How I Built My Own MTB Light

[BrewMaster]

Originally Posted by spookydave

well what it comes down to is how big the leds are with the optics and all that jazz.
my cnc lathe make parts using round stock 1.25" or smaller. I could do something on the mill but would have to stand there for each part. On the lathe it would drop off housings complete with out me having to stand there until the material runs out.

I have not looked into it to much but the Cree delios looked like they were around 1" square. Is there any round ones that are any good? I'm sure there are.

All of the LEDs, lens holders, and lenses I have seen are more or less round. They usually have star hex bases which are round. Even a square base LED is mounted with a round lens and lens holder, so they should work.

[spookydave]

to many parts and looks heavy. looks nice but I would like to turn a solid stock thats rounded on the back and a nice thin wall (keep weight down).
Looking at your link the ROCKET round (D=26 mm) looks to be the ticket. Pot it all together and bond it in the housing.

Am I thinking right so far?

[tkblazer]

sammy, i went to Home D to see how much a stick of 1" square tubing is and for a 4 ft. piece its about $12 should be able to make a bunch of lights with one piece..

[BrewMaster]

Dave, I think you are on the right track. With your own CNC you can make some pimp housings.

Nam, I like that price! We could even cut that with a Dremel like in the link above. It would be crude, but it would work.

Imagine having 3 or 4 Cree XR-E LEDs mounted on your handle bars and another 2 or 3 on your helmet.

[tkblazer]

Originally Posted by BrewMaster

Imagine having 3 or 4 Cree XR-E LEDs mounted on your handle bars and another 2 or 3 on your helmet.

who needs the sun with all that light... but yea, i think it would work really well... I have access to a band saw and other shop tools so cutting them won' t be a problem.. i'll probly buy a stick this weekend and do some cutting.

[northshore]

One of my favorite places to buy LEDs. I mainly used this place for automotive stuff but discovered they also sell similar LEDs that BrewMaster is using.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/

[Flat Broke]

Dave and everyone else,

The idea of working together is solid and can really leverage everyone's particular expertises to help come up with a better overall DIY solution, even if it is truly a DIYWSF project

Before anyone buys anything, it would be best to conceptualize the whole thing, get measurements of all components and actually draw it out to scale to see how it would all fit together. At the same time, someone else can be doing the electrical calcs to make sure that the system would really work. On most of the stuff like the LEDs, Buckpucks, switches etc. there are different price breaks at increasing quantities. If everyone came together on a single design, we could leverage multiple light builds to hit those order quantities and get the associated price breaks. Then we pull all the $$ together, order up the goods, and start making the various assemblies. Dave could turn stuff, while others could solder connections, then we could all get together to pot and do the final assembly followed up by some grub and beers (I've been wanting to hit Biggs again Dave).

With Dave's CNC limitation at 1.250" if I read correctly, we might want to look at some of the cree MR11 setups that are out there for an easy fit into a cylindrical form.

Chris

[tkblazer]

Originally Posted by northshore

One of my favorite places to buy LEDs. I mainly used this place for automotive stuff but discovered they also sell similar LEDs that BrewMaster is using.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/

checked their pricing on Cree's, kinda pricey

[spookydave]

flatbroke, I was just tossing the offer out there. I understand if they want to go a different direction. No biggie to me.

But I am going to whip something up. If you would like to get in on it that would be fine. 12' of 6061-T6 costs well under 30 bucks. I could get around 70 housing out of that. Or enough to do 23 sets of tripple beam lights.
I want to keep them small enough to mount one on each side of a moto helemt.

but I have 100 bulkheads (for pop off valves non the less) and 4,000 bolts to crack off before I can get rolling on this. I should be able to get cracking late next week.

[Flat Broke]

Dave,

We need to figure out how many LEDs can be fit into the proposed housing, then we can figure out how many lumens each housing is capable of producing, and then how many housings folks may need to get the light output they're after. I'm down to help out with materails and something for your time. I just don't know how many housings I'd want/need at this juncture.

Ideally, we'd want to determine the LED config inside the housing, then figgure out what input voltages etc would be needed. Depending upong how many amps are passed to the LED, light output from the same LED could vary considerably. It only makes sense to run off a bunch of housings if enough folks would get on board for a configuration or group of configurations that would fit within the confines of the housing. Otherwise you're stuck with a box of housings (not that it's a huge deal considering the material costs) which isn't cool. If you've got some ideas as far as wall thicknesses you'd like to end up with out of that 1.250" stock, we can get a working I.D. and start looking at LED setup options.

Chris

[BrewMaster]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

checked their pricing on Cree's, kinda pricey

bah. $8.50 each if you buy three. That's nothing. The 4 Luxeon I's I used were $3 each.

by the way, I just got a whole bunch of silicone jacketed wire for free. one of my customers makes this wire so they hooked me up. i've got purple and black, 22 gauge, probably 20 feet of each. the silicone jacketed wire is more flexible even at low temperatures and is heat and fire resistant.

[tkblazer]

yea, but DX has them for $4.37 each if you buy 3-4, $4.27 for 5-9 and $4.17 for 10+ with free shipping

[BrewMaster]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

yea, but DX has them for $4.37 each if you buy 3-4, $4.27 for 5-9 and $4.17 for 10+ with free shipping

even better. so stop complaining about them being expensive.

[bighit8]

Just some soldering advice if you're new to it. 1) Make sure you're connections are clean, use a little sand paper to rough up the surface. 2) Don't heat the solder and drip it on, heat the object you are soldering and feed in the solder.3) Buy a solder that already has flux in it.As an auto mechanic Ive done my fare share of soldering, takes some time to get good at it.

[tkblazer]

Originally Posted by BrewMaster

even better. so stop complaining about them being expensive.

i was just complaining about the prices on the site listed....

in other news, i'm going to stop by a metal supply place tomorrow to see if i can get some scrap pieces for cheap

[spookydave]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

i was just complaining about the prices on the site listed....

in other news, i'm going to stop by a metal supply place tomorrow to see if i can get some scrap pieces for cheap

The best place for rement alum is Schorr Metals in Anaheim on Kramer. It's right by my shop.
It's still around 2.19 a pound. I can get new for less deliverd from Fry Steel. But I do run down to Schorr when I need a lil something quick.

[BrewMaster]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

yea, but DX has them for $4.37 each if you buy 3-4, $4.27 for 5-9 and $4.17 for 10+ with free shipping

Those are the P4s, not the X-RE Q5s. I want Q5s if I am going to do all of this.

[tkblazer]

Originally Posted by BrewMaster

Those are the P4s, not the X-RE Q5s. I want Q5s if I am going to do all of this.

thats cool, the way the LED technology is moving i do not see a reason to buy the newest and best at the moment... but i'm just a cheap ass

[tkblazer]

ok went to IMS today and they had a 10ft. piece of 1" square tubing for $13, way better deal than home depot i'm gonna see if they can cut it in half so i can stuff it in my car. lemme know if any of you guys want some, if i get really bored i may pre cut some pieces

[BrewMaster]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

ok went to IMS today and they had a 10ft. piece of 1" square tubing for $13, way better deal than home depot i'm gonna see if they can cut it in half so i can stuff it in my car. lemme know if any of you guys want some, if i get really bored i may pre cut some pieces

count me in for some of that tubing to build the housing on my future lights.

when do we want to get our parts ordered?