Who Builds Custom Reflectors?

I've designed a reflector/heatsink (not optics) specifically for use with HD emitters. I'm getting a quote from Carley Lamps to see how much it would cost to build this reflector, though I'm expecting a quote higher than makes sense for a tinkerer such as myself.

Can anyone make this reflector from aluminum at reasonable cost? The reflecting surface obviously needs to be kept to close tolerances, and could be polished instead of metalized to assess performance. I'd expect a few iterations to get it right. I can provide accurate dimensions for any point.

This reflector is mostly parabolic for a central hotspot, but then deviates from a true parabola to hopefully form the "bell curve" type of beam intensity that I like (similar to optics). This one is more the spot design, though a flood could be similarly designed.

In practice (noting that the "line" of the reflector cross section is almost straight), a simple, non-curved cone may provide the properties I'm looking for, but that remains to be seen.

wow!

do you have some kind of program that calculates the dimensions for you?

what kind of beam do you expect when used with a hd luxeon? do you have any ideas what a ld or se would do in this reflector?

Rothrandir: I'm using Excel, then hand-feeding Visio shapesheets. The spreadsheet lets me play with various reflector parameters (e.g. width, depth, where it becomes aparabolic) and lets me see the theoretical results immediately.

The red lines indicate the relative intensities from a HD emitter. This design lets 50% of the lumens out the front in a nice 55 degree arc, reflects about 35% parabolically (i.e. straight ahead to a hotspot), then disperses the remaining 15% across the reflector opening to take the edge off the hotspot.

wow!

make that the right size to drop into a maglight and you would have a real winner.

snake, it is the perfect size for a maglite /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

a dcell that is.

snakebite: It coincidentally exactly drops into a Mag 2D.

A Pelican Stealthlite reflector comes very close, but provides too hot a spot, though good spill directly from the emitter.

Rothrandir is making the heatsink/emitter pedestal component.

If you need some quantity to have Carley (or anyone else) make them, count me in for some if they are 'reasonable' - whatever that is for a flashaholic!!

Otokoyama, the price for a custom reflector from Carley Lamps is $2000 for 10 pieces. Info from Wil Gonzalez.

here they are btw /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif



they still need to be polished...

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Otokoyama said:
I'm using Excel, then hand-feeding Visio shapesheets.

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If you find a moment, please PM me on this process. Specifially, "hand-feeding". I've recently discovered Visio's database reverse engineering function and find it to be incredibly powerful and useful.

PM sent.

Thank you for sharing your ideas.

- Jeff

Nerd: That's way out of my hobby budget. $2000 would buy a Taig CNC Mill, and I could then likely make my own ... and just about anything else.

Rothrandir: They look perfect already! ...more than polished enough for my purposes. Ship 'em! Please!

By the way, I forgot to respond to your question about using an LD or SE. The reflector design above would provide a beam like a ghostly doughnut with an SE, maybe decent with an LD, but it's designed for an HD.

BTW, I'm experimenting with a solid copper heat sink, which weighs 2.5 oz. but is not unreasonable in a D-sized light. Probably overkill, though.

nice!

if you ship me some copper, i would be happy to make a heatsink or two /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

just please not so time consuming as the ones i already made! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I tried to cut off some 1.25" dia. copper rod, but my small bandsaw keeps getting stuck. I'll have to resort to the old hacksaw when I get more time.

I made a 2D with a heatsink made from 1/16" copper sheet that mounts in the head. Running a 1W LS/O direct drive from 3 C cells you can leave it on as long as you want and the only heat you can feel is a barely noticeable warmth on the outside of the head. With the lens off, you could touch the board or the heatsink and not feel anything, which makes me think that it was very good at transferring the heat. Copper is twice as efficient for heat conduction than aluminum. Even for a 5W yours is overkill, but then you can push it harder.

Edited so that it doesn't sound like Roth is being trashed /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Otokoyama: I think you might wanna get the CNC mill indeed and make us some reflectors? I believe you'll get a pretty large order to recover the cost of the mill rather quickly. You might wanna design reflectors too? I believe if ppl can spend $100 on a light, they can spend $50 on a good custom made custom design reflector for whatever suits their needs.

I'll second Nerd. I think you'll find some people here would would be more than willing to fork out some major dough to get the process started...

Hmmm. I'm assuming that Carley's quote will come in way too high. There are a number of machine shops in the area that might also do such work, so I'd better get on the phone during work hours. Or, I can likely make these on a lathe with an easily made jig/guide. In any case, the design above is at present untested, and some number of prototypes would have to be build to get the right beam pattern. In any case, I plan on pursuing this until I get something satisfactory.

edited to not sound like i was trashing nerd /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

nerd, what did you edit out? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif

i want it raw, real, and uncut!

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i want it raw, real, and uncut!

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Well, you've got the internet... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif