SST-50 homemade spotlight

[Walterk]

omg.... 330mm diameter.....!!
missed that part earlier.

[Vbeez]

Interesting indeed

[DM51]

Sorry everyone who hasn't seen the pics, you are really missing out.

I was hosting the pics on some space provided to me by my school, but the whole system seems to be down right now. I'll put them somewhere else if I need to, but I hope they will be back up sometime soon.

You might want to consider a proper hosting site such photobucket.com (or equivalent) for your photos. It is important to CPF that images will be available long into the future, so people returning to threads for reference can still see them. Your school is not likely to want to host your images after you have left, and its server has already proved less than reliable anyway.

[download]

Wondeful mod!!!

[Walterk]

Great and clear pics! Like the build.
Makes sense to use a sst50 instead of the much favoured XRE to have a strong spot.

[Illum]

any word on selling DIY reflectorless throwers in the future? or at minimum build plans and material recommendations?

[jspeybro]

nice!

A short focal length lens collects most of the light from the LED and the large fresnel lens focuses it far away. The LED is actually inside the focal length of the small lens, creating a virtual image that the large lens sees. The large fresnel lens is 13" in diameter.

Did you just get the lenses and then put them together to get it in focus, or did you calculate it specifically and then source lenses? or both, caclulate for available lenses?

By putting the LED slightly further away from the first lens, you could probably reduce the size of the second lens at the cost of less collected light. Also a shorter focal length of the second lens could reduce the size even without changing the position of the first lens, but usually large lenses with short focal lengths are not very common.

If you're using lenses from Edmund Optics, your getting quality lenses (which have a price of cource), but the result is just great.

This actually looks much like something I'm going to do with a Luxim light emitting plasma light in the near future (still waiting for the light to arrive).

Johan

EDIT: would you care to share a picture taken from the side and of the total setup when the light is on (maybe dim it a bit not to overexpose the camera) so we can see the light path between the optics?

[Walterk]

Side mug shot would be interesting indeed!
Ask someone to blow some smoke in the area to make it easier to capture on film...

[EasyB]

nice!



Did you just get the lenses and then put them together to get it in focus, or did you calculate it specifically and then source lenses? or both, caclulate for available lenses?

By putting the LED slightly further away from the first lens, you could probably reduce the size of the second lens at the cost of less collected light. Also a shorter focal length of the second lens could reduce the size even without changing the position of the first lens, but usually large lenses with short focal lengths are not very common.

If you're using lenses from Edmund Optics, your getting quality lenses (which have a price of cource), but the result is just great.

This actually looks much like something I'm going to do with a Luxim light emitting plasma light in the near future (still waiting for the light to arrive).

Johan

EDIT: would you care to share a picture taken from the side and of the total setup when the light is on (maybe dim it a bit not to overexpose the camera) so we can see the light path between the optics?

I actually went through anchor optics, which is connected with edmund optics somehow. The lenses were fairly inexpensive compared to what you'd get at edmund optics. I don't think I had this exact design in mind when I purchased the lenses. Got a bit lucky I guess. I picked the small lens because it has a very high diameter:focal length ratio. 47mm diameter, 21mm focal length. I picked the fresnel lens because it's big and round.

I'll try and get a good side shot with the beam on.

[JonN06]

That is super cool. I need to learn how to do this stuff. Thanks for showing it off.

[jirik_cz]

Simple and extreme Just wondering how much lux this could have. 500k?

[jspeybro]

I actually went through anchor optics, which is connected with edmund optics somehow. The lenses were fairly inexpensive compared to what you'd get at edmund optics.

yeah, edmund is like thorlabs and newport, just making sure they can provide you with anything optics related, hide where they get it it so people think its all edmund thorlabs or newport. in many cases they buy the smaller companies, but sometimes, the companies still exist and they are just distributors.

smoke would be nice

[ostrograd]

Fantastic! Using a two-lens optical system is a great idea. It's a bit like the Dedolight optics, which I've always thought would be an interesting avenue to explore for portable lighting and possibly flashlights.

Their website's a bit weak, but nevertheless has some worthwhile information on the design (look under Optical System, Lenses, and Mechanics). They're used mostly in film and video lighting.

I have a few and much prefer them to standard fresnels; the design really is miles better. And they have incredible throw.
Seems there ought to be some good ideas in there for other lights...

[Walterk]

Dedolight optics, Mechanics...

Awesome! Try the animation.

And in the beamshots in the first post you see how the beam needs distance to mature.
@EasyB: In the shot lighting the tower, it seems the narrowest part of the beam is not at the tower but somewhere inbetween. Is that true or is that only apparantly?

[haode]

Nice light ! Haha ever thought of making a casing for it ?

[MikeAusC]

@EasyB: In the shot lighting the tower, it seems the narrowest part of the beam is not at the tower but somewhere inbetween. Is that true or is that only apparantly?

Yes, it had me wondering too ?

[jspeybro]

maybe the large lens is slightly too far away causing it to focus rather than to collimate.

