PEU
Flashlight Enthusiast
While thinkering what to do next, and trying to be original, a task that is increasingly difficult given the resident talents we have here, I decided to do a reflector, but since Don already made single reflectors, thus rendering my idea non-original, I decided to make a cluster reflector.
The project is not finished yet, I still need to metalize, chrome or surface the reflectors to have a better idea of their abilities.
So far I made 2 designs, a cluster of 4 reflectors that resemble the IMS20 shape, and a deep reflector, thats intended to be a thrower.
The nice thing about this project is that the reflectors were made on a machine I built myself, I posted about it here
And since every project needs a name, I called it the nCluster (neoca-cluster)
The cluster diameter in both cases fits within 40mm and the height for the shallow is 17mm and the deeper one is 29mm.
If an image is a thousand words, this post is worth more 100000
Concept
Raytracing
I always start my prototypes in a soft material:
Then I increase the hardness a little:
And then aluminium:
This was the first proto and it had many defects, the most visible one is the lines, these are mostly my fault because I didnt had at the time a ballnose mill and I used a flat one
At this point I was happy, so I made a video (15mb, windows media)
But then I continued, this one wasnt made on my machine but on a Haas VF0 professional Vertical Machining Center (VMC) as you can see there are still visible artifacts there.
Haas VMC on the left, my machine on the right
After some analisys, reading, and more trying I figured that the problem wasnt the machine but the CAM (computer assisted modeling) to put it shortly I was making routes based on a low quality aproximation of my CAD, thus the facets and lines, instead of nice curves.
Machining the deep reflector
Family photo:
Using a dremel I left an irregular surface on two reflectors and the third one was left mirror finish.
This is what I have now, these will be chromed to test them better than bare alu, and Im still looking for a shop to do the aluminization process, which is the correct way of coating a reflector.
I will try with more shapes in the future.
I hope you like my project.
Pablo
The project is not finished yet, I still need to metalize, chrome or surface the reflectors to have a better idea of their abilities.
So far I made 2 designs, a cluster of 4 reflectors that resemble the IMS20 shape, and a deep reflector, thats intended to be a thrower.
The nice thing about this project is that the reflectors were made on a machine I built myself, I posted about it here
And since every project needs a name, I called it the nCluster (neoca-cluster)
The cluster diameter in both cases fits within 40mm and the height for the shallow is 17mm and the deeper one is 29mm.
If an image is a thousand words, this post is worth more 100000
Concept
Raytracing
I always start my prototypes in a soft material:
Then I increase the hardness a little:
And then aluminium:
This was the first proto and it had many defects, the most visible one is the lines, these are mostly my fault because I didnt had at the time a ballnose mill and I used a flat one
At this point I was happy, so I made a video (15mb, windows media)
But then I continued, this one wasnt made on my machine but on a Haas VF0 professional Vertical Machining Center (VMC) as you can see there are still visible artifacts there.
Haas VMC on the left, my machine on the right
After some analisys, reading, and more trying I figured that the problem wasnt the machine but the CAM (computer assisted modeling) to put it shortly I was making routes based on a low quality aproximation of my CAD, thus the facets and lines, instead of nice curves.
Machining the deep reflector
Family photo:
Using a dremel I left an irregular surface on two reflectors and the third one was left mirror finish.
This is what I have now, these will be chromed to test them better than bare alu, and Im still looking for a shop to do the aluminization process, which is the correct way of coating a reflector.
I will try with more shapes in the future.
I hope you like my project.
Pablo