Need Ideas from the Brain Trust

As some are aware, I build custom acoustic guitars and am in need of a custom light to place inside guitars to check structural integrity and a worklight when extended repairs are needed. The light I need must meet the following requiremnets. 1) It must be small enough to fit in the sound hole of a guitar with the strings on so as for as a size I will say roughly 2" wide by 1.5" high. length is not so limited but should remain with in say 3" or less. 2) Operating temp of the light must be cool as possible heat will cause glue seperation in the instrument so this a major issue. 3) Bright, Light will be used as a work light so as much as possible is needed. 4) Battery operated so I can place it where needed while I work with extended run times. 5)360 degrees of light...Ok how about close. 6) Durable I will be using tools as will most likley bump into the light fairy often. I don't want to blow a bulb everytime I bump it. Well that just about does it. I have thought about maybe a flouresent tube but not sure how or if it will work any ideas form the brain trust

Two photons, pointed in opposite directions, attached to a chopstick, bracket, clamp or whatever?

Except for the omnidirectional bit, a couple of 10mm LEDs on a wire or gooseneck would be perfect.

talk to photonfanatic.. i think he's working on a project that might help you out. If not.. look at the goosneck lights from taskled.com they are more 'directional' than you desire but that's with a reflector.. I think a custom head with 3 or 4 emitters that are open on the end will get you ludicrous amount of light with a reasonable amount of power requirement.. i could def. come up with something that would be helpful.. just need to know better how you need the light to work..

The problem i think will be your 'brick wall' is the requirement of 'brigfht' and 'battery'... a small halogen light can output 300-600 lumen w/o a problem.. LED solutions in that brightness cost a LOT and have tough battery requirements.

-awr

How about the Squidlight?

I have a fiber optic adapter that was sold to fit on minimag lights but fits rather well on the surefire personal lights like the e2- and L4 series. It can be used for similar functions like bore lighting and should work fine to illuminate the innards of guitars. The business end is .0120 and that will fit just about anywhere and is almost bulletproof. I used it for many moons as a mechanic with no damage to the fiber optic or the units I was working on. I cannot remember if it was mac snap-on or cornwall but the tool distributors carried them.

I was thinking along those lines initially as well but i don't think that is what he's looking for..gobs of light.. basically turning the guitar into a lamp with a nearly omnidirectional light source.. is that correct? LED would be good to have it not be too hot.. and with a few LEDs to get up in the 200-300 lumen range might be enough light.. it could have a battery pack and a cord.. and i'm thinking having possibly a clip tho hold it on the edge of the opening.

-awr

I think you guys are going for overkill.

Shine an arc AAA into a dark spot and you'll see pretty well. A 60 lumen lamp is a lot for a small space where the walls are close.

A pair of 4 foot, 40 watt flourescent tubes gives a reading of 498 lux at 4 feet onto my work bench. An Inova X5 (5 5mm LEDS) gives 1,500 lux at 1 foot. So inside a guitar body the light from the X5 is 3 times higher than the light on my workbench.

A 60 lumen light's hotspot read 40,000 lux at 1 foot. Yup, definitely overkill.

I'd recommend a nice little custom head with a warm white side emitter and any of the adjustable power sources. No reflector needed, since you want an omni light source. A simple plastic dome will protect it. The head should be less than an 3/4 inch across and less than 1/2 inch deep. Keep the power low and heat will not be a problem. Keep the battery outside the guitar.

The warm white is suggested to help with color recognition.

As an alternative, a set of 5 mm LEDS arrayed in a circle, pointing out would provide a fair light if it's not overdriven. A third thought is simply a LUXIII, slightly underdriven, pointing to the side and mounted on a stick that you can twirl to point where you want. These can be made really slim.

Good luck,


Daniel