[Hack On Wheels]

Would anyone here be interested in doing a how-to on the calculations for designing a two-optic system like this? With the little I've learned about optics, I wouldn't feel confident trying to figure it out myself.

This really is the most interesting project (to me) that I've seen on here in a while; it's such a different approach and looks to result in a very nice beam.

[scott2907]

Pictures are back on !!!!

WOW THAT THING IS FANTASTIC!!!!!

Well done mate, I wish I had your patience/creativity.

Nice one

[Walterk]

Would anyone here be interested in doing a how-to on the calculations for designing a two-optic system like this?

More about the functioning of the pre-colimator can be found in the thread Formula for calculating throw using aspheric lens .

Making calculations seems to be quite hard, and seems to be a matter of trial and error. From my experiments a f-0.55 first lens, and a f-2.0 large lens works best with the f-2.0 lens.
Other combinations might work better, but I can't tell, as a layman myself.
You might google for 'beam-expander', as that is a common application of this principle.

[jspeybro]

Would anyone here be interested in doing a how-to on the calculations for designing a two-optic system like this? With the little I've learned about optics, I wouldn't feel confident trying to figure it out myself.

This really is the most interesting project (to me) that I've seen on here in a while; it's such a different approach and looks to result in a very nice beam.

I could, but don't have all the necessary details for this setup. I'm in a hurry now so maybe I find time somewhere this week to explain the setup.

[Armed_Forces]

WOW!! Welcome to CPF, EasyB !!

That is a spectacular first post - what a superb light! Brace yourself for a lot of questions and comments from admiring members!

Spectacular indeed!

Members such as EasyB are what make this forum so special.
I gladly contribute to help with expenses here for this very reason. Everything else is just gravy.
Thanks for joining/posting EasyB !!

[COAST]

DANG!!! Nice thrower!!!

[EasyB]

Thanks for all the compliments; I'm glad you guys like it.

About the focus of the beam, it's possible it could be improved, but not by much.

I'm excited about my next light project. I'm going to stick a 55 watt HID in an $8 spotlight I got from walmart. Its reflector is 85mm in diameter. The HID kit is going to be from DDM tuning. It will be powered by 4 A123 brand LiFePO4 26650 cells. It won't be quite as unique as this spotlight, but sometimes I'm just power hungry. I'll definitely show it off here when I'm done.

[EasyB]

Here is the requested smoke shot to reveal the beam between the lenses.

[Hack On Wheels]

More about the functioning of the pre-colimator can be found in the thread Formula for calculating throw using aspheric lens .

Making calculations seems to be quite hard, and seems to be a matter of trial and error. From my experiments a f-0.55 first lens, and a f-2.0 large lens works best with the f-2.0 lens.
Other combinations might work better, but I can't tell, as a layman myself.
You might google for 'beam-expander', as that is a common application of this principle.

Thanks, I'll read through that and see what I can learn!

I could, but don't have all the necessary details for this setup. I'm in a hurry now so maybe I find time somewhere this week to explain the setup.

If you have the time, that would be really great. This project makes me want to figure out a scaled down version with a smaller emitter for a Maglite...

[Al Combs]

I actually went through anchor optics, which is connected with edmund optics somehow. The lenses were fairly inexpensive compared to what you'd get at edmund optics. I don't think I had this exact design in mind when I purchased the lenses. Got a bit lucky I guess. I picked the small lens because it has a very high diameter:focal length ratio. 47mm diameter, 21mm focal length. I picked the fresnel lens because it's big and round.

I'll try and get a good side shot with the beam on.

So the small DCX condenser is AX27459 and the 13" Fresnel lens is AX27363? Nice job on the smoke picture. It looks like you just position the collector so the cone of light it creates is the size of your Fresnel lens, at the point the Fresnel comes into focus. This is one of those projects the more I look, the more I like it.

If it's not too ghetto, perhaps the right size black bucket would help cut down on the glare when you're using it long distance. A box made of ¼" plywood and painted flat black on the inside would be even better. A small square hole at the bottom would give your heatsink breathing room and a means to reach the on/off switch.

[EasyB]

So the small DCX condenser is AX27459 and the 13" Fresnel lens is AX27363? Nice job on the smoke picture. It looks like you just position the collector so the cone of light it creates is the size of your Fresnel lens, at the point the Fresnel comes into focus. This is one of those projects the more I look, the more I like it.

If it's not too ghetto, perhaps the right size black bucket would help cut down on the glare when you're using it long distance. A box made of ¼" plywood and painted flat black on the inside would be even better. A small square hole at the bottom would give your heatsink breathing room and a means to reach the on/off switch.

Yep those are the part numbers that I got. For getting the lens distances right I moved the fresnel lens so that the image is focused then I moved the small lens so the cone fills the fresnel lens, then I repeat those two steps till it's good enough. A glare reducing enclosure would be nice but it would have to be light.

[Walterk]

Or a black coat of black fabric.

[bansuri]

NOW I see 'em! WOW! Great job man!!