"Plumber's Delight" bikelight

[RalphStirling]

I've finally finished my first diy bike light, and while the
results are pretty modest compared to many of the fine
lights I see here on the forum, I'm pretty happy with it.
It certainly leaves my old Planet Bike SuperShot 1W light
in the dark.

The light was built with about $7 worth of 3/4" copper pipe
fittings, with aluminum slug heatsinks turned on a lathe to
fit inside the copper pipe. The two outer lights are Luxeon III
stars with L2 oval optics, and the center light is a Cree Q5
sample epoxied directly to the heat sink (which had been
machined slightly on a mill to keep the bottom contacts from
shorting to the heat sink). A 700mA BuckPuck powers all three.
Weight is 340g (not including the handlebar stem it's mounted to),
but there are certainly no thermal problems . The lenses are
just held in place with non-silicone caulk. I used Artic Silver thermal
epoxy to affix the aluminum slugs into the copper tubing.

My battery pack is twelve AA NiMH (Kodak ULD type) in a piece
of PVC pipe. This fits nicely in my Xtracycle pannier.

The beamshots were taken at ISO 800, 6sec, F8.0.

Parts before assembly:

Finished light:

On bike:

Closeup of inside:

Beamshot on pavement (first sign is 10m, second is 60m):

Beamshot on grass:

Planet Bike 1W for comparison

Battery pack:

-- Ralph

 

[1 what]

Wow!
A lot of us have used copper fittings to build "single LED" lights of one sort or another but I can't recall anything in triplicate before..
I hereby nominate you as the King of Plumber's Fittings.
Anyone want to second this or are you all out there building QUAD models?

 

[gillestugan]

Great light and great pictures. The light looks to me as if it can double as a mace for self defence. Just add a couple of these.

Just noticed the sign "no outlet" in your beamshot. I assume it means "no sewage outlet", so you better not go biking there with your new light.

 

[f22shift]

like reindeer antellers.

i love these home mods

 

[mtb-Jeff]

Very nice!

I made a similar triple copper light earlier this year. I cut the copper fittings down to make mine a bit more compact. I aimed the middle light (flood) lower then the other two (spot) when I was sweating the copper plumbing together. I'm also running a buckpuck @ 1000mA into 3 Cree Q5's. This light produces a beam pattern that is perfect for the bar light. Even on warm days the light stays pretty cool. My battery is a 2200 maH 14.8V Li-Ion that I made from individual cells.

Isn't it fun blowing away your friends' $400 lights?:twothumbs

 

[Illum]

before I saw the beamshots my first thoughts was....mobile traffic light? showerhead? xmas deer antler lights?

then I saw the beamshots, :wow: :kewlpics: :twothumbs: :rock: :rock: :rock:

 

[mpk]

I really like this type of homebrew, especially the $7 worth of copper fittings part.

Probably the only thing keeping me from making one is that it would show my crappy pipe soldering skills. I'm pretty good with a soldering iron, but sweating pipe is a different thing altogether.

 

[Oznog]

Oh that is positively steampunk right there.

 

[fightnut]

MTB-Jeff, have any more details on how you put yours together? Really like the idea of having the center light aimed differently.
What do you think you have into total in cost (including battery) if you don't mind me asking?
:goodjob:

 

[mtb-Jeff]

MTB-Jeff, have any more details on how you put yours together? Really like the idea of having the center light aimed differently.
What do you think you have into total in cost (including battery) if you don't mind me asking?
:goodjob:

Thanks fightnut. The main body consists of a 3/4" copper T fitting and a 90 deg elbow on each side. The buckpuck fits inside the T. I trimmed all the fittings down with a hacksaw to keep it as compact as possible. All the lights can be aimed any way you like when you solder them with the propane torch. The middle flood pointing slightly down from the 2 spots seems to work perfect on the handlebar.

Each of the three LED housings are made from two 3/4" end caps sweated back-to-back, with a small piece of regular 3/4" pipe sticking out the back to allow it to slide into the main body. A small set screw keeps the end caps from moving once inserted into the main housing. I sealed the edges of the optics with silicone to keep water and dirt out. I'm running full throttle at 1000mA and the housing dissipates the heat just fine.

Here's another pic with one of the end caps open to get a better idea. This is a really simple build for anyone who doesn't have access to a machine shop. I also like the distressed copper look, but YMMV. I used a Marwi handlebar mount and secured the light using tie wraps. I might do something more permanent to secure the housing to the clamp, but this setup has worked good for the last few months and I'm busy planning my latest MC-E project to worry about it much.

I got my battery cells for free from an old laptop pack that was getting recycled at work. I only had to buy the battery protection PCB for $6. So my cost was pretty low.

Copper fittings (around $10)
Buckpuck ($15)
LED's (3 x $6)
Lenses (3 x $2.5)
Bar mount ($10)

 

[Zero_Enigma]

ROTFLMAO. NIce light output OP but when I first saw the light I thought it was a odd wrench of some sort till I got a better look. I admit I gave it a good chuckle but at night it's the light's time for the show but during the day you might get laughed off the bike anywhere you go.



EDIT:

It would look better if you used say 3 of the T copper pipes and two end caps then drill a hole in the back of the middle pipe and it would look better. I agree with the other comments here it looks like an antler. Youmight want to sand off or shorten the T ends when you're capping it to give it a smaller profile look. At least in the day time then it'll look better tot he eyes.