Aluminium for Achealot type light.and VIDEO BEAMSHOT

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trout

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 29, 2007
Messages
425
Location
yorkshire / England
I have posted this over on mtbr forums and wanted to share this over here too.


I have found these aluminium sections in a skip and wondered if any of them would be any good for an achesalot type light build .

the underside

and the end with some sizes for reference.

now am I correct in thinking the ledil square optics are about 21.6 mm square if so they should just fit this section perfectly.
I am thinking of making a 5 led light using the Ledil optics using this configuration
oval - smooth spot - real spot - smooth spot -oval .
all available over on CPF group buy here
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=171977
any ideas would be much appreciated
Also I have approx 2 metres of each section I am prepared to share my find with anyone who wants a piece I will cut it into 150 mm sections and it will be available for the cost of postage to where ever
I am in the UK
 
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Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

Cheers Snaps , it looks good and a good price
I will check it out in detail later for some ali bar i need

I will be posting what I have done with some of my Skip find
soon , I think it is looking good so far.

Trout
 
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Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

Hi All

Thanks to Achesalot for his inspiration for home brew lights.

We have a skip where I work and someone very kindly left some aluminium sections in there
which is odd considering that the pikeys are stealing any metal to sell to the recyclers.
anyway as I have posted yesterday about the ali
.
So I attacked it with my hacksaw to see if it could be used for a light and was amazed to find out that it is exactly the right size for the square
Ledil optics being a U section it is 21.59mm internal and the ledils are 21.6 mm so it should fit with the minimum of work.

this is a rough first build and the only tools I have used is hacksaw , files , vice , measuring stuff and drill .

despite having a mini mill and small hobby lathe I thought that to keep in the spirit of the game I would not use them for this build.
I have wanted to do a 5 or 6 led light with swapable optics so this is perfect

so a few dollars later and some Ledils ordered from Brum`s group buy on CPF and 6 R2 leds ordered from Endeavers GB also it was time to do some cutting.


after lots of thinking and sawing / filing these are the bits ready for assembly
the Maxflex2 will need to have some good heatsinking so this is my attempt ,I hope it works
this is the only bit of ali that did not come out of the skip , and I did use my milling machine for this bit .
the Mflex is AAA stuck to it.



this piece is some additional heatsinking for the leds and will be fitted with thermal compound and compression





the holes are to increase airflow and lighten the housing and there will be matching holes in the bottom of the housing.
Now the led heatsink backing plate which also has the captive nuts which hold it all together and also mounts the handlebar clamps
this creates a cavity which is open to the air for cooling the leds. I may even put some small scoops to force air through this area.







the endcap for the optic this will be glued in with epoxy.
The Maxflex and heatsink is bolted and some thermal paste applied to the rear of what will be the switch and power plug housing





all bolted together but needing some TLC with a file and sandpaper



something missing here






Well that is as far as it can go untill the leds & optics arrive.
I am a bit unsure as to whether it will be 6 or 5 leds at the moment it is just a little oversize for 6 optics but could be cutdown for 5.

I am hoping the Maxflex2 can cope with 6 R2 crees it is well away from the leds and well heatsinked the only thing I have lost is the thermal
management for the leds but as I will only be on full power when traveling fast this should not be a problem I hope.
more when the rest of the kit arrives.
Trout
 
Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

trout, great post/pics and very interesting stuff especially for those of us with no machine shop access ....
looking good so far,
where did the bar quick release mounts come from??
 
Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

Hey Hey
thanks Had a relaxing time in my shed this afternoon
the QR mounts are these
http://www.lumicycle.com/Product/product2.aspx?product=QR_LRG&dep=5

I think they are ace .I need a couple more now as I nicked them off some lights I built for a couple of mates.

also I cannot believe the channel is exactly the right size for the Ledil optics ( I hope)
 
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Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

Update now the Ledil optisc have arrived
A big thankyou goes to Bram from CPF for his group buy and amazingly fast service.
This is working out far better than I could have imagined here is a pic
1 minute after opening the packet of optics .
with no filing or mods to the housing they just fitted perfectly.

my only dilemma now is do i go with 6 leds or 5 leds
my battery is a 15 v li ion
driver Maxflex 2
5 would be kinder to the mflex and battery for run time
but then 6 would be up there with the Betty for lumens.
come on folks whats it to be sensible or power.
and will the Maxflex cope with the 6 R2`s

Just having a closer look and look how the groove at the top falls just perfect for a thin
plexiglass cover to sit in .
Now how do I make a groove at the bottom .

