpg

I got a little delivery today...mmmm...end mills are SHARP!!

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2783.jpg

3 different depths of fins there...3x 9mm // 4x 6mm // 2x 4mm
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2787.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2785.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2786.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2784.jpg

It's just sitting on the Marwi mount. Haven't totally committed to a mount yet.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2788.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2790.jpg


Here's my Jankety "hillbilly" work space. Pretty much did everything on the Harbor Freight drill press and cross slide vice.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2782.jpg

Nice work Ed.

I'm done and ready for the gutz.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2807.jpg


(I will probably mess with the aesthetics of the mount a bit more as I go b/c it's a tad "cobby" still. I added a gently "swoop" on the back for now. We'll see.

Aaaaa...yeeeeeeahhhh!!

Mini Me has been found! Found a "scaled down" helmet mount to retrofit to my mini head.

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/DSC05261.jpg

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/DSC05265.jpg

I changed to a little different mount. The Nylon block is super easy to form and machine. I used a dremel bit in my drill press. I'm going to streamline it a bit to make it less bulky...but it's much more substantial and rigid than the Bell mount. Tad bigger...but I feel so much better about it. Should have done this to begin with instead of cutting the pivots off my first batch, LOL.

Nice tight pivot and the bar mount has a L. / R. rotate feature with static pressure adjustment. (micro click?)

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2840.jpg
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h2...s/IMG_2838.jpg

You don't have kids do you? ;-) Nice work. How much time do you figure you have in this so far?