Re: FS: Homemade Surefire A2 Aviator LED rings (2nd Run) *OPEN*
Thanks for the nice comments all, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. They're shaping up eh?
For anyone I shipped rings to just before the lockout - they're on their way but things are still pretty slow. When I asked the Post Office attendant he just pointed me to the "suspension of delivery guarantees"
notice and said I'd be best to wait until it's lifted. Sounds like they're clearing a warehouse full of backlog based on priority and my shipping method is way down the chain of importance. If anyone's doesn't show up by the time the notice is lifted, I'll get a new one made and sent out to you, don't worry.
For anyone who put in an order and is still waiting, I haven't forgotten about you! My LED's have yet to show up (over a week late and counting). Your rings are prepared and waiting on them.
...I'd love to have it for my overnight on 07/21 but it probably won't reach me in time
One more thing, don't worry about making my rings until mid-July.
Sorry you two, but they won't be ready that soon. The ring in the video is really a proof-of-concept right now. I've been packing it around for a few days to see how it does and there are a few things that need fixed before these are ready for use:
- There's a spring directly underneath the microcontroller that flexes the PCB when the head is repeatedly loosened and tightened. This is breaking my solder joints to the micro and causing all manner of weird behavior.
- The main incan LVR is causing power to the ring to jump around crazily which is registering as false clicks while the bulb is running.
- The firmware needs more testing to make sure it doesn't have any weird conditions that put it in an unrecoverable state.
Nothing deal-breaking, but I want to take my time and make sure they work before I offer them to anyone.
Do you expect to get Yellow-Green LEDs in again?
These are popular and my local vendor is unreliable so I'm going to search the net and see if I can order a bulk batch of them. Hopefully something in the nice 555nm range...
I hope you're enjoying making these as much as we're enjoying watching your progress and (a few of us) using these rings.
Thanks Steve! I have been enjoying them so far, particularly writing the little C program for the controller. Considering I knew nothing about electronics less than a year ago, I've learned a lot.
The one thing I didn't expect is that soldering the tiny components is taking a toll on my eyes. Astigmatism is worse in one eye so even a magnifying glass doesn't reduce the eye strain. My optometrist recommended against continuing to make these unless I get some prescription reading glasses ($$$).
So far I've been doing no more than 20 minutes of work in a sitting but as you can imagine, it's slowing down how many I can make. I'm currently looking at alternate ways to do this - maybe toaster oven reflow or something.
To give you an idea how truly tiny the leads on the microcontroller are:
Don't worry though, I'll work something out. I don't plan on going blind for any hobby.
Will post again once the LED's arrive and the next batch of single-mode's are ready!