Aspherical Add-on for Quad Mag Mod

[CampingLED]

Thought I should take on the challenge to do a Quad Mag mod, except I wanted to do something different. After initial planning to try a quad mod with adjustable aspherical lenses in the head that can move closer and further away, I realised that there was not enough space.

I therefore decided to add a tube with the lenses that slides over the head and that can be moved closer and further away to achieve the desired focus.

The challenges:
- The LEDs need to be as far apart as possible to minimise the lens mods/grinding
- The LEDs need to be close to the lens of the Mag to achieve greater focusability
- Soldering need to be neat and low to eliminate possible shorts by the aluminium reflectors
- WOST OF ALL, it is a nightmare to align the 4 x lenses

Here are the pics:

The heatsink made from three pieces of aluminium glued together with thermal glue

Bottom side of heatsink

The LEDs (Cree Q5s) and Reflectors

The lenses

The head of the Mag in the bottom side of the lens host (nice fit)

Modified Cree to get it close to the side of the head

Modified reflector (same reason)

Dry fit before final mods

Wiring of Crees fitted to heatsink

Decided to keep wires grouped with heatshrink to make driver additions possible in future

Modified switch

Reflectors glued to LEDs with thermal glue

Bottom side of lens add-on unit (had to grind two sides of each lens to get them closer to each other)

Top side of lens add-on unit (need to clean one of the lenses)

Beam shot of Quad Mag (manual exposure)

Beam shot with Aspherical add-on (same manual exposure and zoom setting)

Regards
Johan

 

[TigerhawkT3]

Beautiful design, beautiful work, beautiful writeup. :thumbsup: :goodjob:

 

[CampingLED]

Beautiful design, beautiful work, beautiful writeup. :thumbsup: :goodjob:

Tks, never would have thought about it nor try it if it wasn't for the influence and great posts on the CPF.

 

[rizky_p]

Really nice! what the spec on the lenses?

thanks.

 

[CampingLED]

The lenses have a focal length of approximately 25mm and are 6.5mm thick. The 25 mm gives nice space to work with from the emitters. If I remember correctly they are approximtely 22mm in diameter and can be found here. The holes were initially drilled as 18mm, but I had to file them larger to get them centered and space to align the lenses. Alignment was done while the glue was still wet. This was the 3rd attempt at the drilling and alignment exercise. Used one of the flops to extend the length of the add-on tube by gluing them together.

 

[TigerhawkT3]

I really like the heatsink and wiring job. You kept it super neat!

How are you driving the Crees?

 

[CampingLED]

I really like the heatsink and wiring job. You kept it super neat!

How are you driving the Crees?

At this stage I am direct driving with 3 x D cells that have been used before. There is no way that they will drive at more than 4A (1A per Cree). Still thinking of the best way to drive them. I was more curious to test the aspherical add-on and decided to work on the drivers later. That is why I decided to do the wiring in such a way that I can do anything with the Crees in future without working on the top end again.

 

[TigerhawkT3]

The problem with DDing parallel emitters is that, even if your battery can't possibly do anything more than 4A, there's no guarantee that each emitter is seeing the same current. See here.

You could maybe put a resistor in line with each emitter (either near the emitters or below the heatsink), or you could wire them in series and use a series driver. The only problem with the series driver is that you'd probably need a higher-voltage battery, unless you use a multi-emitter boost converter like the Shark.

 

[CampingLED]

The problem with DDing parallel emitters is that, even if your battery can't possibly do anything more than 4A, there's no guarantee that each emitter is seeing the same current. See here.

You could maybe put a resistor in line with each emitter (either near the emitters or below the heatsink), or you could wire them in series and use a series driver. The only problem with the series driver is that you'd probably need a higher-voltage battery, unless you use a multi-emitter boost converter like the Shark.

I fully agree with your statements above. The current batteries are used Carbon Zinc cells. Before I put better batteries in I will definately add some protection. As I mentioned, I was more curious to test the aspherical add-on. It was like if you want to try a new flashlight and your rear end itches, don't scratch it, just do it.

I am also still deciding on the best way to drive it before I order the parts and wait a few weeks for delivery.

 

[wquiles]

Very creative and very well executed :thumbsup:

Will