Custom Machined Housing?

DavidRZ

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Mar 5, 2018
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100
I'm frustrated with the current bike lights that are available. I'm thinking of making my own. Are there any good housings available? It seems some members have offered these up in the past, but I don't see any evidence of this in quite some time. Am I missing something that is availalbe?

Alternatively, is there a good housing of a cheap light available that I can upgrade?
 

Steve K

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Joined
Jun 10, 2002
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2,786
Location
Peoria, IL
good question! I've been making housings out of aluminum extrusions purchased at the hardware store, which tends to produce housings that are rectangular.... although you could also use tubing.

With these housings, I have been using optics from suppliers such as Ledil or Carclo. These have been good, but I've had an urge to make something with a proper cutoff at the horizon. With that in mind, I started asking around for dead dynamo headlights and managed to get a B&M light to use for experiments. Haven't had time to tinker with it yet, but it should be interesting. I'd like to see if I can fix it, and then maybe tweak it around a bit. Otherwise, I've got ideas for changes. :)
 

DavidRZ

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Mar 5, 2018
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I'm looking for a mountain bike light, so the more lumens the better. I'm not concerned with cutoff or ability to use Dynamo.

Can you post some of your latest projects?
 

Steve K

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Joined
Jun 10, 2002
Messages
2,786
Location
Peoria, IL
the last headlight that I made is pretty basic in terms of a housing...

15861648085_c47d3104a7_c_d.jpg


it's just two LEDs.. Cree XR-E's with Ledil Rocket lenses. I'm currently looking at switching to XP-E2 LEDs and some Carclo optics. Need to make a little test fixture to evaluate the optics, though.

Here's a shot of the light from the front, next to a sketch of how it is laid out internally....

15859664501_3508e87fbe_c_d.jpg



As noted, the housing is pretty basic and made with L-shaped extrusions from the hardware store. My interest was in the electronics, and this light has a standlight circuit powered by a 100F supercap, as well as a magnetic reed switch that is used to enable the standlight.
Here's a shot of the supercap, circuit, and reed switch....

15675642359_bcd1ff1950_c_d.jpg
 

find_bruce

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Joined
May 5, 2011
Messages
84
People seem to have dropped off making housings since cheap leds flooded the market.

Easy2led.com sell a couple of nice housings, depending on the features you are looking for - 20 mm housing & 36 mm housing
 
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