Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions *NOW WITH SOLUTION PICTURES*

I have been brainstorming on Zebralight 18650 mounting solutions for my headlamp on a hard hat. I started out by putting the hook portion of Velcro on my hard hat where the straps sit and that worked ok. The problem was it needed to be adjusted once and a while and was not convenient if I wanted to take off the lamp and replace after I needed to hand hold it to see in a certain circumstance. I did a search on here and found a post where an individual made a clip and glued the silicone mount to it. It was a great idea but didn't see it holding well to a PE hard hat as it could be bumped and pushed off the rim and I work in a industrial setting where dropped items is a serious no no (plus, it's an $80 lamp).

I was just wondering if anyone has come up with a good idea recently (I searched and found OLD posts) and want to add that I have come up with what I believe to be a great solution. My idea makes the lamp easily removed and will work on hats and hard hats and it utilizes the same silicone mount. It is an idea that does not require you to be a machinist or a mechanical engineer, but needs a little bit of handy skills. I don't have pics at the moment as my hard hat is in my locker at work but will post some Wednesday or so. Just looking to see other possible ideas.

Thanks

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Could you drill four small holes in the front of you hard hat and loop two pieces of bungee cord in each pair of holes. Thread them through the holes and knot. It would work like the silicone headband mount.

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Koam said:

Could you drill four small holes in the front of you hard hat and loop two pieces of bungee cord in each pair of holes. Thread them through the holes and knot. It would work like the silicone headband mount.

Click to expand...

Great question and idea. I did not mention that I am not permitted to drill/screw or alter the hard hat in any way. This is why I used to hook portion of the Velcro to gab onto headband. It was an ok idea but I wasn't thrilled about it.

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Petzl makes clips that fasten a headlamp harness to a hard hat

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

I have an H600Fw and mounted it to my hardhat with 4 small zip ties using the silicone head band mount. I drilled 8 small holes total (2 per zip tie) in the brim and positioned it close to the the front so that the light would not be blocked significantly when pointing it downward. I used silicone to seal the holes since I work in the rain too. To counter balance the weight on the front, I got a mixture of split lead weights from the local fishing supply store, and after removing the rubber inserts from them, I was able to crimp them to the rear of the hardhat. It took three weights, not sure of the sizes but all you have to do is weigh the light, mount, and battery to know what you need. I have been using this set up for over a year every day at work and it has never failed me. Easy to reach the switch and adjust the angle to wherever you need it including right at my feet.

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

The Petzl clips are $4.95 for 4 with no tax and free shipping if you order directly from the Petzl web site. I can't seem to get to that page from where I am right now, but it's under "Professional" then "Lighting" and then "Versatile headlamps." Click on "CROCHLAMP S" and then "Buy Online."

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Mine has been holding fine for 2 years now. Just zip tied on the sides and it stays on.

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

glue the silicone mount on? There must be a perfect adhesive.
When i framed houses i had the H32 headlamp and it worked alright with just the single strap.
Loop gorrilla tape strips through the mount slots, lap a tiny bit, pull some tension and stick it. I bet it would hold with some cross pieces to prevent peel. Keepin it classy.
I wanna see pics of your velcro rig.

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Romwar said:

I have an H600Fw and mounted it to my hardhat with 4 small zip ties using the silicone head band mount. I drilled 8 small holes total (2 per zip tie) in the brim and positioned it close to the the front so that the light would not be blocked significantly when pointing it downward.

Click to expand...

Great idea! As stated before, I am not permitted to drill my hard hat.

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Sphinxxx said:

glue the silicone mount on? There must be a perfect adhesive.

I wanna see pics of your velcro rig.

Click to expand...

I considered gluing the mount to my hard hat. Unfortunately, after some research I found there is no "good" glue for gluing polyethylene (what my hard hat is made of) due to low surface energy of the material. And to top it off, being able to glue PE along with silicone which is hard to glue. I found a loctite product that claims that they created the secret potion to achieve gluing PE But I did not try it because I decided I needed a mount that can be easily removed to hand hold the light when needed.

