got some questions about cree's and such

ok guys, im in the planning/design stages of building a crazy LED bike light for mountain use, but im having some trouble with a few things.

first, emitter choice: I'd like to use come R2 binned XR-E's, but i cant find them for a reasonable price (they're like 17 bucks at cutter :sigh. since im a bit budget minded, this is problematic. does anybody know of somewhere else that actually has the R2's? or should i just get a mob of Q5's from DX instead? if it makes a difference, it will be a 5-led setup total (3x bar and 2x helmet), so its going to have a lot of light anyway, but more is always better

second, optics: A part of me really just wants to build an achesalot design with ledil square optics, but i want to be more original than that. I have a full CNC machine shop at my disposal that i'd like to take advantage of. here's the problem though: i dont have the means (EDM or really big broach) of creating square holes that fit the ledil lenses. I was wondering if there may be a round lens (or better yet reflector) that works well with the crees? this would make my life a lot easier when making the housing, as its just a quick hole with an end mill.
If possible, i'd want to keep the beam adjustability that the ledils offer, namely low cost per optic or reflector, and several diff beams available for the same size optic.

third, making my own reflectors: with the CNC goodness in house, i can probably make my own reflectors, but does anybody have any info they could pass on about how to choose the shape for a reflector, how to finish it etc? this is probably a last resort if i cant find anything i like on the market. also, of course, is it even worth it?

thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide.

-Bryan

Welcome to CPF bryguy17

There are very good McR reflectors available in a range of sizes at the Sandwich Shoppe, and if you google - "fraen"xr-e" - or - "carclo"xr-e" - you will find plenty of round optics too.

Making your own reflector would be very cool though



Colin.

i was looking at the McR reflectors at the shoppe actually, but i find them rather expensive (even though i hear they're nice). also, i really want to be able to experiment with whatever reflector or optics i end up using to find a good beam, but that's kinda hard when you're paying ~15 bucks per reflector, not to mention the necessity to change the design to allow for the use of a different reflector.

im going to look into the fraen and carclo lenses, maybe they'll be what i'm looking for. I'll also be looking into reflector design and how to cover the lense. those are really easy to crank out on a cnc lathe once they're designed :naughty: