Bike Taillight

Idea for a taillight. I'm planning on machining it on a bridgeport this weekend. I might have access to a Mori Seiki show room in a week or so :naughty:, so....

This is just a first idea for one, its going to be machined from two pieces of 5/8" plate and bolted together with an acrylic front piece I plan on adding side leds for visibility. The only red leds I have are Phatlight PT54s so I'll use one of those in this light driven around 3 amps or so. It will be USB chargeable and anodized red. I didn't feel like drawing up the back plate, its pretty easy and I have to study for an AP Gov, AP Calc BC, and Honors Physics tests tomoroww... ick...

How does it adjust for the angle of the seatpost? It looks like it attaches to a seatpost...
Other than that.. I'm curious about the parts arrangement and choice of driver. In any case, have fun carving up the metal.

It doesn't adjust for seatpost angle , I need to measure my seatpost angel so I can make sure it fits mine properly. I want a realy solid mount because I was worried about it being stolen off my bike at school.

I was wondering if the plan was to mount it with the long axis oriented vertically, and have it mate with a cylindrical fixure on the seatpost. That would allow it to adjust for whatever the seatpost angle was. It's a bit more complicated than the existing design, though.

For making the light more theft-proof, you might consider "security screws". This is one source, and your local hardware store might sell them too...
http://www.mcmaster.com/#security-screws/=lvzgp7

This looks like a fun project. It's a very neat design.

Be sure that your inner legs will clear the outside of this without having to change your pedaling stance. I've had some shorts ruined by rubbing on things that were attached to the seatpost that didn't stick out quite this much.

I think ill just make it specific for my bike. Hopefully going to make it tonight :twothumbs

i got alittle done, milling is very tiring...

this project has kinda died. i realized its too havy and has too limite battery power to be trely worth it. I'm working on an alternative one with the pt54 and I hope to build a few different ones with other optics at some point when I have more time. AP tests... ick.

Sorry to hear that the project has stalled out.... I see enough of that in my own projects.

How bad is the battery life? Most commercial bike taillights are powered by AAA's or AA's, so it seems like your lithium battery should have quite a bit more capacity.

as far as weight is concerned... it is hard to do better than the injection molded plastics used in commercial lights. If you could mill the walls thin enough, you should come close (close -ish?).

Anyway, don't let this discourage you from tinkering with electronics or machining. You'll figure out a better project to play with soon enough.