Sorry, I removed the velcro and have no pictures to show. Just picture this, 1" extreme velcro, hook portion laid out directly under where straps sit on hard hat.
It was clean looking and did it's job, but as said, it was inconvenient to remove lamp and replace it without taking my hard hat off.

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

3D printer.

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

disregard

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Nice job, father!

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Here it is folks! [/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG][/URL][/IMG]

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Took some scrap metal from an electrical panel, cut four rectangles out (2 different sizes, smaller for top, bigger for bottom)

Grinded down two pieces of steel to conform to the strap slots. The thickness of steel was the same thickness as silicone mount.

Got two rare-earth magnets and JB welded it all together.

Took some extreme double stick foam tape and placed two more rare-earth magnets and stuck them underneath the brim in the appropriate spot....

and whallah!

You have an easily removable and reinstalled Zebralight!

It holds well as you can see with the pic of it holding a full squirt bottle and doesn't shift. Also, you can remove it and stick it to metal equipment but is a PITA to remove from metal due to the strength of the magnets (I have a piece of herculite stored in my hard hat to put between the mount and metal equipment so when I remove it, I pull on the herculite instead of mount). This option also makes it easy to replace the silicone mount later down the road.

I made the mount two separate pieces so I can wear it on a variety of different contour hard hats as I switch from a hat style to full brim when I am working in the AZ sun. This also allows change of contour to stick to flat metal surfaces. Also, with two more magnets I use it on regular ball caps but doing this does allow it to be shifted when bumped but doesn't happen often.

Just need to paint it to prevent rust.

Hope this helps someone else looking for a solution like I have been for a LOOOONG time and through the trial of different options. Hope you all enjoy!

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

I propose to Zebralight to manufacture a kit with a silicone mount with magnets imbedded in the silicone. And with this kit adding two magnets provided with adhesive tape already on them. That would be a great addition to their line up. I'll take a small royalty for the idea :thumbsup:

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

cavtruper said:

...Hope this helps someone else looking for a solution like I have been for a LOOOONG time and through the trial of different options. Hope you all enjoy!

Click to expand...

Brilliant! Thank you for sharing that and for the pictures that help explain the whole setup.

Ed

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

That is saweeeet dude. Might even catch some of the metal shavings flying towards my eyeballs.

I am definitely gonna make this happen on my bicycle handlebars.

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Nice Job !!

Re: Zebralight Hard Hat/Hat Mounting Solutions

Thanks guys!

Sphinxxx said:

I am definitely gonna make this happen on my bicycle handlebars.

Click to expand...

Sphinxxx, consider...

1) If your bars are round the mount may slip along the radius while on uneven terrain and you may want to find a flat spot to stick it to. Companies do make arc rare-earth magnets and this may be an option depending on what the diameter of your bars are and being able to find arc magnets with a matching inside diameter. This might work great due to being able to put another set on the bottom of the bars, thus preventing pivot of the mount and without permanently attaching the magnets to bars and strictly using magnetism.... That sounds like a winner actually. Whatever route you go you may want to use some thin cloth or something and place underneath mount so you can have an easier time removing them by having something to grab. It's always easier to be able to slide the magnets apart though.

2) These magnets are incredibly strong magnetically but brittle so when sticking them directly to a metal surface or magnet to magnet, it is hard to control the magnetism. This may cause it slamming to the surface and fracturing the magnets and ending up in sharp pieces. The magnets I used were N42 grade (strength of magnetism) 3/4" x 1/8" and have a force of about 10 lbs. magnet to metal and much more magnet to magnet. I chose this due to the thickness of my hard hat and as magnets get further apart the force goes down quickly. My situation with my hard hat makes it easy to remove due to the small distance between each pair of magnets AND I can slide them apart off the bill. When they are put magnet to magnet, it is a royal PITA to separate them.

Downfall to my hard hat idea....... I see corrosion of magnets being an issue down the road. Maybe I can get someone to Cerekote my mount.