Oh I just need the Leds to arrive .
 
Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

I think the Maxflex will do fine with 6. George has a chart on the maxflex tech page running 6 LEDs at ~1A off of 14v input with 91% efficiency. Go with 6! I want to see beamshots!
 
Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

......... quote
" my only dilemma now is do i go with 6 leds or 5 leds "
what dilemma ??? it surely has to be 6 !! a real "betty beater" :naughty:
 
Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

Hey Hey
the dilemma is my battery runtime would be 1 hour 22 mins on full .
2hours 45 mins on 500 ma.

I do like the idea of a betty beater with 1650 lumens
for £ 61 .00
 
Switch?

trout said:
Hey Hey
the dilemma is my battery runtime would be 1 hour 22 mins on full .
2hours 45 mins on 500 ma.

I do like the idea of a betty beater with 1650 lumens
for £ 61 .00
Click to expand...

How about tossing an on/off switch into the mix so that you could run just 3 LEDs? Off would shut down two LEDs, on would be all LEDs. You certainly have enough room on that beast.

Not sure how the electronics would deal with it, but cutting two LEDs out of the circuit would expand battery time.
 
Re: Switch?

oa330man said:
How about tossing an on/off switch into the mix so that you could run just 3 LEDs? Off would shut down two LEDs, on would be all LEDs. You certainly have enough room on that beast.

Not sure how the electronics would deal with it, but cutting two LEDs out of the circuit would expand battery time.
Click to expand...


That is not possible I think.
the driver can cope but the leds would recieve a severe spike
when ever you switched off the 2 leds .

Decision made now .
I will go with 6 , cos the Maxflex2 can handle them fine , and make use of the dimming controls , and carry my spare battery .

anyone know if the 6 R2`s would be half the 1650 lumens at 500ma
or does it not work like that.:confused:
 
Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

I think you'd get about 2 thirds of 1650 lumens as the Crees brcome more efficient at lower currents, the Q5's are rated at up to 228 lumens/watt at 1000mA & 114 at 350mA.
 
Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

Its a little more than half going from 1A to 500mA... about 55-60%

R2s are getting "only" around 250lm at 1A

They are binned for 114lm at 350mA... 1A output for XR-E is 2.2 x the 350mA output. So your max is only 1500lm, sorry.

Efficacy goes up as the current goes down...
At 100mA you'll be getting around 270lm! and 10hr runtimes. :twothumbs
 
Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

Cheers guys that is cool.

At 500ma I get a run time of 2hr 45 mins

I can live with that and toggle with the power to suit the terrain.
 
Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

The R2`s arrived yesterday so it was out with the AAA and they are glued and wired up ready for the next stage.



wow they need a steady hand to solder to , I found it was easier if I warmed the whole housing up with a hot air gun before trying to solder the leds.



I also found it was easier to use some single strand wire without the insulation and then use some silicon after , as the plastic kept melting when soldering. .

there is some redesigning happening at the back for the Maxflex as I messed up with a measurement :hairpull:

the good news is it works
 
Re: Aluminium for Achealot type light.+ start of build

trout said:
I also found it was easier to use some single strand wire without the insulation and then use some silicon after , as the plastic kept melting when soldering. .
Click to expand...

They make Teflon insulated hookup wire for just this reason, as Teflon has a higher melting point (327 C) than 60/40 solder ([SIZE=-1]190 C[/SIZE]).

You can also purchase Teflon tubing to slide over bare wire.
 
Re: ..........the dreaded shrinking insulation syndrome

HEY HEY ITS HENDO said:
lookin good Mr trout, you must be well chuffed :thumbsup:
there is an alternative available to the dreaded `shrinking insulation` syndrome,
...... Teflon coated wire, it utilizes the heatproof properties of Teflon and is also non shrink ......
here is an example .... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Xmod-18ga-Tef...eZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem
Click to expand...

Hey Hey and Waiwak
thanks yep I found out about the silicon and teflon wires and will use them in the future .
one think I found is the bare single strand copper is easier to use with the bare emitters than the multistrand stuff , less chance of a short to the led metal ring on the cree`s.
 
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