Selfbuilt Aspheric Thrower - a first project

[agnelucio]

Hey guys, my first build post ever, so go easy on criticism. ;)

This morning, I was bored, so I decided to make something.
I took some lenses from an old overhead projector, and put them in front of a CREE XP-E. The result was promising, so I decided to make it permanent.

I used an old wire spool holder, with a thin metal centre:

Then I took the head of an old incandescent flashlight, and mounted the lenses in it:

And took the cardboard ends off the metal tube, mounted and glued one end of the tube into the head, and I cut the other end so it could be narrowed into a cone:

After that, I mounted the led pill (no reflector, but two pre-collimating lenses) in the back of the cone using cyanoacrylate glue (the sellotape is there to hold it while it dries):

The result:

I still haven't integrated the head back into the body of the flashlight yet, so for now, I'm just holding the wire ends to an 18650.

And finally;
Some indoor beamshots:
(Sorry, I had to hold the light on my knees, 'cause I only have two hands)

Into the corner of the room (about 2m away) with the room lighting on:

The camera makes the spot look bigger than it is.
This is pointing at a blue curtain, to reduce camera glare, and give a better idea of size (about 3m away, with the main light directly above it - the large glow at the top of the image):

Another of the same shot, but with the camera zoomed in and on lowest exposure for better impression of beam (same distance, same lighting conditions):

Not bad for an hour or so's work.

I'll have proper outdoor beamshots very soon, when I build it back into the main body, and get a chance to go out very late at night (hopefully in a day or two, and DEFINITELY on bonfire night - lots of smoke will show this up great!)
I'll also increase current (the pics above are at half power) to get around 250 lumens, and, in future, I hope to upgrade it to a CREE XP-G2.

Many thanks! :thanks:

 

[Knifefeak]

Cool, you should do some outdoor beam shots to see the throw it has, but judging by the intensity it should be pretty good. Cover the cracks with some aluminum ducting tape and you have a homemade light. Good job

 

[Walterk]

Looks like a fairly good thrower! Outside beamshots would tell :)

And yes give it a coat and handle for the battery and you are done? Nice first.

 

[Mr. Tone]

Thanks for sharing, cool use of materials laying around. Aspheric throwers are fun and produce a nice light-saber effect in the sky. :D

 

[agnelucio]

I took it out in all the firework smoke yesterday, and the beam showed up REALLY nicely. (not that it needs the smoke :grin2:)

unfortunately, my current camera did an appalling job, in fact so bad, that it's not even worth showing the completely black photos (to give you an idea, my 3.5A XM-L U3 looked like a candle, even at the highest exposure).

From what I could see by shining it across a park, and some Google satellite distance measurements, It's looking at about 230-250m of useful, visible illumination from an XP-E R2 at 450mA - 150lm.

I plan to double the drive current up to 1A (still within max. limits) to get approx. 300lm, and hopefully, when I can get hold of one, replace the XP-E with a higher power (I'm thinking XP-G2 or XM-L).

So far so good, I promise I'll get a better camera, and thanks for your kind comments.

P.S:

...produce a nice light-saber effect in the sky.

Yep, exactly what I built it for. :D

 

[Essexman]

Nice work, and welcome to the forum from another UK member :wave: